More Heated Discussions

Today was yet another seminar review class. As usual, the discussion got extraordinarily heated. It all started because this week we visited the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services where we were able to hear about their services and all the programs that they offer. Our seminar class discussed their living situations at the retention center along with their everyday life. The review class was going good up until one of my classmates brought up a situation where a caucasian 15 year old girl schemed with her boyfriend to murder her mother in which they did. My classmate then said that the girl was placed in a detention center where she had to remain until the age 18. She finished up high school while in this detention center. She then applied to Yale and got in. Yale however found out about the situation and chose not to allow her to go to the school. She was then contacted by another prestigious school and was offered admission. Does anyone see something wrong with this? Well I do! Though this girl was a minor, she committed a murder and should have been punished by all means necessary. Some of my classmates argued that she deserves a chance to go to college, while others argued that she should have been incarcerated the minute she turned 18 because the fact of the matter still remained that she murdered someone.

The issue of her being abused by her mother then came up. My opinion on this was that there were other ways to deal with the situation. That girl did not have to resort to killing her mother. She could have first and foremost reported the abuse to a school official who would have then contacted youth services. Youth services would have thoroughly investigated the situation and try their best to make the situation better. I feel that this girl should have been seriously charged for this crime because to was premeditated murder. She actually sat there with her boyfriend and decided that she was going to kill her mother.

Our professor had to stop the discussion because everyone began to argue back and forth. She felt that it would have gotten really heated and tense to the point where friendships would have been broken. I thought that was a bit dramatic but I do understand where she is coming from. It is best to try to avoid situations before they happen.