Toddler Death

[unknown]

From what I've been privi to...a ton of adults don't have this ability........

THAT my friend is PURE TRUTH and I couldn't have said it better.........

[Eydawn]

A 12 year old knows not to *KILL* a baby. This wasn't like a case of shaken baby syndrome, parent/caretaker gets frustrated, shakes baby, brain damage/death result.

Schizophrenics don't "randomly act out"... they usually display many behavior patterns and warning signs previous to violent episodes. It's the hearing voices and delusional thinking that comes on suddenly. It generally takes a while to get to the violent point. Bad comparison.

I do agree that the 12 year old needs to undergo serious psychological evaluation, but it doesn't change the fact that what he did was wrong. If they unearth that pattern of animal/small creature cruelty or not, the fact remains that he beat a baby to death. Let's not forget that point, shall we? Regardless of whether parental upbringing, societal circumstances, or mental illness or disability factored into the act, the act was still committed.

You know, just because people have mental illnesses or developmental disabilities, we don't excuse them from their behavior. Take DD sex offenders for example... they are still charged and punished for their acts of sexual aggression. The fact that they were DD doesn't excuse the fact that they raped someone or tried to molest someone... as a matter of fact, many DD sex offenders and non DD sex offenders exhibit the same personality characteristics and behaviors. Regardless of functionality level.

If they determine that the origin of the behavior was strictly psychological in nature, then the 12 year old will spend the rest of his life in a locked psych ward. It takes a lot to overcome that barrier and bludgeon someone to death. Perhaps some measure of reconditioning can take place... but a lot of who you are is fairly developed at that age. Factor in that he'll probably be at least 14 before all this is said and done...

If they determine that he has sociopathic tendencies, then he will remain in a locked environment, possibly jail depending on what level of behavior he seems to have internalized. Either way, there's no way this kid is going free.

I am not for automatically condemning him, but I am for a trial that takes into account psychological and adolescent mental development concerns. But you know what? A 12 year old knows better than to kill a baby, and if this was any other century than ours, the city would have just killed him outright. Let's keep in mind that regardless of what level he's being tried at, he has a much better chance than he would otherwise, or historically.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[medibrat]

I can see this in my head (warning to sensitive viewers, this scene contains contorversial content):

12 year old boy sits in front of tv with can of soda. Baby starts crying. Boy yells from couch for baby to stop crying, and turns up tv. Baby, can't understand why he isn't being listened to increases intensity and volume of crying. Boy gets up with baseball bat, stands over baby yelling "I'm warning you...if you don't stop this crying right now..."

I can't help but wonder if that is how THIS boy was brought up. That might be all he knows. This is a good case for the nature/nurture argument if we had a whole lot more of the background...like what's been going on in this kids house for the last 12 years. True, some kids are just born 'bad'...but if this kid had not shown any other signs, it makes me wonder...this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Someone mentioned timebomb...I think that's accurate. The kid was just pushed and pushed and pushed...and that was it.

That being said, the kid needs to be punished...psychiatric for sure. And after the psych counselling and testing...what then? This kid needs to be defused...I think if he had no priors then treating him like an adult would be a mistake. Sure he had the knowledge to know that no, he shouldn't have hit his cousin with the bat, but did he have the maturity to understand that the cousin, at 17 months, didn't understand the threats he was making? Again, I think the majority of the punishment here should go to the parents. I mean sure, they teach that babysitting course for 12 year olds, but some kids at 12 are more mature than some adults, and vice versa....it has to be an individual thing...each kid's limit is going to be different. My question is why are we not dealing with the parents more forcefully??

Chemical castration and Haldol all around. I'm footing the bill.

Brat :angel8: