Here's the story: in late April, two boys, ages 12 and 13, out for kicks, set a homeless man on fire in Seattle's Pioneer Square. He lives, tho in other cities such attacks on the homeless have been fatal.

Disturbing. Horrific. But no excuse for the reaction of King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who--along with an offensive, pandering, and counterproductive call for youth curfews--has stated he wants the kids prosecuted as adults.

How simply can this be stated? No matter how troubling his or her behavior, a 12-year-old is not an adult. We are talking about someone in the sixth fucking grade.

The entire point of having a separate juvenile justice system is to recognize that kids don't have the same awareness of actions and consequences as adults, and that they're too young to be given up on. Almost everyone in that (admittedly flawed) system is at least 12 years old. Maleng, essentially, is advocating that we throw youth offenders' lives away. And he's doing it strictly for his own political gain.

This case underlines the ugly truth behind U.S. justice--that in many cases it enforces not justice, but revenge. And it raises the question of who the hardened criminal is--the elementary school student who endangers someone's life, or the career politician who would throw that child's life away.