December 4, 2006: Six black teens attack a white teen at a high school in Louisianna, knocking him unconscious and allegedly continuing to beat his unconscious body. The motive is allegedly retribution for several racially-motivated acts against blacks, although (as far as I can tell) there has been no allegation that the victim was responsible for any of them. The attackers who could be charged as adults are indicted for attempted murder. One perpetrator is found guilty, although this is overturned on appeal, and the other 5 have not yet been tried. There is widespread condemnation of the severity of the charges leveled, in particular that the race of the accused was a significant factor.
September 7, 2007: A Kutztown University student is killed by a single blow from a chair leg in an unprovoked attack. The wielder of the weapon, as well as his two companions, are charged with third-degree murder. They had allegedly been out looking for a fight. None have yet been tried.
October 19, 2007: Two Kutztown students punch another student when his girlfriend protests being randomly groped by one of them, breaking his jaw. Both attackers are charged with aggravated assault. Neither have yet been tried.
This could be an outraged essay about the senselessness of violence, but I am afraid there is little that can be done about it; there will always be thugs. What concerns me is the difficulty of determining punishments for these crimes. In one case, someone was killed. In the other two, an act that is arguably similarly violent did not result in death. Should the people who were unfortunate enough to kill someone instead of merely injuring them be punished more severely? As much as it puts a bad taste in my mouth, this luck-based selection seems entrenched in our system of justice.
I find myself wanting to say that all of the attackers should be charged with attempted murder (or actual murder in the case where the victim died). Whether or not there is specific intention to kill, it should be obvious to anyone that a violent attack risks the life of the victim. However, I cannot see how we could implement this. Although I have been fortunate enough to never have the experience, fistfights are not uncommon events, and if we start locking people up for 20 years to life when they participate in one, it will just exacerbate the problems I wrote about a few weeks ago. Is there a fair solution to this problem?