Judge teaches kids some slay victims deserve their fate

The Boston Herald

Beverly Beckham

In the movies you root for the underdog. You enjoy seeing the bully put down. When Superman comes back to the diner after he has regained his super strength, and punches the man who pummeled and humiliated him when he was just a man, not Superman, you cheer.

When the hobbled and shackled writer Paul

Sheldon calls his No. 1 torturer Annie Wilkes "sick' and "twisted," then stuffs paper in her mouth and drops a typewriter on her head, you applaud.

When Julia Roberts picks up a phone, dials the police and says, "Come quickly. I've just shot an intruder," shoots the intruder, her abusive husband, you scream in support. Why? Because he's a bad guy. Because he deserves what he gets. Because the bad guys always deserve what they get.

Yes, but what if the bad guy is just a kid? What if he's an arrogant adolescent, mouthing off, threatening, being mean, being obnoxious? Does he deserve what he gets? Does he deserve to be stabbed in the heart? Does he deserve to die?

Last summer, not in movieland where the dead can get up and go home when a scene is finished, but in real life where they stay dead forever, two kids, one 16, the other 11, got into a fight. The 16-year-old, who was white, was allegedly picking on the 11-year-old, who is black. The 16-year-old stole six tapes from his young neighbor, then returned only four.

So suppose the worst. Suppose the older boy had tormented the 11-year-old before. Suppose he called him names every chance he got, stalked him, made his life miserable.

Suppose he said, you're never gonna see your other two tapes no matter what you do, then shoved him and pushed him to the ground?

Would that be a reason for the 11-year-old to plunge a knife into the 16-year-old's heart? Would that be justification for murder?

It seems it is. Last week, West Roxbury District Court Judge Maria Lopez actually set free the 11-year-old who killed 16-year-old Scott Craffey last July. The judge dismissed charges of first-degree murder and found the child guilty of involuntary manslaughter instead.

"It was a killing without any intent," Lopez said, defending her curious judgment. "If people heard, they'd understand. The juvenile is 5 feet, 4 inches and 85 pounds, and the victim was 5 feet, 5 inches and 125 pounds and surrounded by two friends, one of whom was 220 pounds."

So weight is now a factor in murder, too. If big boys threaten little boys and little boys stab them, that, according to the judge's thinking, justifies murder.

"There was a history of victimization - both verbal and physical - and racial epithets. They had a nickname for him - Niggerdy," the judge went on to explain. "Nobody was here to listen to the facts of the case ... The facts would have shown it was driven with racial overtones."

Clearly, the 16-year-old was a bully. Clearly, he was mean. Clearly, he intimidated and taunted the 11-year-old.

But the fact that this fourth-grader armed himself with a knife before walking over to Craffey's house and confronting him, is proof of intent. Did he bring along a steak knife because he thought he might be invited to dinner?

Of course not. He brought it to use, and use it he did, not to frighten, not to intimidate, not to threaten, but to kill.

The judge, by setting this child free, by requiring only that he participate in nothing more than special school programs and therapy, has justified the taking of a life and given every juvenile in this state permission to get even with a bully in any way he can.

The 11-year-old stabbed his victim two times, first in the arm, then in the heart. This was not an accident. This was not involuntary. This was a deliberate act of violence, which ended in murder.