Teen Terror?????

In Dahlia Lithwick’s article “Teen Terror”, Lithwick makes the argument that violent teenagers should no longer be tried according to the laws designed to prosecute religious terrorists. However, she does draw specific similarities between these two groups, insisting that in doing so, it will be much easier to create laws to “deter and punish both.” She starts her article by arguing that Gothic teenagers with guns and home-made bombs do not belong in the same category as radical Islamic groups with liquid explosives. Domestic teenage violence, according to Lithwick, should never be classified as “terrorism.” The loaded term already causes Americans confusion and there’s no sense in blurring the already fuzzy line between terrorism and domestic crime.


Nevertheless, as the article continues, it seems as if Lithwick comes to the realization that Gothic teenagers and radical terrorists are not all that different. Their motives and intent to kill make them both threats to society. She notes that revenge, sexual frustration, alienation, and depression are often the fuel burning in the hearts and minds of these bitter and vengeful persons. She ends her article arguing that while teens and terrorists should be tried with different laws, one should consider their similarities in making judgements on how to punish them.


In reading Lithwick’s article, I would have to disagree with her argument that teenagers should not be punished according to these “terrorist” laws. It is evident that prosecutors are simply using this jurisdiction in order to hold teenagers more accountable for very adult crimes. Lithwick even states that the laws are “just tempting us with the prospect of longer sentences and trial in adult court.” My question for Lithwick would be: why not??? With written journals documenting premeditation, Nazi flags, homemade bombs, napalm, etc., why shouldn’t these “teenage boys with grudges” be tried to the fullest extent of the law? I would also have to disagree that these laws are “cheapening terrorism.” I’m fairly certain that the majority of Americans know the difference between domestic crime and large-scale religious terrorism or maybe it’s just I have a little more faith in the intelligence of American citizens. Either way, Lithwick’s article does nothing but strengthen the tie between violent teenagers and terrorist groups. While I understand there are different degrees of violent behavior, I would have to argue that evil is evil, whether in the form of a seventeen year old boy or a forty-five year old Arab nationalist.