I appreciate your comments. However valid they may be, the point is simply that the BNR produced the image before they had the details to determine if they did indeed have the grounds to print the image. Then followed up by implying that since they already failed it gave them a pass which is illogical at best. The social ramifications of the case are another subject and for the most part, I agree with you there.

BTW.. Thanks for posting, and in future feel free to post your name instead of anonymously.

The public not only has the right, but NEEDS to see what happens when a “get tough on juvenile crime” Republican state Legislature passes a law in the 1990s mandating that children ages 10-16 accused of certain serious crimes are automatically charged in adult court, rather than juvenile court.

If the press didn’t force us to look at that image, we would never see it, nor would we care to. Twelve year old boys would be marched in to open adult court proceedings, funded by our property and income taxes, in courthouses within our communities. But we would never care to know how horrible that must be, because we wouldn’t attend the proceedings. We wouldn’t want to be bothered with that serious subject matter.

The intimate news coverage drew attention to — and put a human face on — an issue that many juvenile justice advocates have been concerned about for years. The press followed up and covered that issue after the initial stories about the shooting.

I support a free press that pushes people out of their comfort zones and makes them see the unsettling truth. Maybe it will lead to a better justice system — one where 10 year old boys and girls are charged in juvenile court, in private, where they belong.

But, sadly, it is much less complicated to criticize those that deliver us the bad news.