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GTA Blamed for Graffiti

Posted by Zonk on from the personal-responsibility-is-for-the-birds dept.

Voodoo Extreme is reporting on a group of Greensburg, PA boys who went on a Graffiti spree and then blamed it on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. From the article: "The boys range in age from 12 to 14 and are charged with institutional vandalism, criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and desecration of venerated objects." Is it just me or, um, should 12 year olds not be playing GTA?

2 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Parents Anyone? by shamowfski · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No it's not just you. But it's not their fault either. Someone had to pay for the 50 dollar game. Where are their parents. My parents still don't like me playing Grand Theft Auto. Fortunately it's outside of their control. The parents should be out cleaning the graffiti alongside their children.

  2. What is the penalty? by Red+Moose · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This is a recurring topic these days - how can kids/minors "blame" something that by law they could not have seen, unless they broke the law. And if they did, shouldn't they be prosecuted for breaking the viewing-18s-material law and not grafitti?

    E.g., if I get syphillis from a hooker, can I sue/blame the hooker and not be arrested for soliciting? Or that is a context argument. If I was 14 and got shitfaced drunk and say shot somebody, could I "blame" alcohol and avoid prosecution?

    So where is this tolerance level coming from? These kids admitted to obtaining and viewing for personal use what for them is illicit material. That's enough for a paedophile webring so why not a bunch of vandals who were too stupid to avboid getting caught?

    --

    Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better