Public Opinion Supports Jailing Seven-Cent Robber [INFOGRAPHIC]

by SodaHead Infographics Posted 2011/09/03 00:00:00

Related Topics: SodaHead Infographic, Deep Dive, Infographics, Anthony Stewart, Bb Gun, Crime, Robbery, jail, Juvenile, Teen, Gun, Felony, Judge, Sentence, Fair, Unfair, Votes, Demographics, Stats, Graphs, Polls

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Earlier this week we asked SodaHeads if they thought a New York juvenile should get two-to-six for using a BB gun to rob seven cents from a 73-year-old man, and the votes poured in.

If you missed the original story, we'll get you up to speed:

[Anthony] Stewart had the chance to plead guilty and be sentenced as a youthful offender. He refused, and Judge Walsh threw down a two-to-six-year sentence in a juvenile facility -- and a lifelong felony conviction.

Prosecutors maintain that Stewart and Ninham attacked the man and stole all the money he had on him: seven cents. The teens had BB guns that looked like hand guns.

Stewart isn't old enough for prison, so he'll serve his years in a juvenile facility.

The results are in, and it looks like the majority sided with Judge Walsh.

Now that everyone on SodaHead has access to demographic breakdowns, today we thought we'd branch out and tap into some external sources as well for a fuller perspective.

Let's dive.

access demographic breakdowns branch tap external sources fuller perspective dive

access demographic breakdowns branch tap external sources fuller perspective dive

+15

sglmom 2011/09/03 05:59:48

+14
Here's a thought ....

The kid deliberately targeted an ELDER .. doesn't matter what was taken .. he used a weapon on the elder ..

DO The CRIME .. do the TIME ..
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katt 2011/12/01 01:29:45

its not the fact that they only got 7 cents its that they used a weapon bb gun or not to terrify someone into giving them what he had. the old man had no way of knowing if it was real. even if in a different situation you could visibly tell it was a bb gun in that kind of situation you are scared. that may seem like a long time but you know what post traumatic stress syndrome can affect people for life and that isn't fair or right either.

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Dekker451 2011/10/01 07:24:11

So what if BB guns aren't very dangerous if the perpetrator was brandishing something that looked like an actual firearm? How was the man being robbed supposed to know it was a BB gun in the first place?

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Tina Louise 2011/09/28 14:17:28

of course the kid should go to jail. His behavior is just going to escalate as he ages so just lock him up to prevent future crimes he will commit.

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Sandra Feliciano 2011/09/18 12:13:35

i believe he's old enough to know rite from wrong... let him do the time

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Jack Beamish 2011/09/15 01:48:07 (edited)

+1
cant believe this... seven cents? come off it judge, surely you would have to have some sympathy for him. he probly came from a bad family. now i do understand that attacking the elderly is bad, and it probly scared the life out of the old man, but 6 years? thats to long. mabey a month at most.

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trismegistus 2011/09/13 14:54:19

He clearly need punished on intent alone, but maybe some cognitive training should be intensively enforced, because he is going to get a great education around other criminals and not society good education...some conditioning of the mind has to be stimulated

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Paige Kelly 2011/09/12 13:36:34

It doesn't matter what the details are to me. The fact is, this little delinquent had the guts to do this to ANYONE and this was probably not his first time to commit a crime. Fact is...he had the audasity to do this at all! To slap him on the hands and tell him "No" would be a joke to this kid and it is time we stand up to these bullies no matter how old and take care of it now before he really hurts someone! Give him the time and make an impact on him before its too late! What a JERK!

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nynaeve 2011/09/12 00:04:51

I think he should have gotten longer or some kind of intense rehabilitation

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SimpsonMerita 2011/09/10 16:36:36

+1
If he doesn't pay attention, he may not live for the next one..we're not living in the same sweet world...he is clear proof of that. But if you mess with the elderly, you get on my left side..its never easy to make complete peace with me again...pick on someone you can't easily beat up bully!!

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p18711 2011/09/09 17:38:24

ys send hilm to jail so he can learn where to buy the real deal .Invited to a gang or organisation.get som trics to make cash?????????????????????????...
I see nothing of he had former crimes comitted .because only that would change my opinion

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Sarah Anne to p18711 2011/09/10 18:07:59

What. Buy a dictionary please ._.

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d guy 2011/09/09 13:20:47

the fact that it is against the human rights the judge is ryt

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music7car 2011/09/08 16:38:36

It doesn't matter if it was 7 cents or 7 millions. A crime is a crime no matter how you look at it and what they did (robbing a person using a potencial weapon) should be judged like it happened. Besides the judge put the teen in a juvenial facilitie for 6 years, not in prison for life ...

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DiViews2013 2011/09/07 00:00:33

I wonder WHY SH would favor jailing this child?

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Emily 2011/09/06 20:18:15

+1
Okay, seven cents, not that bad, its more about the attacking of this undefended man, with intent to steal everything. But 2 to 6 years and a lifelong felony conviction... too much. I think community service would be better, and a 2 year sentence max.

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Jen 2011/09/06 18:45:36

+1
No wonder the people who made over 125k want to lock him up, the rich ALWAYS, ALWAYS want to keep the poor, in poverty. Rich people are rich because their parents are. Not because they work hard. There are no opportunities in this country anymore to rise to the top. It doesn't matter what century it is, it's a fact of life. I wonder if they're afraid that we will rise up against them like the French peasants........I know it's always a fear in the back of their minds........

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Gianni ... to Jen 2011/09/08 00:58:41

+2
It's funny - all of the 'Jens' I've encountered on this website make a hearty load of assumptions before they respond with their opinions..

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jimrthy BN-0 2011/09/06 17:13:57

+1
BB guns are not "fake."

I know of a guy who creates most (all?) of the prosthetic eyes in the U.S.

He says that the vast majority get sold to people who get shot by BB guns. It used to be paintball guns, but their popularity has declined over the years.

Sure, they almost certainly won't kill someone. But they *can* inflict serious permanent damage.

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FatherLiberty 2011/09/06 16:37:47

+3
SodaHead... You write this nonsense like the seven cents was the big issue here. The kid used a weapon to attack an elderly person. It makes no difference if he got 7 cents or 1 million dollars... he used force, an act of violence and intimidation, to steal. That is why people say he deserves time, not because of the 7 cents.

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Rene d Knowles sr. 2011/09/06 16:01:02
maggied45 2011/09/06 15:25:04 (edited)

+2
I think that what people are forgetting here is that the elderly man did not know it was a bee-bee, and could have just as easily been carrying hundreds or even thousands of dollars on him. I would imagine it's just as terrifying to be held up with a fake gun you think is real as with a real gun. What if the man had a bad heart and died? What if he's having severe panic about going out now that he's been robbed?

A friend of mine was held up in a parking lot in FL by a young guy with a gun. Could she be 100% sure the gun was real? Should she have asked him to verify it? She had to go to months of therapy and fight anxiety attacks every time she went shopping.

So let's stop making little of this situation. What you know after the fact isn't the same as the participants intentions and reactions while it is happening. I'm sure this is the way the judge was thinking, and also sure he was pissed off at the kids lack of remorse about what he did.

And let me just add, where the heck are this kids parents that he's so young and walking the streets robbing people? My kids didn't leave the block we lived on at that age.

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jimrthy... to maggied45 2011/09/06 17:22:56

Kids need to be able to roam around and explore. Keeping them under your thumb like that was a disservice and almost definitely stunted their social growth.

I'm not calling you a bad mother, or anything like that. If you cared that much about them, I'm sure that you more than made up for it in other areas. It's just...I was riding my bike a mile or so to school by second grade. Free Range Kids is something that all parents should at least consider very carefully.

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maggied45 to jimrthy... 2011/09/06 19:52:39

+2
This kid is 7. I lived in an inner city, so there was no way my small children were going off where I couldn't see them at 7 years old. Ever hear of child molesters? When my kids were out playing I constantly checked on them and they were always with a group of other children.

Of course it's important to go out and explore, but the world is certainly different today than it was when I was a child. Still, age 7 (which was back in the 60's) was when I was allowed to start crossing the street on my own, not the age when I was allowed to have a BB gun. I hardly think watching out for your children is equatable to keeping them under your thumb.

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jimrthy... to maggied45 2011/09/07 18:15:39

+2
That's our disconnect. The kid in the story was 15. He got 7 cents (and 2 to 6 years) out of the mugging.

I absolutely agree that a 7 year old shouldn't be that far off the leash.

The Free Range Kids link is at least an interesting viewpoint. It started off with an NYTimes article "Why I let my 9-year old ride the subway alone." She points out that the number of children being abducted by strangers over the years have been pretty steady. According to stats.org, in 2006, there were 115. 40% of them were killed.

46 deaths is awful, of course. But pretty good odds when you're talking about a nation of 300 million.

Anyway. I'm not trying to second-guess you or your parenting. It isn't really any of my business. It's a hard enough job without some random schlub on the internet trying to tell you that you're doing it wrong. I'd just run across the Free Range Kids idea, thought it was interesting, we had the confusion about the age, and I wound up writing a post that probably came across as criticism.

Re-reading it, I apologize for the tone I used. I didn't mean for it to come out that way.

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trismeg... to jimrthy... 2011/09/13 15:01:08

i really respect your mannerisms and that fact that you were willing to reread and evaluate yourself...most people on the web cannot or willnot do this...applauds

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jimrthy... to trismeg... 2011/09/17 01:50:31

Thanks! I *try* to be reasonable.

Except when some jerk convinces me it's just totally pointless. :-/

Thank you for a good conversation.

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TurtleShroom 2011/09/06 15:02:59

+1
I say the kid deserved every year he got and commend the judge for having the guts to do that. Seven cents or seven hundred thousand dollars, a crime is a crime, and larceny from an old man? DISGUSTING. We need mroe judges like that, not less!

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moonsunbaby 2011/09/06 14:59:05

+1
i am low income and i dont know what is wrong accept maybe its called uneducated....the kid does not need to be locked up and throw away the key ....He DID DO SOMETHING VERY WRONG....he did not know the man only had 7cents i would think that would be obvious, the intent should be addressed....lack of education is the problem here not income....which i guess actually go hand in hand...to an extent...he had the chance to admit he did wrong...

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davidl to moonsun... 2011/09/08 02:04:28

The kid had an education like every other kid who is required by law to go to school. This particular junior thug and future prison inmate doesn't care about earning an honest living. He doesn't care about people.

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Howard Asness 2011/09/06 14:43:31

+2
The fact is he committed armed robbery, that the old man he assaulted only had seven cents is immaterial. He should have taken the plea but hubris (look it up) brought him down as it has so many others!

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trismeg... to Howard ... 2011/09/13 15:05:14

arrogance? is this what you mean?

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Howard ... to trismeg... 2011/09/15 17:56:15

Sort of, it is exaggerated pride or self confidence, arrogance is definitely a part of the mix.

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bob 2011/09/06 14:35:38

+1
Do the crime do the time

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jimrthy... to bob 2011/09/06 17:23:57

Except that this approach obviously is not working.

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Chido 2011/09/06 14:08:32

+1
It is fair...but really, who was this guys lawyer? Why didn't he just plead guilty and take the lesser charge?

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Christine 2011/09/06 10:17:37

+4
Maybe community service for 6 years would have been more use. Hard graft cleaning toilets and removing graffiti and litter for instance.

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jimrthy... to Christine 2011/09/06 17:27:51

Maybe. We *really* need to re-think our approach to "justice".

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Shawn 2011/09/06 04:37:41

+1
Lol, I love the BB one. We used to get our $1.00 pair of science goggles from Science class and go play war with BB guns. We did have rules though so no one was using CO2, or pumping the hell out of their air rifles. It hurt like hell, but was fun. It was kind of the predecessor to paintball.

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KingdomNow 2011/09/06 02:42:51

+3
The little bastard was given the chance to admit he did wrong and lied in the face of witnesses and evidence.

He didn't merely threaten an elderly man but beat him as well and still refused to admit he did anything wrong.

He deserves worse and his parents should be slapped.

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Mariisole 2011/09/06 02:11:31

People are acting like he stole 1 million and used a real gun. Jeez people smoke a joint and relax a little.

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