Homicide Case Against Boy Rouses Punishment Debate

Prosecutors argue that numbers alone don't paint an accurate portrait.

"Violent juvenile crime has been dropping, but unfortunately we're still seeing isolated acts of extreme violence involving juvenile offenders," Backstrom said.

The 12-year-old boy did not have an arrest record or a documented pattern of abuse, police sources said. He is undergoing psychological evaluation. Ivey said he needs to further investigate the case before considering a petition to transfer him to an adult criminal court.

At the Penn Mar apartment complex, the site of the slayings, residents are having mixed feelings about treating the 12-year-old as a juvenile.

A woman walking to her car mutters: "Sure, he's a kid, but he did kill two people."

A few yards from her, Antonieno Kerns, 25, says: "If you treat him as an adult, he's going to get even more worse than he is now. He's going to go where older people who absolutely don't care are. And they can make him don't care even more."

Nearby, Willis, 35, and Davis, 52, who are friends, launch into a vigorous debate.

Willis: "What happens when he's 18 or 21 and he's released into society?"

Davis: "At age 18, it's still six years. At his age, he can be rehabilitated."

Willis: "If you owned a business, would you hire him?"

Davis: "Depends on what kind of business. I wouldn't allow him to hang around no children anymore. Anyway, I don't think he's going to get out no time soon. He should be there until he's 35."

Willis: "The only way that's going to happen is if he's tried as an adult."

Davis: "If that's the case then, yeah, I agree. I don't want him to get out early. Then, I think he should be tried as an adult."

He pauses, thinking, and shakes his head again.

"He still needs help," he adds. "I don't think he realized what he did. He's got to have some kind of heart in him."

Willis shakes her head again.

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.