Boy confesses to murder, but aunt and uncle don't believe

[karrie]

A 12 year old boy has confessed to beating his infant cousin to death with a bat while babysitting, because she was crying while he was watching tv.

But the 17 month old's parents don't believe their nephew really killed their daughter, and are petitioning the courts for leniency for him.

more on this story...

 

[Pangloss]

A few things come to mind:

One, it's Florida. All the nuts and flakes got shaken down there.

Two, there are almost seven billion people on the planet right now. How many times a day must this happen? I'm merely talking statistics here, not the moral depravity of the world.

Three, ain't media great? We can find some story, one that has absolutely no impact on our lives here and now, and the miracle of the news media can bring it right to us, as if it were our neighbours who did this. What a great perversion of perspective.

You know, while violent crime was dropping rapidly in Greater Vancouver through the eighties and nineties, reporting on violent crime went up sixfold!

No kidding people felt less safe, even though they were safer than at any other time in human history.

Sometimes I'm embarassed to have once been a reporter.

Pangloss

 

[karrie]

I've commented on the same before Pangloss.

But, in this case, it wasn't so much the crime that was of interest to me, as the odd reaction of the parents.

 

[Pangloss]

Ah, the parents asking for an appropriate response? Yes, indeed odd (not even a hint of sarcasm here).

Pangloss

 

[karrie]

It's the parents not believing despite his confession that confuses me. When it comes to family, leniency is the norm. It's easy to read a newspaper article and demonize the criminals involved, detach them from ever having been held, loved, nurtured. For an involved family member, asking for leniency isn't a surprise to me. But denying the nephew did it in the face of all evidence AND a confession. It seems like either they're the world's most naive people, or there's something more to the story. It kind of annoys me that I can't find out which.

 

[jenn]

a 12 yr old should never have been left to mind a 17 month old... maybe for a few mins while someone ran to the store while the child slept etc..

 

[Pangloss]

I was babysitting when I was 12. I also had a job, and cooked dinner from time to time.

Is there something inherently wrong with a 12 year old taking care of their sibling? The parents or other close relatives would be in a better position to judge the maturity of their 12 year old than we would.

Pangloss

 

[gerryh]

obviously this 12 year old wasn't "mature" enough....was he.

 

[karrie]

We've had children babysit at 12 yrs old.... but only when their parents were right nearby. We've never had a sitter under 16 whose parents weren't within 5 houses of ours.

 

[Hazmart]

I first started babysitting my brother when I was 10, we were a one parent family and my brother has PKU and ADD, others didn't want to have to deal with his diet and behavior (his behavior was directly related to how well he stayed to his diet). My mom even spoke with police back then to make sure that it was legal and they said it was as long as she the parent think that I was capable of it.
As for maturity, don't you think that is something that you can only estimate. A lot of parents think that their older kids are mature and then the kids get caught doing drugs or drinking and driving and the parents are always surprised.
I think this situation is a bit off though, what do the parents think really happened if it wasn't the boy? I agree that something seems missing.

 

[Vereya]

I think that there is probably more to this story. Probably some means were used to get the confession from the boy, in order to have a murder case solved.

 

[Pangloss]

obviously this 12 year old wasn't "mature" enough....was he.

Gerryh:

What, did I steal your bike in a previous life? Looking for my posts just to deliver some little bitter bon mots?

You rather missed my point. I'll send you the magic decoder ring if you figure it out.

Pangloss

 

[Zzarchov]

Its possible the kid died from something as simple as negligence (rolling off a dresser while the kid washed baby crap off his hands mid change),

Coming back to a dead kid, the nephew could be trying to claim extra responsibility out of guilt (much as how people have claimed responsibility for suicides many times in the past).

OR

He's a little psycho and no one ever truly believes their kid or grandkid or nephew could really be a psycho.

 

[gerryh]

Gerryh:

What, did I steal your bike in a previous life? Looking for my posts just to deliver some little bitter bon mots?

You rather missed my point. I'll send you the magic decoder ring if you figure it out.

Pangloss

looking for you? Now YOU feel "persecuted"? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. The power I appear to hold.:roll:

You used yourself as an example of how a 12 year old is "responsible" and it should be up to the parents to decide....I just pointed out the obvious...unless you want to argue that this particular 12 year old WAS/IS responsible enough to entrust a 17 month old baby with him. BTW...good luck with that one.

 

[Brat]

It's the parents not believing despite his confession that confuses me. When it comes to family, leniency is the norm. It's easy to read a newspaper article and demonize the criminals involved, detach them from ever having been held, loved, nurtured. For an involved family member, asking for leniency isn't a surprise to me. But denying the nephew did it in the face of all evidence AND a confession. It seems like either they're the world's most naive people, or there's something more to the story. It kind of annoys me that I can't find out which.

Seems Denial isn't just a river in Eygpt.

 

[Pangloss]

looking for you? Now YOU feel "persecuted"? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. The power I appear to hold.:roll:

You used yourself as an example of how a 12 year old is "responsible" and it should be up to the parents to decide....I just pointed out the obvious...unless you want to argue that this particular 12 year old WAS/IS responsible enough to entrust a 17 month old baby with him. BTW...good luck with that one.

No, gerryh, a more careful reading of my posts points out that a blanket statement about the maturity of anyone at any particular age is pointless and futile. If one was going to be stupid enough to say that no 12 year olds were mature enough to assume responsibility because of the behaviour of this kid, then any dumb act by any one person at any age would also be an argument that nobody at that age is mature enough.

I have no argument to make about this particular kid, and neither do you - precisely because you don't know him.

I apologize if my posts aren't simple enough for you.

Pangloss

 

[Praxius]

I was babysitting when I was 12. I also had a job, and cooked dinner from time to time.

Is there something inherently wrong with a 12 year old taking care of their sibling? The parents or other close relatives would be in a better position to judge the maturity of their 12 year old than we would.

Pangloss

Apparently the parents wern't in a good enough position to determine this if he clubbed their baby to death for crying.

This seems more like another example of more delusional parents and family members who just lock out any negative concepts towards their own family.

Perhaps someone should have asked the parents "If the kid confessed and in detail about how he killed the baby and the evidence is stacked proving he had his grubby hands on the bat, but didn't do it.... who the hell did?" Either the kid did it and he's a sick little bastard, or he's lying about a sick act, and attempting to take credit for it, therefore he's still a sick little bastard.

I babysat all the time myself when I was 12 and older. Also at that same age and earlier, I knew what could hurt and what could kill. Taking a baseball bat to an infant will kill.... deerrrrrr come on stupid parents!

This kid is right in the cross roads of his life right now. Punish him for his crime as it should be done so he learns consiquence from action. (something the parents clearly lack in their delusion) If they slack on him now, he'll be even worse later on. Beating someone to death with a baseball bat isn't the same as stealing some kids bike.... it's killing someone.