i find this unbeliveable - mand an son attacked as playign cricket

[FluffyMummy123]

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JV I don't think it's simply that. There seems to be a generation of sociopaths growing up without empathy now, and without hope - so even if there are consequences, they don't care.

JV - this type of mob mentality means that no-one can really be sure who threw the missile that killed the man - so reduces the need for anyone of these kids to 'Take Responsibility For Their Actions'. It maybe started off as a 'joke' - a bit of target practise - who knows?

Vile.

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K, then let there be consequences. Tough ones.

...i think thats what i was saying too turquoise.

Probably FA judging from the 'punishment' adults get, Malory .

Another one liner of my dad's: 'If people aren't policed, most will go ghetto.'

Well I predict that their 'defense' is that this poor guy, because of his previous heart condition had a propensity to heart attack. They will get community service or some such inappropriate 'punishment'.

Meanwhile, the man got the death penalty and his son will get to live for the rest of his life with horrible memories of the day his father died.

I mean defence - was writing Americanesque to make expat feel at home.

would any court in england entertain that defence?
i'd imagine that the punishment will be ridiculously light but i doubt they will invoke that particular line of argument.

did anyone see the dispatches prgramme last night about violent assualts by teenagers being filmed on phones and placed on you tube and others similar sites. It made me feel sick. The level of violence was truly shocking and most of the victims were innocent kids in the park or at school who ended up bleeding and unconcious.

If children are looking at these sites (one fight had 1600 views in a week) then it is just normalising this sort of behaviour. Those who took and posted the videos merely saw it as a laugh or a way to get better ratings for clips on you Tube. there seems to be some kind of empathy gene missing in them, it is very scarey.

'theman' I expect none of these kids ever expected to kill this man - doesn't sound premeditated/planned, so there's not going to be a murder charge. Doesn't change the impact of their actions though.

Yes, the Internet, much as it has helped, has also contributed to the rise of crimes that weren't around a decade ago. Same with the mobile.

I saw it, Kezza. 'There is no society'. And when there isn't, there isn't: a) any (or little) negative consequence for wrongdoing against others b) sense of personal responsibility c) sense of community = a fucked up society with very little compassion or empathy.

we were just discussing the "youth of today" in the office at lunch. It's awful.

I really think we should go back to a time when you could tell a child off in the street and frogmarch someone's child down to the police to scare them if they are misbehaving without being accused of assault or kidnap or whatever.

My friend remembers being marched into the police station at the age of about 8 for stealing some sweets in a shop - she was terrified, they were really tough with her and she never, ever did it again. That's the whole point of punishment isn't it?

Schools should be allowed to punish children for bad behaviour and expel children where they deem it necessary. Give authority back to those in authority over children, I say.

Another lifelong guardian reader has enough...

Without a doubt, there are packs of kids roaming the streets of the UK at the moment who are feral.

Psychological lab tests over the years have proven that if people are not given boundaries (specifically when it comes to administering pain to others), they will continue to inflict more and more pain. They come to enjoy it, and their sense of empathy is greatly diminished.

I'm not sure if modern kids/adults are any more inherently feral than other generations before them, but it's the current complete lack of censure that has made them worse.

Some kids no longer seem to understand what shame is. No one tells them off in the street any more. If they go before the courts, it's a badge of honour for them .. one they proudly wear when they're let off with nowt more than a mild rebuke.

Of course, now you have thug kids with thug parents. Look at that thread on here right now about the poster's son being threatened on Bebo by a former friend's parents and family.

The internet - yes, but as with lenient sentencing, it does not explain the complete lack of humanity in the kids that commit these acts.

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yes but a manslaughter charge does not need the same intent. and by throwing stones and wood there was certainly the mens rea and an intention to do harm.
i was more referring to the argument of him being prone to heart attacks and i just simply can't see any court entertaining this defence or lawyer arguing it as it is pretty much a carbon copy of the "eggshell skull defence" which is not accepted as you take your victim as you find them.

A circle has no beginning, though, Jeremy.

We could deduce reasons for the lack of empathy ad nauseum - they will vary by person, anyhow.

But the bottom line is how to get rid of it, and that has to include strict and stiff punishment for assaulting others.

I have a theory that children grow up with no sense of community. The people they have the greatest empathy with are characters in soap operas and films and people in bands. Or computer games. Not their neighbours or even extended family. So many people grieved hugely when Princess Di died - how many people would have expended that much energy on someone who lived next door to them. She was a kind of avatar in her way. The only place they can socialise is in school where everyone is the same age. And they are told that it's cool to be hard.

If the people that you identify with are characters on a screen or people of your own age who all think similarly to you, how will you learm empathy with the wider community? Cricket unlike football, is a slow game with a conventional image - obviously a target for mockery or even worse in this case.