Virginia

... but the questions are:
1. are we just trying to lock him up or keep him from repeating or escalating his criminality by locking him up with older, more experianced criminals?

2. Did he use a BB gun because he did not want to hurt anyone? Or because he couldn't get a fire-arm?

3. What was his motivation - to emulate John Dillinger or to gain money for food or shelter?

4. Is he salvagable with or without incarceration? Can he be incarcerated in a lower security situation?

The difference between the hard law and justice is mercy. That we aren't herding criminals, but improving society. Taking everybody in chains has no mercy and does not improve society.

The system just turns criminals into more hardened criminals, turns the provably innocent into at best people with less opportunity to contribute to society or worse, into criminals.