2014 S4 Term 1 Enrichment Project: Crime & Punishment - Option B
Case Study 1:
Santana High School Shooting:
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Date: 5 March 2001
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Location: California, USA at Santana High School
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Perpetrator - Charles Andrew Williams (aged 15 when committed crime)
Casualties: 15 injured, 2 dead
Cause for murder?
Williams attended Santana High School where he was bullied by fellow students. He began to spend
time with a crowd of skateboarders. While Williams was accepted within this peer group, at times
these individuals also bullied him.
Weeks before the shooting, Williams attempted to speak with a school counsellor, but was told to
go back to class because the office was full. The Friday before the shooting, his drama teacher
humiliated him in front of the class. Williams spoke on two occasions of his plan to "pull
a Columbine" at Santana High School, but no reports were ever made of these threats to the school.
He also made plans to get on top of the schools roof so that he could hit people more easily. The
friends he informed were asked to leave the school. The first occasion was a week before the
shooting, the second during the weekend prior to March 5.
On 5 March 2001, he took his father's Arminius .22 calibre long-action revolver from the locked gun
cabinet in their apartment. Williams entered a boys' bathroom at Santana High School and fatally
shot a freshman. He then left the bathroom and began firing the revolver indiscriminately at other
students, killing another. A student teacher and campus security supervisor Peter Ruiz walked into
the bathroom to try to stop Williams, but Williams aimed the revolver at Ruiz, shooting him five
times. As the student and supervisor attempted to escape, Williams fired and hit Ruiz in the back.
When police officers arrived, they found Williams kneeling on the floor with the weapon in his hands.
He to kill himself but was unable to.
After his arrest, he told investigators that he was "tired of being bullied."
Sentencing:
On June 20, 2002, Williams pleaded guilty to all charges against him in an effort to avoid trial. On
August 15, 2002, a California judge sentenced Williams, as an adult, to 50-years to life in prison, and
ordered him to serve his time in the Youth Offender Program until his 18th birthday, at which time
he would be transferred to adult prison. Williams was given credit for the 529 days that he had
served in juvenile hall, fined $10,000.00 and ordered to pay restitution to the Victims Restitution
Fund. At his sentencing, Williams apologized and expressed remorse for his actions. On March 1,
2004, he was transferred to an adult prison.
Case Study 2:
New Delhi Gang Rape:
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Date: 16 December 2013
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Location: Munirka in New Delhi, India on a private bus
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Perpetrator: 6 in total - 1 juvenile, 5 adults
Casualties: 1 male victim injured, 1 female victim raped and killed
23-year-old woman and her male friend were on their way home after a movie in South Delhi. They
boarded an off-duty charter bus at Munirka for Dwarka which was driven by joyriders at 9.30pm.
The Six men, including the driver, taunted the couple, asking them why they were out at such a late
hour when the woman’s male friend became suspicious. He tried to intervene, but was beaten and
knocked unconscious with an iron rod. The men dragged the woman to the back of the bus, where
she was repeatedly beaten and raped. She tried to retaliate, leaving bite marks on the accused men.
The woman suffered several medical injuries to her abdomen, intestines and genitals. After the
beatings and rape, the men threw the victims off the moving bus. The bus driver allegedly tried to
drive the bus over the woman, but she was pulled aside by her male friend. One of the accused tried
to remove evidence from the bus, which was later impounded on by the police.
Sentencing – Juvenile
Delhi Police described the juvenile as the most brutal of the six accused. He was declared as 17 years
and six months old on the day of the crime. On 28 January 2013, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB)
determined that the juvenile would not be tried as an adult. A petition was moved, seeking the
prosecution of the minor as an adult because of the extremely violent nature of his alleged crime,
but was rejected by the JJB. The juvenile was given a maximum sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment in
reform facility, inclusive of the 8 months spent in remand during the trial.
Sentencing – Adults
Police filed charges against the five adult men for rape, murder, kidnapping, destruction of evidence,
and the attempted murder of the woman's male companion. 1 of the defendants hanged himself in
custody. Other four men faced the death penalty, and demonstrators outside the courthouse called
for the hanging of the defendants. They were sentenced on 13 September to death by hanging.
Was the sentence given to the juvenile fair?
The juvenile perpetrator revealed to be most cruel. It was reported that he ripped out female
victim’s intestines with bare hands, raped female victim twice and allegedly threw the victims off the
moving bus. There were many calls for perpetrator to be tried as an adult in criminal court.
Defence of infancy - invalid
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“Children are incapable of forming the mens rea of an offense”
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However, the intention to kill was displayed by perpetrator
Analysis + Recommendation
Purpose of juvenile justice system (Restorative Model) focuses on rehabilitation and future
reintegration rather than punishment and deterrence (criminal justice system). This can be
attributed to the belief in innocence and naivety of childhood and is susceptible to negative
influences. Caning recommended as punishment for juvenile offenders due to it being able to serve
as a reminder to offenders through pain and scarring, and is only recommended if no malicious
intent is displayed by the offender. Juveniles might not be able to endure the heavy caning carried
out in prisons, hence a lighter cane is recommended to be used. An instalment system can also be in
place where offenders are allowed to receive their stroke across a span of time in the event that
they are unable to endure all of the strokes in one go.