Teens Who Torched Michael Brewer Should Be Tried as Adults

If a group of teens get together and participate in a crime like this they all should be found guilty. A 15-year-old boy is laying in the hospital hooked up to a ventilator, heavily sedated, and with his body extremely swollen. What kind of person, teen or adult, would join in and torch a living human being? These are not your ordinary every day troubled teens, they are all very vicious and sadistic. Every single one of these teens who torched Michael Brewer should be tried as adults! It does not matter whether they prevented Michael Brent from walking away, did the dousing, or flicked the lighter - they are all equally guilty. They acted as one.

Yet, they were all charged with aggravated battery, and only one of them, Mendez, was charged with attempted second degree murder. This is outrageous! Where is the justice here. Aggravated battery?

This group of teens united as a team then knowingly and willingly set out to cause sever bodily harm to Brewer. And they all knew it was because he "snitched." Michael Brewer is fighting for his life, burnt from head to toe, because he reported a crime that Matthew Bent commited. Who in this evil scheme had the most motive for revenge? Matthew Bent! Probably, the mastermind and leader, and he is slapped on the wrist with an aggravated battery charge. Let not Michael Brents suffering be in vain!

Shelton, Mendez, Bent, and the Jarvis brothers all should be charged with attempted second degree murder, and they all should be tried and sentenced as adults. In addition, this crew needs psychological evaluations and intense ongoing therapy. CAT scans of their brains, whatever it takes to learn how their brains are wired, and unveil the real cause for their evil nature. This is not the result of watching movies or playing video games; it is deeper than that.

"I'll be honest with you, a couple of them were laughing about it last night. [Only] one of them seemed genuinely sorry for what he did," said Sgt. Steve Feeley, according to ABC News affiliate WPBF. ¹

The Webster dictionary defines:

Laugh(ing): 1 a. to show emotion... 2 b. to find amusement or pleasure in something...

Laughing matter: 1. something not to be taken seriously.

So, we can assume that they have the capacity to "feel" emotions and experience pleasure from these emotions, and that they do not take their evil act seriously.

Consider the human evil described in the "Psychology of Evil," by Stephen A. Diamond, P.H. D. "But there is, of course, another kind of evil at large: human evil, "man's inhumanity to man" in the most panoramic sense. By "human evil," I mean those attitudes and behaviors that promote excessive interpersonal aggression, cruelty, hostility, disregard for the integrity of others, self-destructiveness, psychopathology and human misery in general. Human evil can be perpetrated by a single individual (personal evil) or by a group,"²

Sgt. Feeley stated: "...[Only] one of them seemed to be genuinely sorry..."

Seemed is defined: 1. to appear to... 2. to give the impression of being

This is interesting, one teen who took part in the burning of Michael Brent, "seems sorry." Did that one teen do anything to stop the act? Did he try to help the boy who was afire? He probably is genuinely sorry, now. The question is this, does he feel sorry for himself because he fears his own fate? It is very believable and even understandable that he appeared sorry, however, this could be a result of self preservation; a natural and instinctive tendency to act so as to preserve one's own existence. This could easily be mistaken for being sorry for what he did.

The teens who torched Michael Brewer should be tried as adults because they exhibit behaviors that are very evil and indicate strongly that they are all extremely dangerous. And, all of their parents should be partially responsible for their child(rens) actions. It would be sad to see these teens go unpunished and freed, as Bent was from the Juvenile Center earlier that day, to enter into a society in which they are a danger.

Sources:

¹Teens Who Burned Boy May Be Tried as Adults - By Ann-Marie Dorning, 10/14/2009, ABC News

²The Psychology of Evil, By Stephen A. Diamond, P.H. D.