Summary

A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing a stranger, Muhammad Hassam Ali, after a brief conversation in Birmingham city center. The second boy, who stood by, was sentenced to five years in secure accommodation. Ali’s family expressed their grief, describing him as a budding engineer whose life was tragically cut short.

  • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    The kid fucked up.

    They should be rehabilitated slowly and serve their time and then be reintegrated into society when they show they are ready to be and have served sufficient time.

    They shouldn’t be thrown away for 70 years.

    • Mango@lemmy.world
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      11 minutes ago

      Bro, what’s going on? You’re saying the same thing as half the rest of the posters here and getting downvoted to heck over it. Your comment isn’t even edited!

    • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
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      17 hours ago

      Sadly, this seems like it’s likely a case of psychopathy. Technically you can’t diagnose minors with it, but they have pre-adult terms for the same thing.

      Children at that age, at least according to the majority of modern research, have extremely low rates of successful behavioral reconditioning towards socially acceptable norms. It’s almost zero.

      The best researchers have been able to do, even with extremely intensive treatment, is to slightly curb their most violent and predatory tendencies.

      I agree that we should take a non-retributive approach to justice, but the sad truth in these cases, at least as far as we know right now, these folks cannot be fixed and reintroduced into the general population, they are too dangerous.

      Their brains, either through genetic misfortune, or through extreme sustained trauma from infancy, are permanently malformed. They lack any significant capacity for empathy or love. They cannot relate to other people on any level, especially emotionally. Their brains are literally not wired for it, as awful as that is.

      We shouldn’t throw them in a hole though. They should be permanently imprisoned in specialty facilities that constantly treat their mental disorder and try to employ them in productive jobs that can help society. They should be provided proper medical care and resources, possibly tightly supervised short term release in condition of exceptional behavior and treatment response.

    • BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      The kid fucked up.

      He stabbed someone to death, he didn’t accidentally total his step dad’s Corvette.

      The man he killed is never going to go home again, and he’s not going to do anything for the next 70 years. His family will spend every holiday without him, every milestone in their lives passed without him.

      Because “the kid fucked up.” 🙄

      • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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        9 hours ago

        Yes, the crime was horrendous. But if society just gives up on the idea of rehabilitating criminals that’s not going to bring anyone back. It’s just going to hurt more people unnecessarily, innocent and otherwise.

        Obviously the murderer should not be released until they are adequately rehabilitated (if they ever are). But in a just society prisons are for rehabilitation.

        • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          I think their point is that “fucking up” makes it sound like he did a little oopsie, a boys will be boys, youthful idiocy thing. Which it isn’t at all

        • BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          We’re not, the victim lost everything: their future, their life, moments with family, etc. And you’re making it sound like, “Well, yeah, but he just made a mistake.”

          You don’t stab someone to death by mistake, it isn’t a “fuck up.” Killing someone via stabbing is an aggressive, personal, close quarters kind of death. You can’t stab someone to death “accidentally,” and during the act, did he ever stop? While the victim was likely shouting in pain or pleading or trying to get away, did the kid stop his “fuck up”?

          No. He knew exactly what he was doing, and there’s no rehabilitating that, especially if it occurred after a brief conversation in public. He forfeited his right to his life as soon as he took his victim’s, when he chose to willfully stab a man to death.

          Edit: Literally the first sentence details how the two boys had the four-minute conversation with the victim, followed the victim around Birmingham’s city centre, and then stabbed him to death despite the victim being a complete stranger.

          And neither boy showed any remorse or emotion during their sentencing. The one who actually stabbed the victim tries to claim he feared for his safety, and was “just trying to scare the boy.” Guess that’s why he needed to plunge a large knife into the kid’s chest when, as the judge pointed out, all they did was try to get Mr. “Just Fucked Up” to leave them alone.

          • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 day ago

            Yeah.

            “They fucked up”. Means they did something really bad.

            As far as I know while “fucking up” can be used in cases of accidents it generally implies culpability and that is the way in which I intended to use it.

            • BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              No, you’re trying to play it off as the other commenter pointed out, as if it’s just kids will be kids.

              You don’t accidentally stab someone to death. This wasn’t a “fuck up,” if you read the article, or even what I wrote in the comment above, you’d see that the kid followed the victim around after they had already tried to disengage from the guy with the knife.

              Knife guy sought them out, escalated the situation despite the victim and his group trying to get knife guy to leave them alone, and then stabbed him in the chest.

              Where’s the accident in that?

            • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              “They fucked up”. Means they did something really bad.

              Not really an accurate definition. Without accuracy, mistakes will be made.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      So… I thought even England only had a life sentence for adults, and they had the option for parole every 10 years?

      Edit: average life term is 15-20 years before parole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_England_and_Wales#%3A~%3Atext%3DIn_England_and_Wales%2C_the%2Cminimum_term_of_40_years.

      Life imprisonment is applicable only to defendants aged 18 and over. Those aged under 18 are sentenced to an indeterminate sentence (detention at His Majesty’s pleasure). Any convict sentenced to a life sentence can in principle be held in custody for their whole life, assuming parole is never given for juveniles.

      Read the article, lots of nuances, he’s probably got 10 years before his parole hearing, but this stuff goes in and out of courts a lot because the government often tries to interfere.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        22 hours ago

        Sure glad the mod removed this post. Which made me want to read it by clicking “source”. So I read it. Backfire much?