15 year old kills 9 year old neighbor, charged as adult

[quiet_samurai]

It's wrong. She doesn't have the rights of an adult, she is not a full citizen and it is therefore wrong to treat her the same way. That's the whole point of the 'minor' system, they are too young to be adults, and are protected from the adult world.

This is very true, but... she seemed to be very aware of what she was doing and the fact she prepared for it days beforehand suggests an adult understanding of what she going to do. Even though she doesn't have adult rights, a 15 year old knows what murder is.

Your point does make it a rather difficult choice though.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Well, if she killed someone to feel "what's it like", and it was planned, not impulsive - then yeah, sure. If you ask me, this is too serious to just let her off scott-free. And "teenage depression" is not an excuse. If you are depressed, you want to kill yourself - not others.

Nicely said.

I really don't care how old she is, pre-meditated murder is pre-meditated murder, and she did it just to "Feel it". A sadist in the making if I ever heard it.

 

[thiosk]

Prisons are where you send people who are too dangerous for society.

Murdering people for the thrill of murder is dangerous.

Prison is the perfect place to go.

 

[Smack-Ferret]

No fucking teens have depression. Don't even start.

...Are you joking? Please don't dismiss depression as a joke just because it's the cool way to get attention at the moment........

Of course teenagers can be depressed, chemical imbalances do not disciminate. Those who have seen it first hand can no doubt attest to it. Seeing a broken person is a pretty fucking horrible thing to witness. It's beyond insensitive to mock the suffering of all the families who have suffered or been torn apart due to depression.

No as a matter of fact I am not joking. Do you know how many high school girls I met that said they were depressed? A friggin heap. Next thing I know there laughing heartily with their other depressed friends.

 

[G1eet]

Why didn't she start watching Dexter? Then she could have channeled those odd, very odd "urges".

 

[firedfns13]

She deserves to be tried as an adult. Also, she's clearly beyond fixing...

 

[Neonbob]

I think that's about right.

"Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like," Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified Wednesday during a court hearing over the slaying.

Even ignoring the fact that she planned it, that sentence is enough to convince me she needs to be tried as an adult.
I just can't imagine there is any kind of program that would "rehabilitate" her.

You're right, that sounds like a pretty childish reason kill somebody, ri- Wait.

I won't dispute that the reason she stated is easily a childish sentiment.
But, in my very limited knowledge of criminal punishment(feel free to call me out on this by the way), the treatment for adults is much stricter than their juvenile counterparts.
And, given that she also planned the murder out ahead of time, and committed it with a very personal kind of weapon(she had to be right up against the child when killing her), I believe she deserves a more heavy handed response.

 

[A Weary Exile]

I think that's about right.

"Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like," Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified Wednesday during a court hearing over the slaying.

Even ignoring the fact that she planned it, that sentence is enough to convince me she needs to be tried as an adult.
I just can't imagine there is any kind of program that would "rehabilitate" her.

You're right, that sounds like a pretty childish reason kill somebody, ri- Wait.

So what your saying is that because she's fifteen she can't know that murder is wrong?

I was pretty aware of the world around me and how it worked at fifteen, and I'm sure most people have a good moral compass by the age of at least ten. She obviously places no value on human life since she is so willing to end a life for her own pleasure/curiosity.

 

[Raven's Nest]

No as a matter of fact I am not joking. Do you know how many high school girls I met that said they were depressed? A friggin heap. Next thing I know there laughing heartily with their other depressed friends.

Depression is a feeling... Clinically or not, it is still a valid feeling to have.

Exclaiming all teenagers are incapable of being depressed is amongst the most ignorant phrases I have ever seen on this forum... And i've seen a lot...

Prisons are where you send people who are too dangerous for society.

Murdering people for the thrill of murder is dangerous.

Prison is the perfect place to go.

The noose is the perfect place to go for a murderer who murders people for the thrill of it.

 

[Dys]

It's wrong. She doesn't have the rights of an adult, she is not a full citizen and it is therefore wrong to treat her the same way. That's the whole point of the 'minor' system, they are too young to be adults, and are protected from the adult world.

This is very true, but... she seemed to be very aware of what she was doing and the fact she prepared for it days beforehand suggests an adult understanding of what she going to do. Even though she doesn't have adult rights, a 15 year old knows what murder is.

Your point does make it a rather difficult choice though.

It is by no means an easy choice, most likely there is no 'right' way to deal with her.

The distinction has been made between child and adult, and in my opinion it should be honoured. She planned it like an adult, and was aware of what she was doing but clearly couldn't comprehend the resulting repercussions of her actions, especially on her own psyche. I don't imagine she was always planning to turn herself in, especially after having hidden the bodies so well so that should say something about how it affected her. She should definately have the maximum sentance possible for a child, a heavy punishment is very necissary.

 

[A Random Reader]

She planned it out and then executed it without provocation and she gets charged as an adult for murder, this, in my eyes is completely fair because she was 15, had planned it and had wanted to do to "see what it felt like"

 

[Logic 0]

Well we can only hope this is a right step in the american justice system in prosicuting criminals and making sure no criminals escape justice through a good lawyer.

 

[paiged]

Fifteen is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. I don't see anything good coming from a person who murdered someone to "see what it felt like".

If she doesn't end up in a prison cell, she should definitely be locked up in a padded one.

 

[Mozared]

What I find the most odd in the whole situation, is that she followed through with it. That she wanted to know what it felt like is something I can understand. That she planned it out is also something I can understand. That she actually did it is what frightens me. Because she must've had an eerie and scaring feeling moments before doing it. Which means that her discipline to 'do this' was stronger than her feeling of justice.

 

[Avatar Roku]

Christ that's fucked. Try her as an adult, I say. She clearly knew what she was doing and, she only being a year younger than me, I refuse to believe she didn't understand the consequences of her actions. I understand the merit of the minor system, but when it's something this major, it was premeditated, and the criminal understood the consequences, it violates the spirit of that same system to try them as a child.

 

[Dys]

No fucking teens have depression. Don't even start.

...Are you joking? Please don't dismiss depression as a joke just because it's the cool way to get attention at the moment........

Of course teenagers can be depressed, chemical imbalances do not disciminate. Those who have seen it first hand can no doubt attest to it. Seeing a broken person is a pretty fucking horrible thing to witness. It's beyond insensitive to mock the suffering of all the families who have suffered or been torn apart due to depression.

No as a matter of fact I am not joking. Do you know how many high school girls I met that said they were depressed? A friggin heap. Next thing I know there laughing heartily with their other depressed friends.

Did you actually read past the first sentance....

So just because some morons decide it's a great way to get attention, we should completely disregard those that are generally suffering? Do you have any idea how many families are broken up because of depression? It isn't everywhere, but it is VERY damaging and common enough to be worrying. It should not be taken lightly neither by the posers who think it's cool or by you, the normal person who hates said posers.

It's fine to call bullshit on everyone blaming everything on being depressed, but it's a little heartless to disregard it as a bullshit medical condition. It's hard enough to diagnose as it is (as the trend for people who are really depressed is for them to not know, much less talk about it) and a very touchy subject for those who've been exposed to it.

 

[riskroWe]

I think she should just get some mandatory counselling. It is a first offense, after all. If I got locked up for every 9 year old I killed when I was in junior high school, I never would've learned WHY it's wrong, and I wouldn't have changed. Luckily my parents helped cover it up and found me a black market psychiatrist.

Psychopaths need to be taught how to conduct themselves properly. Not so much to change themselves, but to function within society.

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

It's wrong. She doesn't have the rights of an adult, she is not a full citizen and it is therefore wrong to treat her the same way. That's the whole point of the 'minor' system, they are too young to be adults, and are protected from the adult world.

By the age of 15 you either know right from wrong or you do not. There are times when charging a minor as an adult is wrong, but this isn't one of them. Sure, she's just a teenager from a messed up home...but she killed a little girl. Strangled her, slashed her throat, and then stabbed her so says the article. And for what reason? Revenge? Money? Nope, neither one. She did it for the hell of it. People like her don't get better. This wasn't her being duped into something she didn't want to do and getting caught in the consequences. It's plain old premeditated murder.

 

[Slayer_2]

Charge her as an adult. I don't give a shit about the whole "she's not 18" thing. You do NOT plan a murder of an innocent 9-year-old girl and go through with it just to "feel what it's like" and walk away from it 6 years later. That is sick beyond belief. Depression isn't an excuse either, at worst that should make you kill yourself, not some 9-year-old girl.