Children in Mexico: Criminals or Victims?

A 14 year old boy found guilty of being

involved in the South Pacific drug cartel.

About 30,000 children in Mexico are, or have been involved in some sort of organized crime. The Child Rights Network in Mexico says that many of the children committing these crimes did it because of death threats or because of economic and social needs. The most well known case involved a 14-year-old boy, who they would call "El Ponchis" ("The Cloak"). He was found guilty of killing and torturing people for the South Pacific drug cartel. The boy was sentences to three years in a correctional facility. A month afterthis happened, a 13-year-old girl was captured in the state of Jalisco and accused for being in the Zetas drug cartel. Authorities said the girl was making 8,000 pesos a month. Which comes to about $800. All of this money for being a lookout. But just as children have been involved in such crimes, they have been victims as well. In the past five years, from December 2006 to December 2011 at least 1,118 children from armed clashes. The U.N. Committee on the Right of the Child confirmed that until last year, 1,000 minors have died in acts that were linked to organized crimes.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/americas/mexico-children-crime/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2