I agree. A good criminal defense attorney at your side, turn on the water works, blame your actions on someone/something else-in this case, "showing off" for girls-and you can get away with just about anything.

PA's juvenile system is a joke....its founded on the belief that kids can be rehabilitated, rather than punished....

that may have worked years ago, but times are different....you're seeing more juvenile offenders, more offenses by juveniles of a violent or felonious nature, and the kids that have been in the system before KNOW that its a cake walk. I have no problem with the "rehabilitation" approach for the first time offenders, but when you have the same teens who keep doing stupid stuff, its time to try something new.

Yes Mrs Lewis, your boy (note I did not say man) is a Cherib, he can do no wrong, well except strong armed robbery. Who cares if he terrorized a few innocent people all in the name of getting laid? He was just showing off for some wholesome females, they no doubt were returning from youth fellowship. Childs play.

Pathetic, immature boys. Garvey should have gone to prison to have a real man made of him. This is the problem with society, we coddle these kids as opposed to teaching leasons. Mommy pays for an expensive lawyer and bam, probation. Strong armed robbery!!!

Pathetic, blind parents, four sets of them apparently. Mrs Lewis should be embarrassed by this child that she raised, she obviously did something wrong (strong armed robbery, say it with me Mrs Lewis). Hopefully she is embarrassed and ashamed that their family name has been drug through the gutter like this, I know I would be.

Hey Joseph P Garvey. Real men step up to the plate. Real men don't rob Amish people. Tears are for wusses. Baseball bats are for baseball. I am certain this will not be the last time we read about your sorry !profanity! in the newspaper. They'll reserve a spot for you at LCP.

What a shame. Maybe if he had gone before the same Judge as Lewis did, he would have gotten an appropriate consequence. when Lewis' mother told that Judge her son did it to impress girls, the Judge called Lewis a coward for robbing those who he knew would not fight back. that hit the nail on the head.

What does everyone expect? Teachers aren't supposed to tell a kid their answer to 2+2=6 is wrong do it again, and they aren't supposed to use red ink pens to correct papers. Why? It will hurt the childs feelings and damage their self-esteem. Parents are damned if they do and damned if they don't, because they aren't to discipline their child with a belt or a back hand when the unruly child needs to be corrected. Put them in a time out chair and make them sit there. Oh yeah, don't forget the parent has to stay seated there too, so they can make sure the childs only movement is to breathe and blink their eyes. And before I get jumped on about abuse, I know all about it and I agree that there are those that are victims of it. Those are the children that need to be rescued. There is a difference between discipline and abuse. When you coddle children you do more harm then good. Children need discipline and they need to know there are consequences to their actions. Maybe if consequences happened that fit the actions these kids do, there would be more reluctance to do it.

Instead of probation for this kid, he should have gotten jail time. Now he'll brag about how he robbed some people and only got probation. Cool isn't it?