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Boy fatally stabbed by 12-year-old at playground

25 Comments

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25 Comments
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So that you know that it's not only in Japan that such things happen...

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Mirai - This section is the "World" news - but maybe you don't particularly care about news that happens outside of Japan.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Why are people so hard on JT for carrying this story. The section is called "World". Just ignore it if you are not interested.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

@ Mirai - this tragedy has made headlines all over the world, that's why. Rest in Peace poor innocent 9 year old boy.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Just a sign of the times my friends.

Kids the world over, have been inundated with images and videos of wanton violence, sex, murder, gore, all easily accessible on smart phones and laptops.

The media have pushed these things onto society, and kids by default have easy access to it.

Decline in morals, the chickens have come home to roost. These aren't all kids in the 'ghettos' or from violent backgrounds.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sounds like some people more upset that they've been deprived of the chance to rant, than the fact that one kid is dead, and the other one has his life changed for the worse.

There seems to be a rise on these kid-on-kid murders lately. Worldwide. It's everyone's problem.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Just a tragic symptom of the illness of society, not only in US or Japan, but in many places. Very sad.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Jamarion Lawhorn, the culprit, invited four other younger children to a park to play, then retrieved a steak knife from the sand, and stabbed one of the younger children repeatedly in the back. "The child told dispatchers he hated his life and had “taken many pills” on Monday. He told the dispatcher he felt like no one loves him, Stacy said. "

He likes cars and has a younger sister, and appears to have been loved, judging from his facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/jamarion.lawhorn

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If people don't want to read about what is happening in other countries, a hint. Don't click on the article and don't bother with the section "world". Good lord people!

Skimming through the 'recent comments' section, the headline gives no indication that the incident did not happen in Japan.

Not that I think this kind of thing shouldn't be reported on JT. It's more topical than what's showing on US TV, at any rate.

I find it worrying and disturbing that the 12-year-old's name and face are all over the Internet 'because he is being charged as an adult'. He's 12. Yes, what he did (there seems to be no 'allegedly') is horrendous and a little boy is dead because of him, but 12 is still 12, not an adult.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@oldman

Don't know where you're from, my friend, but in my own country (the UK), violent crime is at its lowest level since 2003, while homicides are at their lowest since 1983.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Where do you start with a kid like this? He shouldn't be tried as an adult because he certainly isn't one. But what do you do? Lock him up for the rest of all his upcoming teen years and then let him go when he's 18? or 20? or 25? And then what?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

oldman_13Aug. 06, 2014 - 01:50PM JST

Kids the world over, have been inundated with images and videos of wanton violence, sex, murder, gore, all easily accessible on smart phones and laptops.

@Oldman: I think what you're saying is half true. I don't think the content itself has much to do with kids these days "losing touch", as much as the sheer quantity of distractions available to kids (and adults for that matter). IMHO, children's minds should develop into adulthood based on communicating with other people, not communicating with people through machines or communicating with machines. I can say for myself that kicking a soccer ball around or playing catch or road hockey (where I am from) probably was immensely more constructive for my own development as a kid than playing video games.

The media have pushed these things onto society, and kids by default have easy access to it.

True, so the only thing that adults can do is limit the access. But we all know hard difficult that is...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He'll be released when he's 20, and the case sealed, just like nothing had happened.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kids the world over, have been inundated with images and videos of wanton violence, sex, murder, gore, all easily accessible on smart phones and laptops.

The media have pushed these things onto society, and kids by default have easy access to it.

To piggy back on this social skills suffer when texting and gaining are a major portion entertainment and communication.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I bet the editors jumped at the chance to include this article, especially after the recent psycho-teen murder story here. "You see, America has sick kids too".

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

If people don't want to read about what is happening in other countries, a hint. Don't click on the article and don't bother with the section "world". Good lord people!

Tragic. What on earth caused this to happen?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Don't know where you're from, my friend, but in my own country (the UK), violent crime is at its lowest level since 2003, while homicides are at their lowest since 1983.

Still good to be aware that are kids like this.

I think there's a lot of truth on what oldman says though.

Remember being shocked seeing a woman in her 40s/50s taking a bunch of kids who looked like they were about this age or younger to see a movie on a Friday night, the movie's name was Predators.

God only knows how many kids this age playing shooting games on the their X-Boxes. The more graphic, the more popular.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Huh. Read this headline, and automatically assumed that it was somewhere in Japan (all that was missing was the word "Sasebo," in light of recent and past events).

A sad sign of the times, I guess. :-(

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

This is very sad and tragic! Why in the world did the stupid boy stab a younger one?? Karma?? I hate to think about these sort of things, it makes me sick to my stomach and I can not even imagine the pain and horror that the little boy went through but now his parents and friends. RIP Not even sure what to say about the 12 year idiot killer.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Tragic on so many levels. God rest in peace Michael.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

FightingViking: "So that you know that it's not only in Japan that such things happen..."

Very true, but then there's this:

"The Kent County prosecutor’s office will determine whether the boy will be charged as a juvenile or an adult,"

Now show me in Japan where someone under 20 has been charged as an adult for murder, even though they have talked about the possibility. I can show you examples of grisly murders here where they get out of a reformatory by 20 regardless of the heinousness of the crime(s), and whose names are not released because they were 'children' when they did it, etc. 12 is seriously pushing it to charge as an adult, but I'm glad they're at least taking it very seriously at the local level and the boy will be severely punished. RIP to the victim.

ReformedBasher: blaming it on video games and TV is so old. While there are a lot more crimes like this in Japan these days than of old, or at least being reported, Japan is still the biggest producer of violent video games in the world, but still have a lower crime rate than other nations by comparison.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

i guess the wrinkle to this is that it was a knife and not a gun. my guess is that there are tens if not hundreds of stabbings worldwide every day so i think i am with mirai as to not being sure why this one makes headlines.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Fair point Cleo but I only noticed it in the "world" news section.

I think 12 is fine for pictures and names considering the crime. What I detest more than anything is how "juvies" are treated differently and released back into the public under a new identity and the public being put at risk. The James Bulger case and the murder in Kobe come to mind for such examples.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

As sad as it may be, why do we need to know what happened in Kent, Michigan?

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

As we all have access to literally hundreds, if not thousands, of TV, newspaper and internet-based news aggregator web sites, there is no compelling reason for this particular story to be posted on Japan Today, no matter how shocking. Children are being killed all over the world under heinous circumstances even as I type this - we're on this site for Japan-based news. Topic focus is a worthy and valuable mission to help us all cut through the "noise". "Japan" is certainly a wide enough category to fill numerous pages without grabbing random sensational headlines.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

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