Spatcher

From http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wi...on-apnewjersey

Boys in threat case accused under little-used terrorism law

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer

April 6, 2006, 2:32 PM EDT


CAMDEN, N.J. -- Four teenagers accused of plotting to kill about 25 people in a lunch-period massacre at Winslow Township High School were charged Thursday with terrorism, a crime no one has ever been convicted of in New Jersey.

The boys, between the ages of 14 and 16, were arrested Wednesday after police heard about the alleged plot from administrators at the school, where three of the teens are students. Authorities did not release their names because of their ages.



The boys initially were charged only with low-level crimes and were not eligible to be moved to adult court. Authorities said the teens planned to target students, and teachers and others.

The terrorism charge and other charges added Thursday _ two counts each of conspiracy to attempt murder _ are serious enough that prosecutors could ask a judge to move the case from family court to adult criminal court, where the penalties could be much stiffer.

Prosecutors have 30 days to consider whether to request moving the case; no decision on that was made by Thursday afternoon.

The four boys _ including a 15-year-old from Hammonton whose arrest Wednesday night had not been announced _ appeared together in family court. Superior Court Judge Angelo DiCamillo ordered them held until the state Department of Human Services could complete thorough psychological and psychiatric evaluations.

DiCamillo said the court counselors who had interviewed the teens Wednesday recommended they not be released to their parents' care until a full picture of their mental conditions could be learned.

Public defenders for the teens argued that they should have been able to go home with their parents. "My client is rather frail and vulnerable," public defender Ruth Ann Mandell, who was representing a 14-year-old, told the judge. "No one was hurt in this case."

Authorities said the boys did not have any weapons to carry out the alleged plot. But one law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the teens attempted to buy a handgun.

DiCamillo on Thursday also disclosed that some of the teens charged have had brushes with the law in the past. Two of them were charged with fighting while they were still in elementary school; both cases were diverted out of the court system.

The 14-year-old was charged Wednesday with grabbing a girl by the neck and threatening to kill her.

The father of one of the 15-year-old boys said after the hearing Thursday that the charges were a mistake. "I think it's just kids hanging out together and having a little wild time, that's all," he said.

State judiciary spokeswoman Winnie Comfort said no one in New Jersey has been convicted of terrorism, a charge lawmakers created four years ago in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Under the statute, people convicted of the crime in adult court must be sentenced to at least 30 years in prison and are not eligible for parole for 30 years.

Prison sentences that long would be far steeper than those meted out to three teenagers in another Camden County town, Oaklyn, after they pleaded guilty in a case in which they were caught with guns, ammunition and swords in 2003. Each of them received a prison sentence between four and 10 years.



I just don't know what to say....

forcifer

o.o scare me. thats about how old i am....

Fox

Heard on NJ 101.5 from a call-in by a student that there was no doubt in her mind that the kids in question were serious about what they were going to do.

Even so, how can you throw a 14, 15, 16 year old kids in jail for 30 years? They don't need jail time, they need counseling.

bry623

I am one of the neo-cons here and I agree. these kids need help. I wonder what their home lives are like???

Chevy

They can get all kinds of counseling while they serve 10 or 20 years.

ebackhus

They know how sensitive the world has become to this sort of thing. Mental state has nothing to do with it unless all three kids suffer the exact same affliction. What this could have become is premeditated MURDER. These kids need the counseling that Chevy is thinking of.

Spatcher

I happen to agree with Chevy and ebackhus. Maybe give 'em 30-40 years in a maximum security prison, and no parole until the 30-40 years are up; during that time they can be counseled all they want in their cell.

bry623

Except for the kind of counsleing they get in their cells would require additional counseling

yustr

Let's assume everything in the report is true.

Disturbed = yes. Plotting a terrible crime = yes. Terrorism = no.

I have two issues with this: 1) to be terrorism there must be a political motive. What's the political motive of these kids? None! Therefore including this under terrorism is not only bogus but dangerous precedent. Pretty soon every crime is terrorism. 2) They are either kids or adults; you can't be both. We've arbitrarily set that age at 18 (we allowed Reagan to force the drinking age to 21 – which was nothing more than legalized blackmail). Until then they are kids and must be treated as such.

All that being said, if thinking about or talking about doing something was a crime there’d be a lot of 13 year old boys in jail for unwanted sexual contact.