海角大神

As the public focuses on allegations that three college friends of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev took his laptop and backpack containing fireworks out of his dorm room, many people may be asking, 鈥淲hat were they thinking?鈥�

It鈥檚 an oft-repeated question when it comes to adolescent behavior. And yes, psychology experts say, 19 (the age of all four) can still be considered adolescent 鈥� with poor judgment, impulsivity, and sense of invulnerability all too common as they鈥檙e still developing.

The arrests of Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev, and Robel Phillipos can become a sort of听 鈥渢eachable moment鈥� 鈥� a chance for adults to realize the importance of helping young people sort through complicated issues of friendship and loyalty, as well as the moral and legal obligations they have to broader society when they are aware of people at risk of harming themselves or others.

鈥淥ften at that age, people do things inconsistent with what they know to be right or wrong ... [and] they show especially poor judgment when they are with their peers,鈥� says Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. He鈥檚 not surprised the allegations include, for instance, that they collectively decided to throw out the backpack after discovering it contained fireworks that had been emptied of gunpowder.

Research has shown that when adolescents are with their peers, they 鈥減ay a disproportionate amount of attention to the potential rewards of a decision and not to the cost,鈥� Professor Steinberg says. Often, he says, they don鈥檛 believe they鈥檒l be caught, or they aren鈥檛 thinking about what the consequences could be if they are.听

An FBI affidavit says that the three friends, who at one point were all students at the University of Massachusetts 鈥� Dartmouth, had seen images of Mr. Tsarnaev as a suspect in the bombing, had texted with him, and then put the backpack in the garbage 鈥渂ecause听they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble.鈥� It does not specify what happened to the laptop. The FBI account also says Messrs. Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov had heard Tsarnaev say a month before that he knew how to make a bomb.

The three suspects鈥� lawyers have denied the charges and said the young men didn鈥檛 know that their friend was one of the bomb suspects.

During adolescence and a search for identity, 鈥渇riends become so important,鈥� says Jennifer Powell-Lunder, a clinical psychologist in Westchester County, N.Y., and co-author of 鈥淭eenage as a Second Language.鈥� When they found the backpack in Tsarnaev鈥檚 room, 鈥渢heir gut probably said, 鈥榃ow, this probably shouldn鈥檛 be in here.鈥�... This was a friend who they knew,... everybody talked about him as a good kid, a good guy. I think they were really focusing more on the emotion and ... the connection that they had, at the expense of really understanding the ramifications of what they were doing.鈥�

But the case could lead to more emphasis, at college orientations, for example, on the need to report if peers are involved in something of concern, Dr. Powell-Lunder says.

Kdyrbayev and Tazhayakov, charged with obstruction of justice, could be subject to up to five years in prison. Mr. Phillipos, charged with lying to investigators, could face eight years in prison.

How to treat crimes by young people is a dilemma for the legal system, Powell-Lunder says. 鈥淭hese young boys, I cringe to even call them men, may end up being the example, and hopefully other people will understand how serious this is,鈥� she says.

Reports that Kadyrbayev鈥檚 car had a license plate reading 鈥淭errorista #1鈥� brings up the important role of parents, Powell-Lunder says.

According to Kadyrbayev鈥檚 lawyer, the plate was a gag gift from friends, and Powell-Lunder applauds the right of free speech in such matters. But 鈥淚f I鈥檓 that parent, I would say ... take that license plate off your car right now. I鈥檓 not paying for your college if you don鈥檛,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his is an alarm that we all need to step up.... Just because you send your kid off to college does not make them an adult.鈥�

When it comes to ethics, there鈥檚 not enough education for young people about the concept of 鈥渃omplicity,鈥� says Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson Institute in Los Angeles.

Both teens and adults sometimes couch their action as a value, such as loyalty, but that鈥檚 鈥渁 moral excuse for passivity and avoiding involvement and conflict,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople pretend that 鈥業t鈥檚 my ethics,鈥� but it鈥檚 really just simply a self-interest.鈥�

People should expand their sense of loyalty to realize who will be helped and who will be hurt by their decision to do or not do something, Mr. Josephson says. Teaching young people to think about that wide range of 鈥渟takeholders鈥� is part of Character Counts!, a comprehensive character education program the Josephson Institute supports that has reached more than 8 million students in the United States.

鈥淢oral obligations come with the situations we are presented with,鈥� Josephson says, 鈥渁nd we have choices: We can either make things better, we can leave them the way they are, or sometimes we make things worse.鈥�

鈥� Associated Press material was used in this report.