ＩＣＵ [ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇꜱᴛɪɴɢ ᴄʀɪᴍᴇ ᴜɴɪᴛ]

Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ２Ｃａｒｌ Ｎｅｗｔｏｎ Ｍａｈａｎ

HUH!?? how did a kid get here? wait did he kill? Oh NO

settle down ladies and gents cuz this one is going to be fairly long. ;] 

Somewhere along with East Kentucky a coal mining town, carl newton and Cecil van hoose argued about some metal scraps they were going to sell to the junk dealer for money. The town was on the verge of falling to the depths of bankruptcy, Still, it was months before the stock market crash of 1929 yet Paintsville struggled for survival. due to being a poor town carl newton and Cecil van hoose fought for the money. 

May 18, 1929, 

Cecil took the scrap of metal out of carl's reach and slapped carl, carl getting mad ran away from Cecil, and went home. the 6-year-old reached for his father's 12-gauge shotgun which was kept above the entrance. carl went back outside screaming to Cecil ''IM GOING TO SHOOT YOU" as he squeezed on the trigger. . . perfect shot . . . right at Cecil's dead body. 

Carl became one of the youngest murderers in Kentucky.

Less than a week later Carl was taken to court where he was sentenced to 15 years in reform school. The boy was released to his parents on $500 bail.

A public outcry and legal appeals followed. Some thought manslaughter wasn't enough. Others thought it was too much.

Finally, a Circuit Court judge set aside the conviction and issued a ''writ of prohibition'' that prevented Carl from being sent to reform school. The writ said the county judge had exceeded his authority by allowing Carl to be tried criminally before a jury. Normally, juvenile cases were decided by the county judge.

Newspapers of the time ran portrait-like photos of young Carl, looking boyish in a suit and tie. One paper labeled him a "convict" with an exclamation point. Another showed him in a tender embrace on his mother's lap.

People across the country sent to Carl's family letters of consolation and amazement at the sentence.

Kentucky's attorney general was asked to make a final decision. A month after Carl was sentenced, the attorney general announced that his review of the case was complete. He took no action, allowing the boy to remain with his parents.

In the 71 years since the Paintsville case, states have created extensive and complex juvenile crime codes. Psychologists have created an industry out of studying child criminals.

Still, child experts and psychologists disagree about whether the 6-year-old shooter is a killer or a victim.

They recognize the impact that emotional and physical distress can have on a child's actions. But the concept of criminal responsibility has changed since the 1920s, said Robert Lilly, a sociology professor at Northern Kentucky University.

"The idea of holding someone else responsible for criminal behavior was not very well developed 71 years ago," Mr. Lilly said. "Children were viewed much more as adults then."

So if a child did it, the child was responsible. Parents would not be held liable for a child's actions in the America of 1929.

That philosophy is in stark contrast to the social climate of 2000.

"We have a very narrow, rational, technical logic now that you can be held responsible even if you didn't intend to do it," Mr. Lilly said. "That's why people cop a plea."

"Children ages 6 and 7, the kinds that grow up in middle-class homes, who are sheltered and protected, certainly don't have a clue about the meaning of death," Dr. Regnier said.

In the end, that's what Kentucky officials decided about Carl Mahan. They reviewed the 1929 case and let Carl remain a free person, growing up outside the confines of reform school.

Information about Carl's later life is sparse. He moved to Jefferson County, and he died at the age of 35, in 1958.