Teens are killing homeless people for sport !

United States
February 20, 2007 12:19pm CST
I sat in my chair numb after reading the article on CNN about teens killing a homeless man "as a game." The details are horrific. Seems they hit the homeless man with sticks and a baseball bat. They also rubbed feces onto the man's face and then cut him with a knife to "see if was alive." They left him dead with his face wedged into a grill and "hope the animals would eat him." According to the article on CNN this is a growing problem. Middle class teens are hurting the homeless for sport! Some of the teens even make tapes of the incidents. What on earth can we do to stop this? If you want to see the entire article it is here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/19/homeless.attacks/index.html
13 people like this
42 responses
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
20 Feb 07
It is really appalling. I think it is partly the fault of those violent video games. They play, but don't see any consequences. So it is just one more step to try it in "real life". These type of kids are totally desensitized to the value of human life or to anything outside of their own little worlds. They have been taught to do what they want to do when they want to do it without regard for anyone else. I am one of the old fashioned people who think that if we had never taken prayer out of the schools, and taken any mention of christian values out of the schools, we wouldn't be facing some of this stuff now.
@hopeful28 (1439)
• Singapore
21 Feb 07
Amen to your response, esther! I am speechless - how does one go about putting a name to this kind of inhumane act. Doing it to animals is bad enough, but to do this to people who are already in dire straits.. like I say, it takes my breath away. Let the Lord be the one to deal with them.
@wrdsofwisdm (1069)
• United States
20 Feb 07
These teens should be punished Big Time for taking the life of a human being. We need to show the other teens how severe the consequences are for doing such inhumane things. Back in the day when parents had more control, teens who misbehaved lost privileges as punishment. I would think that these atrocities are occurring at night so maybe legal curfew should be changed to an earlier time. Parents who don't have an active role in their childrens' lives should be held accountable to an extent also. Teens should have a mandatory class where lifers in prison have a nice loud chat with them about where they are heading..and not just for one day...more like 5 consequitive days so they get the doo doo scared out of them. Remember the movie scared straight.. It has become quite evident that teens are desensitized to horrible acts due to video games and horror movies that are so sickenly descriptive and they are not supposed to be seeing. Movie theaters should be watched and fined for letting minors in to see these R rated movies. Now they see it as a sport rather than an inhumane act. These are the acts of our future criminals. For the sake of our babies and grandbabies, we need to pay more attention and take action before this epidemic of violent teens with no conscience gets any worse. If this continues, we will have to train any child 10 and under major self defense in order to protect themselves from today's teens.
@suscan (1955)
• United States
20 Feb 07
This is so sad, I can not understand what drives one person to hurt another person like that. These are young kids who feel the need to torture a person who is already down on their luck.And then to make tapes of the evil deed and to brag and talk about it.This is so incredibly cruel
2 people like this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
22 Feb 07
I don't know what is going on with today's teens. I think some of it has to do with they have too much time on their hands and no place to spend it. They want to get out of the house, which I can't blame them on, but once out there where do they go or what do they do? They get bored and frustrated so they seek someway to alleviate it even if it hurts others. They don't care because they are getting their fun; they don't think about others until it's too late.
1 person likes this
@sweetlady10 (3611)
• United States
20 Feb 07
I am without word after reading this. Really you don't have word to express your feeling if you hear something so terrible like this. What in this earth make those teen so cruel! I an't think of what they will be in their mature age if they goes with this mentality. Life of a man does not mean anything for them.
1 person likes this
@lucie225 (157)
• United States
20 Feb 07
Same here. How could anyone be so cruel. Speechless. I just donno what to say. I think they should take them boys and make them go through what the guy had to and endure everything down to the last second of life. I am a beliver in if you do something to someone, in return u should get the same! Especially in things like this! Instead of just giving them 3 hots and a cot with our money!!!!!
@mari61960 (4893)
• United States
20 Feb 07
I've been hearing about these attacks for a while. Is there something wrong with todays kids? Is it something in the water that makes them so hostile. I can't even begin to imagine how beating homeless people could be considered fun. I feel bad for the parents of these kids. I'm sure some of them that do this are just pressured into going along with others. Then they end up paying the consiquences. And they are only teenagers, they know it's wrong and I think they should be punished severely but I wonder if they ever gave thought to what they are doing to their own life. It's just so sad, I just would like to take them and beat them and see how much they enjoy it when the tables are turned. I thank God none of the teens in my family are that callous. All teens get into mischief but this is totally beyond any thing I would consider mishief..It's just one more example of how crazy this world is becoming.
@bonbon664 (3466)
• Canada
21 Feb 07
I read this same article, and I couldn't believe it. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what would motivate them to do this. I think it's a comment on our society. I think parents have to take a big responsibilty here, and be more aware of what their children are getting up to. I hope these kids get very harsh punishment. Maybe 20 or 30 years in jail might smarten the little cowardly punks up a little.
1 person likes this
21 Feb 07
This is a really sad state of affairs. What has gone wrong with some of our youth nowadays. They have lost respect and have no responsibility for their actions. These boys are mentally ill, to have been tempted to even have these thoughts of attacking this man. Its sick. We had the same thing in the UK. There was a craze of "happy slapping". Kids would go up to someone and slap them full in the face while their mates filmed it on their mobile phone. Then it started to get worse and many innocent people were physically attacked. One group set a man alight as he lay asleep. It was disgusting. Alot of morals and parental guidance has gone out the window and kids just seem to think they can do what they want. I hope this is a small minority who are doing this. Personally I blame men who make those Jackass films for encouraging it as well. I remember seeing a film about how a group of men were paying drunks to do daredevil stunts which were disturbing to watch. We live in crazy world!!
1 person likes this
@killj0y (618)
• United States
20 Feb 07
Oh God! I can't believe that! Murder used to be reserved to a select few of crazies and people pushed over santiys barrier but now even teens are killing, for sport? Our society is really heading down hill, big time. What I want to know is where the parents are when they should be teaching their children the differences between good and bad/ right and wrong!?
@mzbubblie (3839)
• United States
20 Feb 07
Yes this is something I saw tooo...I think it all stems from the parents, I believe if people start raising their kids to appreciate others with true morals and values, it would be a better place...It's really sad..The one I saw was these kids beating up a homeless man in a subway...It's really sad. They did catch the kids and put them in juvenile detention center...I hope people wake up and start observing their children and discipling them when needed...Such a sad story and my heart goes out to these homeless people...
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Feb 07
I'll make it real simple and sweet on how this trend can be stopped have cops dress as homeless men (randomly) when they go on patrol. They already do a variation of this to catch muggers.
1 person likes this
@superchook (1786)
• Australia
20 Feb 07
It is becoming a sad world. People are doing things wrong at a younger age these days. It's because too many people get away with too much. You have to wonder what goes through these teens heads when they do something like this, they are very sick.
1 person likes this
@coffeeshot (3783)
• Australia
21 Feb 07
This makes me sick. Definitely harsher punishment. I wonder what they'll get? Definitely they shouldn't be given lighter sentences because they're not yet adults. Throw them in jail, give them intense psychological counselling and do not let them out to live in the real world EVER again.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Feb 07
what in the heck are those kids doing out drinking anyway at that age? where are the parents? maybe they should be prosecuted too. There are reasons that bored children do what they do. they think that there is nothing better to do to see if they can get away with something bad. Parents need to wake up and see what's going on with their kids. Pay attention. If you spend time with your kids and not leave them alone all the time, then they won't try and get attention that they probably don't get at home.
• United States
20 Feb 07
This has happened a lot in Arizona. It is sick and they are nuts for sure. All we can do is catch them, and prosecute them. The world is changing so much, too fast. Kids are left alone, watching bad tv and playing wrong videos. The computer is not helping either. All we can do is pray and hope.
1 person likes this
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
20 Feb 07
That is one of the saddest things I've heard in years. I just don't understand what is wrong with our youth today. Why aren't they being raised to understand that hurting others isn't right? I don't even understand how it isn't born into them to feel badly about harming another living being - I can barely step on a bug without feeling remorse! I just don't understand it at all. Even with the worst parenting possible, if I had had the worst, I mean, I would not have been able to hurt others. It astounds me when others can do it so callously. I just can't believe that the world is coming to this.
1 person likes this
@cillerman (403)
• Bulgaria
20 Feb 07
If I were there, when some of these groups were doing their stuff I would PULVERISE THEM MYSELF! I can't stand this kind of stupidity and carelessness! I'll go to jail if I have to, but I'll stop them myself and stick their eyes out. I know it's harsh, but I got so mad when I read this... !!!
@Bizziebod (3497)
20 Feb 07
Thats pretty horrible, also similar to a documentary I saw last year where people were paying the homeless to go and beat up other homeless people the sport was called 'bum fighting' Not sure what we can do to stop it? Harsher sentances? let the homeless persons relatives deal with them? not very nice at all and scary that the world is coming to this!
1 person likes this
@TriciaW (2441)
• United States
20 Feb 07
This awful. I am not sure what we can do about it except make parents more accountable for their children for one thing. Also maybe we as parents need to teach our children how to be more empathic to people. I know that nothing will happen if we as parents don't teach our children that this is wrong and unacceptable behavior.
1 person likes this
• Brazil
20 Feb 07
Hello.. At brazil this have happened also. Like 3 or 4 times in different citys. Personally, i think it's sad, and should be fastly reprimed with violence. Sorry but i really think the only way is making they have fear from making this so they will stop in my opinion. Of course in brazil that won't happen since laws are ridiculous and politicians are corrupts.. But i hope in other countrys authorities can solve that. It's just too sad man..
1 person likes this