You bring up some valid points. I wonder....has there ever been a solid answer when someone talks about the drinking age, and says, "If a kid can go to war at 18....."? IMO though, I think things need to be looked at on a case by case basis. Theres a big difference between a kid sneaking a beer at his house while his parents are out compared to killing someone.
Let me ask you this: lets assume this happened in the US vs. Mexico. Lets say it was an adult who killed these people. What do you think the public would be screaming for, as far as time in prison goes? We have people in the US kill someone and people are crying for the death penalty or life w/o parole. Should it be any different if it were a child instead of an adult?
The long and the short: yes.
because adult vs kid, I grant you that there are a lot of so called adults who cant grasp the connection between clouds and rain, but in general there is a pretty good understanding of acts/consequences, and the gravity of taking a life. Any life.
A kid at the age of 14 - sticking with this case - heck, in a lot of cases they can't grasp the reason why they are in trouble for not picking up their room, not taking a shower...
Early in life life and death is a rather abstract matter. Some kids get it, some don't...
But to get back to the age limits:
driving a car....16 around here...put a ton of steel around a kid. Turn it lose on society.
at 17 you can join the Army...
18 or 19 you can smoke and harm really nobody but yourself (if 2nd hand smoke was THAT bad, we would have died out in the 50s and 60s...)
drinking - regardless of the alcohol drink, Wine cooler, beer or heavy stuff...21...
Now...
at the same time we are gung ho t send kids up the river for - ok, gotta admit it - violent crimes, assuming they have the maturity to grasp the severity of their wrong doings...
to me it stinks. Either the kids are mature and can go to the big house (then give them a cigar, drink and a hooker ...) or they have to be sheltered.
I think that a person who killed 4 people is vile.
But I do not, cannot condone the willfulness on how 'justice' is dispensed in those cases in the US. Either you are a kid, or you are not...can't eat the cake and keep it...
Not sure if my thoughts are clear here.