What do you think... Mercy or Justice for the 10 year old who started one of the big firesin California?

Question

My 10 year old says mercy. She thinks this because there is no way the kid could have understood the consequences.

I'm not sure what I think.

Answer 1

Gotta agree with Southpaw. Make the kid understand the consequences by making him tour the damage and help in rebuilding houses. It would be important to provide counselling for the kid, as he is likely to become depressed or even suicidal if he truly understands what he has done. But make it clear he can do his part to fix the damage in a small part. It will teach him early that there are things that cannot be undone. If you punish him in traditional manner, all he'll do is revolt and perhaps fall into a life of destructive behavior, losing his self-worth, not caring, and perhaps wreaking havoc in his adult years. If he's lucky, he'll understand so fully that he will spend his entire life making up for it in a positive way. Of course he'll never be able to right it, but I think his life's path is clear if he has a conscience.

Answer 2

There should be a consequence, but it should be tempered with a measure of mercy as well.

The 10 year old should not get off scott free, but shouldn't be punished the same as an adult arsonist either.

Not knowing the facts of the case, what the child was thinking before, during, immediately after the the fire was started, I can't begin to form what that punishment should be, but I do think that quite a few 10 year olds understand that striking a match causes fire, and fire can spread easily, and it would be hard to convience me that a child living in CA did not know that CA has a LOT of kindeling just waiting to be burned. However, I can see where a 10 year old would quickly run from an unexpected fire and fear punishment from parents more than a sense of duty to speak up and tell the truth. If possible I think the kid should be punished for playing with matches, not the resulting fire. While the resulting fire was most likely an accident, the child should have known better than to play with matchs.

Answer 3

Justice. The child will never learn right from wrong if we give them the "get out of jail free card"....if they can't understand right from wrong, they won't understand the mercy message either. How we treat this is not only a message to the 10 year old in question, but also a lesson for all the other 10+ year olds....let's look at the bigger picture here....

Answer 4

I lean toward mercy because the child had no way of knowing what was going to happen and certainly didn't intend anything like that to happen.
A better question is whether the parents should be held liable for their child's tort? They won't be able to pay the damages. So how much punishment or justice can be exacted and from whom should it be exacted?
It looks to me like the taxpayer will have to foot the bill.

Answer 5

No perhaps not all ten year olds can but then some can - if your daughter is 10 and can understand something as complex as mercy then that ten year old may have well understood that playing with matches is something they should not be doing.

That said, I see no gain in throwing a ten year old behind bars, but I wouldn't bar that future earnings be docked to help make reparations.

Answer 6

How about discipline! And what about loving the other neighbors who have to live around the kid if he isn't disciplined?

Consider a more extreme case - some may reckoned it love and mercy to let violent people go and do as they please, but it's certainly not an act of love and mercy to those who end up being victims.

Answer 7

I think that there has to be some punishment and grounding isnt enough. Juvenile hall isnt an answer. With all the thugs there he might have come out worse then he went in. They could do a financial judgement against him. I think financial judgements are good for 10 years so when he is an adult he can start paying financially. His parents should have some responsiblility. He should not have been out anywhere without parental supervision.

Answer 8

Mercy. But remember that justice is not revenge.
When I was about 10-years-old, or thereabouts, I was playing with some boys down the street under their back porch...it was Fourth of July season and we were enthralled with fireworks...we wanted some but had none....so we put together some of this and some of that and lit it on fire because we wanted to see fireworks....and the porch burned down!
The fire could have spread to the house. It's a good thing it didn't!
In the case of this kid in California, he most likely had no idea how the fire would spread...just as I had no idea it would when I was 10.

Answer 9

Every action has consequences. I think mercy may not apply in the California case.

Too big a catastrophe. Too many families got devestated because of the action.

Answer 10

10 year old children understand a lot more than we give them credit for these days.

I'm curious to see a psychological profile on this kid.

Look, if you let this kid get away with it what will that teach him? Oh hey I can do horrible things and get away with it.

Mercy will be to discipline this little dude and to continue disciplining him until he understands that this sort of thing is NOT a funny game.

Send him to rehabilitation. Educate him. But definitely take away his privileges for awhile in order to learn a lesson. He should not be enjoying life right now.