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What To Do With Eleven Year Old Accused Murderer?

27 February 2009 6 Comments

In Wampum, PA an eleven year old has been charged with homicide in the shooting death of his father’s pregnant fiance’ Kenzie Marie Houk last week. The baby she was due to deliver in March also died. Young Jordan Brown boy is being shuffled through a judicial system which is struggling to determine the appropriate facility for housing him. He was first placed in an adult jail. Clothes were rolled up to fit this child now facing adult consequences. Several days later he was transferred to a juvenile facility. Today it has been determined that this facility is too expensive, so he is on his way to another adult jail where the cost will be substantially less. Cost-cutting measures for jailing a child? Perhaps that is warranted, but we must hope that along the way, authorities will examine how this boy-child became an accused adult murderer.

Jordan Brown’s father had given him a .20-gauge “youth model” shotgun and ammo as a gift. They had enjoyed target practice on the grounds of the farmland where together they lived with Kenzie Marie Houk and her two daughters in this rural Pennsylvania community. Reports have suggested that Jordan had jealousy issues and had made threats against his father’s girlfriend, but they went unheeded. Red flags. So often we miss the red flags. As parents we try to make our kids happy, but was buying this child a “youth model” gun which could inflict death an appropriate action on the part of the father? What are the gun laws that permit this?

One would think that there may have been other clues regarding the emotional state of Jordan Brown, boy-child. I have yet to hear where his mother is and what role in Jordan’s story she plays. Did he act out in school? Were there other triggers in his life before he may have pulled the fatal one? It seems to me that a child does not commit homicide on a whim.

As time goes on there will certainly be more information, so second-guessing serves little purpose. In the interim Jordan Brown, boy-child, sits isolated in an adult prison and is accused of homicide. If I could partake in the disposition of Jordan’s whereabouts, I would opt to have him housed in a psychiatric hospital ward for children and assessed. The safety of others housed there could be protected and Jordan’s situation would not be exacerbated by being locked up with offenders who really are adults.

All this being said, I do have sympathy for the family, especially Kenzie’s two daughters who have now lost a mother and a sibling. These are frightful times we are living in, End Times perhaps. Vision on all fronts is blurred and we are facing issues seldom visited before. Even the judicial system is groping for the appropriate path in this case. I wish them wisdom and discernment.

6 Comments »

Paul Johnson said:

Dear Cherlock,
Do not worry if the legal system will do the right thing…they won’t.Any effective punishment is automatically called cruel or unusual.

# 28 February 2009 at 3:17 pm

admin (author) said:

Dear Paul,
Something tells me that this child may have already been “punished” in his life. What he did was heinous, but how could an eleven year old be driven to such an act? I really don’t have the answers here, but if we as a society, don’t reign in our moral values and transmit them to our children we are doomed.

# 28 February 2009 at 6:01 pm

Grumpy said:

I read about this when it first happened. We have a youth jail and an adult prison. I have heard way to many stories of youths killing. There should be a jail just for this type of kids. One where they can get help. But punished too. I would not like to see this kid or any other kids in an adult jail. Even though it was an adult type of crime. I also think 3 years for youths killing someone needs to be more, with also receiving help.

# 1 March 2009 at 2:11 pm

admin (author) said:

Dear Grumpy,
Good points. Crime=punishment, but also help for those who are only children.

# 1 March 2009 at 2:21 pm

Bob Loosemore said:

This tragedy is beyond normal imagination, and is surely rare enough for society to be able to afford the resources required to understand the phenomenon, comfort the victims, and protect others around. Punishment seems inappropriate in this case, but protection is not. Let ‘freedom’ be the victim here, if ‘decency’ and ‘humanity’ cannot be taught in schools, and in my opinion without religious blackmail, how can people grow up to teach it to their offspring? Jordan and his parents are probably lost to us, along with many millions of others. Can democracy deal with this?

# 2 March 2009 at 3:14 pm

admin (author) said:

Dear Bob,
I’m afraid you are correct when you say that Jordan and his parents are probably lost to us. Unfortunately that loss grows exponentially as the siblings involved as well as other family and their own future generations will also be impacted. It never quite stops at the front door, does it?

Decency and humanity, I believe, should be taught in homes and reinforced in our schools. Too often that is not the case and teachers are forced to deal with the debris rather than being able to focus on developmental learning skills.

Democracy must deal with this. We are living in such fluid times that the government will have to find equitable ways of dealing with the in-coming tides of despair.

What would your options be? Are there options?

# 2 March 2009 at 4:38 pm