RE: Kid Gloves or Firm Justice: Where To Draw the Line

There’s always a first time for everything, and every crime should be punished accordingly, whether the offender is a child or not.

I read about a man, I think he was Japanese, who reportedly had fantasies about cannibalism from as early as the age of four. What disturbed me most was that, even at that age, he was already thinking about how he could eventually achieve his goal, knowing that no one would willingly offer themselves up to be eaten.

Eventually, he got what he wanted at the age of 26. Yet, because he came from an influential family, he was reportedly bailed. He later wrote a comic about the experience, but I can’t bring myself to read it. The thought of getting inside the mind of a child who could contemplate murder is horrifying enough. Reading his own account of it would probably leave me shaken for a very long time.

That said, I struggle with the idea that children who grow up to commit horrific crimes simply woke up one day and became monsters. In many cases, there were warning signs. They contemplated these things, fantasised about them, tested boundaries, or even took steps towards them while they were still children.

I have never heard of a serial killer who simply woke up one morning and found themselves on a murder spree with absolutely no history of violent behaviour or disturbing tendencies. For many of them, the signs started much earlier, but the system kept giving them chances because they were children. And while protecting a child’s future is important, I sometimes wonder whether we are protecting that future at the expense of the people they may eventually hurt.

Being a child should mean having room to learn, grow and be corrected. It shouldn’t mean that every serious warning sign is dismissed until the child becomes an adult and the consequences become irreversible.