Most adults in St. Louis may likely be able to look back on a time when they were young, immature and did not enjoy the same perspective that years of experience have taught them. If asked, they might say that the mistakes that they made were not serious enough to jeopardize their futures, and even if they had encountered such problems, they would have hoped that whoever was tasked with holding them accountable would have taken their immaturity into account. Such is the problem that may be commonly encountered with young offenders: the need exists to ensure that they pay for their crimes, yet few want to see that punishment derail what could turn out to be a promising future.
The case of a St. Charles teen and her boyfriend illustrates this conundrum. The pair was recently arrested after allegedly killing the girl’s grandfather. Law enforcement officials report that the couple had been in an ongoing dispute with the man, which culminated in the girl’s boyfriend shooting him with a gun that the two had stolen from him earlier. After the shooting, the two reportedly took the man’s wallet and then drove off in his car.
Both the girl and her boyfriend are 17. While they (and other teens like them) choose to engage in very adult actions, one might question whether they truly understood the gravity of what they were doing. While not a justifiable excuse, this notion may be viewed as an opportunity to help make a rehabilitation a part of whatever punishment they may face so that they may avoid offending again. Those parents hoping to secure such help when their teens are accused of crimes may want to seek out the services of an experienced criminal attorney.
