Sad Halloween Story

[Tuckins1]

One of my students was assaulted while trick or treating. She went with a friend to a very wealthy, upscale neighborhood (that happens to be surrounded by some of the WORST ghetto in Detroit!!). Some older boys assaulted them and stole their candy. During the scuffle my student was dragged and ended up twisting her ankle. WTF?!? It's Halloween. If you wanted candy, just go to the door and they will give you some!!! What is wrong with people!?!

 

[mary poppins]

Aww, that is a terrible Halloween experience. I hope your student heals quickly. How old is she?

 

[Steel]

What meaningless violence .

 

[mary poppins]

Aww, that is a terrible Halloween experience. I hope your student heals quickly. How old is she?

Too late to edit, but wanted to clarify that I hope her ankle heals quickly. Unfortunately, the bad memory of will remain.
Hopefully no longstanding negative emotional consequences.

 

[tigian]

horrible and senseless. Why is the big question?

 

[Liane]

I'm sorry to hear about your student, Tuckins, and actually kind of relieved that it was only (as absurd as it is to say "only" in the context of an assault like this at all) a twisted ankle. I hope she recovers soon.

Anyway, it almost certainly wasn't about the candy; it was about wanting to frighten and beat up the victim. I honestly can't tell you why some people think that's fun, but they do, and in my experience it's kids and young adults who are the worst offenders (probably the most heinous case of this kind I ever saw was committed by a couple of 12-year-old boys; they went around shooting old people in the eyes with a BB gun just to watch them suffer. It wasn't immaturity, it wasn't a lack of understanding the consequences -- those two kids were just straight-up evil).

 

[Tuckins1]

Thanks for the kind thoughts all. She is 10 years old, and apparently the boys were significantly older (in their teens). Thank goodness that she only suffered a twisted ankle... She is such a sweet, loving little girl. It hurts my heart to think of her being treated that way!

 

[Tuckins1]

I'm sorry to hear about your student, Tuckins, and actually kind of relieved that it was only (as absurd as it is to say "only" in the context of an assault like this at all) a twisted ankle. I hope she recovers soon.

Anyway, it almost certainly wasn't about the candy; it was about wanting to frighten and beat up the victim. I honestly can't tell you why some people think that's fun, but they do, and in my experience it's kids and young adults who are the worst offenders (probably the most heinous case of this kind I ever saw was committed by a couple of 12-year-old boys; they went around shooting old people in the eyes with a BB gun just to watch them suffer. It wasn't immaturity, it wasn't a lack of understanding the consequences -- those two kids were just straight-up evil).

Good lord, those boys sound like sick deviants!! Shooting old people in the EYES?!? What happened to the boys? Did they get arrested or anything?

 

[Liane]

Yeah, they both got arrested (otherwise I wouldn't have seen the case, since I only work on things that make it to court). Two of the victims showed up too -- both sweet, gentle retired people who had done nothing at all to these kids except have the bad luck to be walking on the sidewalk when the boys came by. One was a lady in her early 60s, the other was a gentleman around 65. Worked hard all their lives, stuck by their neighborhoods even as the area deteriorated around them, and this is what they got.

It was just a really ugly case -- the lady asked why they wouldn't just leave her alone (after which they shot her) and the gentleman tried to get away, but as he had to use a cane he couldn't go very fast, and the kids kept saying "look at me, look me in the face." When he finally did, they shot him too, right through the glasses. Two separate incidents but they happened on the same street, I think on the same day but I'm not sure of that as it's been a while. The kids told their victims that they were deliberately targeting people who looked "old" to them, I presume because those people were less likely to fight back.

Anyway, the kids got arrested and pled guilty (not so much because they were remorseful or wanted to take responsibility as because the case against them was rock solid and they probably would have gotten worse if the victims had taken the stand and told the court exactly what happened). They got sent away to a juvenile facility. I'm not too optimistic about their chances of rehabilitation, but that's not my call.

That case is a weird outlier and not at all representative of the vast majority of what goes through the system, which is why it sticks out in my memory, but there are some really malicious people out there, and a lot of them are kids. Adult crimes generally seem to have some sort of point (even if it's a crazy point); that kind of free-floating, random malice is something I've only seen with kids and teenagers.

(sorry about the super depressing threadjack!)