<p>EVERYONE HAS PLENTY OF REASONS
FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR BUT THERE
ARE NO EXCUSES
Helping Kids Take Responsibility
For Their Behavior
James H Burns MA, DHL
www.bullyproofclassroom.com
jameshburns55@gmail.com
I have always enjoyed watching Court TV. I like watching because I love listening to
the defense arguments. I enjoy listening to how the attorney for the defense can come up
with all kinds of excuses to explain why the person on trial committed the crime. The
defendant could even have confessed to the crime, and the defense attorney will still find
some circumstance that caused the person to commit the crime, in essence to excuse the
crime. I was watching once and there was a 15 year old kid named Brian Pittman on trial
for killing his grandparents two years earlier. This young man shot his grandparents in
their sleep at close range with a shotgun, put the leash on the dog, walked out of the
trailer that they lived in, doused the trailer with gasoline, lit the trailer on fire, and got in a
pick-up truck and drove away. The trial went on for weeks, and I watched most of it. The
defense attorney was running out of ammunition so he decided to play a card that is
becoming a very common excuse for deviant behavior. The defense attorney contended
that the reason that this boy committed this heinous crime was because he had an adverse
reaction to Zoloft, an anti-depressant drug that he was taking at the time. I sat on the edge
of my seat as I waited for the verdict. I was thinking that if a person can be found
innocent for murder because of a medication issue, anyone can get away with anything.
I am amazed how family, environment, genetics, and medication can be used as an
excuse for behavior in society today. Once these factors are considered the cause of
deviant behavior, the person who committed the crime or behaved inappropriately will
not be held responsible. It follows then that they should be excused for these behaviors,
in other words, not be held accountable. Ultima