7th grader commits suicide after being told that he is going to Hell.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

This is heart breaking. Don't know what else to say

The young man in question killed himself because Christians were taunting him with their nutty beliefs.

 I don't know that for a fact. Neither does anyone  else truly know what he was thinking or feeling. I believe he must have been feeling deep anguish.

Now, after the event, I'm more concerned with the what than the why.   I have no idea about what can be done to prevent children from killing themselves. 

In the US, suicide was the second leading cause of the deaths of children between 10 to 24 years.

Explore Teen Suicide in the United States | 2021 Health of Women And Children Report | AHR (americashealthrankings.org)

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A little while ago I watched a clip on Youtube with teens being sentenced as adults in the US. There was a 14 year old sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, for murder.  Also a 17 year old sentenced to a juvenile facility until he was 21. He will then be transferred to an adult prison to serve the rest of his sentence  of 25 years to life.

I'm not being snitty, truly I'm not.  This also breaks my heart. Can some one help me understand the logic of children being tried as adults? As an outsider, it seems vengeful, capricious and quite unjust. I also think there's a valid argument that such treatment is unconstitutional  under the Eighth Amendment because it is cruel and unusual punishment.


I'm aware this argument has been tried and rejected ,so I'm none the wiser:

In Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277 (1983), the Supreme Court held that a sentence may not be disproportionate to the crime committed, regardless of whether the crime is a felony or a misdemeanor. To measure proportionality, the court must look at several factors. These factors include the severity of the offense, the harshness of the penalty, the sentences imposed on others within the same jurisdiction, and the sentences imposed on others in different jurisdictions.

The Supreme Court later overturned this prohibition on disproportionate sentences in Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991), but stated, in dicta, that in extreme cases, a disproportionate sentence could violate the Eighth Amendment. This opinion was later affirmed in , 538 U.S. 63 (2003), holding that a gross proportionality requirement is only available in “exceedingly rare” and “extreme cases.”

Cruel and Unusual Punishment | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)