America's craven leadership and society leads to this,...

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...prepubescent children being shackled for stealing a pack of BB gum:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/postevery ... nes&wpmm=1

While it does seem a bit severe, they *did* steal. Maybe this will teach them to respect others property rights?

I'm pretty sure it will teach them more about the human capacity for wrath and ignorance. When someone sees justification for cruelty clearly in violation of the Geneva Convention in a pack of gum, as far as I'm concerned they're a waste of perfectly breathable air.

Was the post a reference to me?

What do you mean by the geneva convention stuff? Are there laws against restraing criminals?

The linked article from Beneficii's OP describes conditions markedly worse than those usually associated with the treatment of many war criminals, not to mention petty killers. I am personally aware of a manslaughter trial in which the defendant, whose crime I bore witness to, certainly was treated better. Said document is open to ongoing interpretation.

Do you have no sympathy for anyone. No empathy. Did you steal something when you were little and should you have been shackled and dragged into court for it. If not, why not and should you have been given your current ideas...

I do not recall stealing anything as a child, except one of those small toy cars that I took home from kindergarten. I was not shackled, or found out for that. Looking back, it was bad what I did, and I regret it. What do you mean with your last sentence? I do not understand what you are trying to convey with it.

Also, saying I have no empathy for anyone is rude. I do feel empathy, but I just don't like thieves. Shackling them is a bit much, maybe. I don't think the children will turn to more crime now, though.

A child who steals bubble gum isn't a thief. Almost every child steals at one time or another. Since you stole the toy car, how is it OK for you not to have been shackled and dragged into court while it was OK for this child. You seem in this post and others that you have little empathy for many people. Sounds like my Republican brother... Sad...

some people just can't grok it until it happens to them, then they squeal like stuck pigs like they were the first person on earth to be screwed over by the PTB.

What I did as a child was wrong. I stole, thus I was a thief. I have never stolen since that. Those kids are thiefs as well. Dragging them to court is a bit much, but they still stole. Just because you are a child does not mean it is OK to break the law. Theft is theft, there is no arguing that.

Maybe it was a bit extreme, but growing up, if I was caught stealing by my parents, I would have been punished (whipped) until I learned not to do it again. Back then, nobody would have confronted my parents on punishing me unless they broke skin or broke bones. Nowadays, so many parents are afraid of being reported to CPS (child protective services) just for lightly slapping the kid on the backside that they are afraid to discipline their kids.

Hate to sound like a barbarian, but it's better to "whip" your kids when they act out as children and teach them right from wrong than fail and watch them grow up to be criminals. It hurts to discipline, but it hurts more to watch them go down a dark road because you didn't intervene early and teach them right.

Jesus, people. These are children! They do not have the same capacity for criminal responsibility that adults have!

Treating them like they are adult criminals will often make them feel criminal and can ruin their ability to go to school or do other things that kids do to ensure their futures!

They're not being treated like adult criminals. If they were, they wouldn't be in chains.

Oh so wrong. Not common, but you can see some pretty depraved things being done by minors (and I mean under 10 years of age).

Again, if parents were doing their jobs, there'd be no need for extreme stunts like was detailed in that story.

I think you need to turn yourself in and insist on extremely severe punishment.

Getting away with such a crime is extremely unhealthy. If you are not punished, you will surely fall into a life of crime sometime in the near future.

I fear for your family and others who have the misfortune to be near to you!

If we enforced misdemeanors as rigorously as we do felonies, we wouldn't experience as many felonies.

Still, petty theft is something that people used to [ii]pretend[/i] to children was a big deal to teach them right from wrong. Beyond that, zero-tolerance is a scam to incarcerate children. Welcome (back) to Dickensian America.