Boys’ maiming of infant prompts horrified questions nationwide

A Richmond, Calif., boy barely old enough to read and his two buddies, 8-year-old twins, are accused of nearly beating to death a 4-week-old infant, who remains on life support in an Oakland hospital. People across the nation are expressing a sense of shared horror and bewilderment.

As the baby struggles for life, there are no answers, just questions. Why did this act of brutality happen? What motivated three little boys to attack and almost kill an infant? Is their behavior indicative of the larger society? Are they the harbingers of more preteen predators, children whom society should fear? And the big question: What about the parents?

The accused are barely out of short pants. Do they know the consequences of their action? Do they understand that they almost took a life and they cannot undo this damage?

The most pressing question, perhaps, is what conditions produced the youngsters who hit and kicked the baby and then stole a tricycle from his family. They are currently detained in a juvenile center. The 6-year-old has been charged with attempted murder. The twins are charged with burglary.

California authorities may learn from the case involving two Chicago boys who dropped a 5-year-old boy to his death from a 14th-floor window because he refused to steal candy for them. Since that 1994 tragedy, the two preteen killers have become the youngest children imprisoned in an Illinois state youth prison, a maximum-security facility. Now 12 and 13, they are undergoing the strict discipline and intense rehabilitation efforts usually reserved for older juvenile offenders.

Psychiatrists are advising that the Richmond boys be made to live in a controlled residential environment and undergo counseling. We can only hope it is not too late to save them--or ourselves.