I disagree, these children are minors and the their behavior, while abhorrent, belies a fundamental lack of perspective and empathy.
I’ve been a teenage boy before and I did some bone-headed things. Maybe not this bad, but still, I agree with the judge in this instance that it would be inappropriate to impose permanent consequences on these kids before their life even gets started because they were stupid, horny, teenage boys.
Even if we assume that these kids don’t all have well-meaning parents who who will impose their own punishments, having a probation officer in high school is not going to help with popularity. Then, mandatory classes that will force these boys to evaluate the situation from another perspective seems like a great add-on.
I know it doesn’t feel like justice, but our goal as a society shouldn’t be to dole out maximum punishment in every instance. The goal is to allow all of us to peacefully coexist and contribute to society - throwing children in a dark hole somewhere to be forgotten isn’t going to help with that.
Having said all of the above, it feels like a good time to emphasize that we still don’t have any good ideas for solving the core problem here, which is the malicious use of this technology that was dumped on society without any regard for the types of problems that it would create, and entirely without a plan to add guard rails. While I’m far from the only one considering this problem, it should be clear enough by now that dragging our feet on creating regulation isn’t getting us any closer to a solution.
At a minimum it feels like we need to implement a mandatory class on the responsible use of technology, but the obvious question there is how to keep the material relevant. Maybe it’s something that tech companies could be mandated to provide to all users under 18 - a brief, recurring training (could be a video, idc) and assessment that minors would have to complete quarterly to demonstrate that they understand their responsibilities.
I’ve been a teenage boy before and I did some bone-headed things. Maybe not this bad, but still, I agree with the judge in this instance that it would be inappropriate to impose permanent consequences on these kids before their life even gets started because they were stupid, horny, teenage boys.
Completely agree with 100% of this
I’m just saying that I think the answer lies somewhere between “take some classes and promise not to do it again” and “adult prison”. They imposed significant harm to another human being, in a way that’s so significant that we all agreed it should be illegal. Yes, I know that probably wasn’t the intent on their part. But this kind of “oh but I just got horny and just kind of didn’t care / wasn’t focused on what the impact was” is not a thing you wanna teach them there’s some wiggle room with as long as they make sure to apologize about it after.
Community service? Home arrest? Juvenile detention for 21 days? Fuckin something? I’m not saying put them in the hole.
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I disagree, these children are minors and the their behavior, while abhorrent, belies a fundamental lack of perspective and empathy.
I’ve been a teenage boy before and I did some bone-headed things. Maybe not this bad, but still, I agree with the judge in this instance that it would be inappropriate to impose permanent consequences on these kids before their life even gets started because they were stupid, horny, teenage boys.
Even if we assume that these kids don’t all have well-meaning parents who who will impose their own punishments, having a probation officer in high school is not going to help with popularity. Then, mandatory classes that will force these boys to evaluate the situation from another perspective seems like a great add-on.
I know it doesn’t feel like justice, but our goal as a society shouldn’t be to dole out maximum punishment in every instance. The goal is to allow all of us to peacefully coexist and contribute to society - throwing children in a dark hole somewhere to be forgotten isn’t going to help with that.
Having said all of the above, it feels like a good time to emphasize that we still don’t have any good ideas for solving the core problem here, which is the malicious use of this technology that was dumped on society without any regard for the types of problems that it would create, and entirely without a plan to add guard rails. While I’m far from the only one considering this problem, it should be clear enough by now that dragging our feet on creating regulation isn’t getting us any closer to a solution.
At a minimum it feels like we need to implement a mandatory class on the responsible use of technology, but the obvious question there is how to keep the material relevant. Maybe it’s something that tech companies could be mandated to provide to all users under 18 - a brief, recurring training (could be a video, idc) and assessment that minors would have to complete quarterly to demonstrate that they understand their responsibilities.
Completely agree with 100% of this
I’m just saying that I think the answer lies somewhere between “take some classes and promise not to do it again” and “adult prison”. They imposed significant harm to another human being, in a way that’s so significant that we all agreed it should be illegal. Yes, I know that probably wasn’t the intent on their part. But this kind of “oh but I just got horny and just kind of didn’t care / wasn’t focused on what the impact was” is not a thing you wanna teach them there’s some wiggle room with as long as they make sure to apologize about it after.
Community service? Home arrest? Juvenile detention for 21 days? Fuckin something? I’m not saying put them in the hole.
Same.
I would be surprised if anyone with the same history didnt do at least a few completely boneheaded things at one point in their youth.