Don't try this at home

MTV broadcasts a disclaimer during "Jackass" that warns viewers not to replicate anything they see on the show at home. During each episode of the show, which runs on Sundays at 9 p.m., a statement reads, "The following show features stunts performed by professionals and/or total idiots under strict control and supervision. MTV and the producers insist that neither you or anyone else attempt to recreate or perform anything you have seen on this show."

"Jackass" prides itself on being stupid, featuring "Candid Camera"-style sketches and stunts like the "human barbecue" trick, which Lind and his friend supposedly imitated.

To adults, there is no gray area: Set yourself on fire, and chances are you'll get burned; pick up a little girl and smash her down on the table, and she will sustain serious injures. But adults also know what goes on behind the scenes; they are familiar with acting and artifice. Kids watch WWF thugs get stomped on by 300-pound "enemies" and rise again, appearing the following week fresh and ready for more happy mayhem. (Another important lesson: These guys aren't just indestructible -- they are governor material).

Most American children have watched TV from toddlerhood, learning to count, to read, to sing and say "Thank you" from Mister Rogers and the Muppets. At what point are they supposed to conclude that the medium is no longer something to learn from, that the things they see are not things they should try at home?

To the WWF, Tate's defense that he was imitating TV was as phony as the choreographed stunts their wrestlers perform for their fans. "The WWF has stated consistently that the suggestion that wrestling had anything to do with Lionel Tate's murderous acts was a contrived hoax," said Jerry McDevitt, the WWF's litigation counsel in a press release. "The jury easily and quickly repudiated the defense counsel's claim that pro wrestling was somehow to blame for this intentional homicide, and individual jurors have reiterated this in public comments.

"The evidence proved, and the jury found, that this was death caused not by mimicking wrestling moves, but rather by a deliberate, prolonged and savage beating."

Children killing other children is still a rare occurrence. On the other hand, mimicking the media is not. "How odd do you have to be as a 13- or 14-year-old to want to imitate bizarre things you see in the media?" asks Dr. Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Medical School. "I would say they all want to do it.

"They are still children, they have difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality; they lose track of consequences, they don't understand death. So when people put forward these images in the world, they have to recognize that's how kids are going to see it."

For James Backstrom, county attorney for Dakota County, Minn., deciding which cases to refer to adult court is always a tough decision. He looks at a variety of factors in determining which adolescents are not fit for juvenile court. He doesn't have as much of a problem with the older ones who commit heinous crimes. But when it dips down to kids Tate's age -- he was 12 when the murder occurred -- Backstrom finds it more troubling.

"I don't personally believe that the prosecution of 10-, 11-, 13-year-olds as adults is an appropriate response in the vast majority of cases, regardless of the level of crime," says Backstrom, who is also co-chair of the National District Attorney Association's Juvenile Justice Committee. "We are dealing with kids who, in essence, do not understand the full nature of the extent of their actions. There needs to be some recognition of that through the criminal justice system while at the same time we need to ensure adequate accountability."

But Backstrom does not believe that the kids should evade responsibility completely. He's a big advocate of "blended sentencing" laws, which combine elements of the juvenile and adult courts. Ironically, the plea bargain Tate turned down was a blended sentence. In exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder, he would have had to only serve three years in juvenile detention, one year of house arrest and eight years' probation. (Shortly after Tate's conviction, the prosecutor in the case said he would seek a lenient sentence for the boy, who faces life imprisonment).

Obviously, not all kids will imitate TV and kill in the process. The majority of children can watch hours of violent programming and remain unfazed. Child-development psychologists say that only a small percentage of children are vulnerable, and that many factors influence a child's view of the world -- their peers, their teachers, their parents. In fact, the recent surgeon general's report on youth violence could not conclude whether violent programming alters a juvenile's behavior in the long term because of all the influences a kid is exposed to while growing up.

"I think it's self-evident that TV influences us and I think it influences children, too," Osborne says. "I don't think that means that I want someone held culpable or liable. But there needs to be an acknowledgement that children 'role-model' their culture and if we care about their actions, we should pay attention to culture. I had a Russian roulette case -- it was clearly consent and somebody blew their head off. The what-ifs of the world never penetrate a kid's brain." And until they are old enough to understand the potential fallout of their actions, says Osborne, their competence should be assessed before a judgment is rendered.

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