These are 16 year old kids, old enough to know right from wrong [..] These kids were being assholes, but that does not warrant federal charges. The problem

These are 16 year old kids, old enough to know right from wrong [..] These kids were being assholes, but that does not warrant federal charges. The problem is that we can choose between unsatisfactory public shaming or thoroughly ruining their lives. There is no middle way, where they get an appropriate punishment, fitting the damage done. If harsh punishments were a deterrent, these kids would already have been deterred, because there are plenty of examples of teenagers harshly punished for relatively minor computerrelated crimes. I'd rather see them grow up to become, probably average, members of society. Also, whether they know right from wrong is a question whose answer definitely isn't as clear-cut as you make it out to be. There's a reason we don't consider them adults yet.