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15-year-old arrested, loaded gun seized in Mattapan gang investigation
By adamg on Wed, 03/29/2017 - 3:15pm
Boston Police report using a search warrant around 2:0 p.m. yesterday to bust into a Norfolk Street home, where they found a loaded 9mm Luger PT11GT handgun and the 15-year-old they say was the focus of an investigation into gang activity in the area.
The teen, too young to be named, was charged with being delinquent for illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.
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Comments
I could be convinced otherwise...
...but I think it may be time to let go of this quaint notion in our legal system that juvenile defendants shouldn't be named. I think the public's right to know the name of a 15-year-old alleged gang member caught with a loaded handgun outweighs that juvenile's right to privacy.
What would their name tell
What would their name tell you? Would you care more about the individual? Would you have more empathy for them and the circumstances in their life that brought them to this dangerous place so early in their life? How would it protect you or the general public?
I think we should resolve to give a name to every child we in find in a circumstance like this and that it should be Richard C. Saltonstall IV.
It has nothing to do with sympathy or empathy.
It's a shame that horrible circumstances might lead anyone to feel that he or she needs a gun, regardless of age.
But what about the kid's teacher (assuming he's in school), or neighbor, or the parent of someone he's dating? Might the information be valuable to them?
And besides, what exactly are we protecting the alleged offenders from by hiding their names? The shame of public opprobrium? If that's the case, we shouldn't name anyone until he or she is convicted, not just arrested/charged/indicted. That argument has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with fairness, and might be a little more convincing your knee-jerk assumptions about my imagined lack of empathy.
At last
Somebody ELSE gets it. Protecting a suspect's identity because of their age is nothing more but special entitlement for totally arbitrary and irrelevant reasons.