Wisconsin Teens Claim They Stabbed Friend To Please Slenderman: Update

[webkilla]

Yeah but the problem with supervision is that you can't shadow kids 24-7. I mean there's nothing inherently bad about creepypasta. It's no worse than anything Goosebumps or heck traditional fairy tales. Everyone loves a good spooky story. But these too...

le snip

Supervision in that context is EASY. You just don't let them online unsupervised until they've been trained properly in it.

VanQ has an example of that - he has a 12yr old sister who is trusted to handle herself online. That implies that she's shown that she knows what's what and can handle herself.

These girls here clearly didn't go through that process first.

I am well aware that 11 or 12yr olds can usually understand and handle things far above what most stereotypes and age-restrictions would seem to imply. All you usually have to do is explain things directly and pause every now and then and ask if they understand what you're talking about. No really, kids can be quite perceptive in this respect.

The problem comes when they're not explained things properly - because they'll fill out the gaps themselves with their own imagination... and guess what happened here. Though, if at 12 they don't know that killing someone else is bad? Ya... something went VERY wrong there

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I read this and the phrase, "What the fuck is wrong with you" comes to mind. Seriously, those girls are most likely insane in need of some serious help. Also, the fact that that girl was stabbed 19 times and survived is impressive.

 

[kaizen2468]

I guess they can't tell the difference between fiction and reality.

 

[JoJo]

Since when were 12 year olds teenagers? Hm, sad all around for both the victim and the attackers, I won't pretend to understand why a rare few children go through with things like this. Perhaps they weren't quite right in the head, or were victims of abuse. I don't get why in some U.S. states children can be tried as adults though, I mean whatever they've done they're still kids, they aren't capable of fully mature decisions like we are and while obviously there has to be consequences for their actions, their age should be taken into account when determining their future.

 

[XenoScifi]

I like to pretend I am a poke-master and go about challenging others to duels whether they believe or not....why could this not be the story instead of 2 girls almost stabbing another to death over a horror fantasy!?

fyi I do not challenge others to poke duels

Stories like this is reason why I keep telling my 10 year old to not have friends! No friends until you are an adult! Even then there are still chances are crazies stab murdering you to death.

MORAL of this story is to stay inside, lock the door and only go out to work and come back home....safe safe home (/slips on floor, snaps neck, dies).

 

[MCerberus]

Getting to a different point, no they're not likely to be convicted as adults.
They, as children, have shown that they're not really competent to aid in their own defense or understand their rights.


And quite frankly, the maximum punishment for this as children along with the realization of what they've done when they get their heads straightened out and the lingering societal stigma of being convicted of this is probably enough... unless you're a strict retributionist (in which case, hi there, did you know your views on ethics are so flawed that it turns out you don't need to punish the right person? as well as you violating pretty much every wider form for ethical guideline.)

 

[Someone Depressing]

'Murica.

Stabbing teenaged girls to death in the woods to appease your holy God.

This isn't an issue of "they were crazy" or the Creepypasta community. Obviously, the first is true.

But how stupid and uneducated were these dipshits if they thought a fictional character - and all appearances of which are almost always labelled this character is fictional? This obviously goes much deeper than "they're white, so they've got a freak mental disorder", or "feminism gone wrong", which this is quickly what this is going to be filed under in less than a week. Seriously, it will.

 

[Kerethos]

Seriously, though. Can we take a good hard look at the American healthcare and education systems? Please?

The NRA would argue that if the victim had a gun she'd have been fine, and that spending tax money on healthcare and education is a communist plot which would only lead to more of this kind of thing.



Seriously though, I get very pissed off when people blame their crimes on fiction, it gives the sort of people who want to censor that fiction ammunition to scare the mumsnet brigade into action.

To the NRA I'd then argue that if she'd been shot 19 times she'd be dead long before all 19 rounds were fired. But I'm not American, so I don't have to bother with that particular brand of madness.

Anyhow provided they are not found to be truly delusional and/or in desperate need of mental care - as they'd then be better served with forced treatment with transfer to regular incarceration once they are deemed cured, as well as able to fully understand why they are being incarcerated and the gravity of their crime - it seems right to try both of them as adults. I assume the law will still take their age into account, to some degree.

And that poor victim, I can't even imagine what she's been through or what she'll have to live with. I just hope she can get the help, the love and the support she needs to go on and live a long and happy life.

 

[dumbseizure]

This saddens me quite deeply.

These 2 young girls plotted to kill their "friend" to appease a fictional character.

My main though running through my head, is (I am not placing blame with this, it is merely conjecture) whether this would have occurred whether they knew about the slenderman or not. They planned this girls death (I read somewhere) months in advance. So I'm wondering whether the slenderman phenomenon was the tipping point, or whether it was the catalyst.

Also, and I know they are only 12, but how do/did they not know that slenderman was a fictitious character?

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

...Ugh....psycho crazy kids not raised to understand the difference between fantasy and reality...

Jail won't help them. They need to be put away in a mental institution. Probably permanently.

The one who took the lead on this and wanted to become Slenderman's "helper" should clearly never see the light of day again. The other one who was afraid slender would come for her family...I'm more inclined to not think of her as badly, probably since the other girl is likely to have pushed that idea on her.

 

[nuba km]

I notice a lot of people stating that they shouldn't be trialed as adults because they didn't know the consequences of their action. They were planning for months how to do it, as in how to get away with it. People only plan how not to get caught if they are aware they are going to get punished for it. From the sounds of this I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them turned out to be a sociopath, they wanted to murder someone, they picked a target that would easily trust them and most people would not suspsect them of murdering i.e. a friend (I am guessing that most of us here would not be suspected if one of our friends was murdered), they get someone of a weaker will and convince them to go along with this plan. Lets say convince them that a made up monster that they beleived in would murder her family if this didn't happen. If everything goes smoothly they get to kill someone and go off scott free, if theres a hitch then they can play the insanity card (which many socipaths have doen in the past several where succesful at it), which would give them a much lighter sentence, especially in jouvinile court. Once thier free they know how to get away with it more easily.

In short, one of them should probably get a second chance while the other is a danger to society and should have the book thrown at her.

 

[briankoontz]

I guess they can't tell the difference between fiction and reality.

No. They made a choice to prefer their own constructed fiction *over* reality. It's the same process that creates gods for people to worship - it's a preferential choice.

There's no logical reason in a dying world why this shouldn't happen more often. Bringing the Slenderman to life is a way to condemn the real world - it's saying "yeah, Slenderman is terrible, but not so terrible as reality itself".

Calling the girls "cray-cray" is turning off one's brain to the full reality, and the resulting ignorance will only encourage future similar actions.

 

[webkilla]

Actually that's where children have a problem. They can process the information well enough but they tend to lack 'contextual weight'. Most children understand the concept of death but the true reality of it is something that escapes them. Heck it escapes many of us until we've had to deal with it on a deeply personal level, until we have to look down in that casket and then a week later when we feel the void left in our homes, minds and souls.

To be less morbid. You can describe a 'burn', you can describe the pain and they will understand it based on that level but the actual experience of being burned carries much greater 'contextual weight'.

To the matter of supervision, as said...if you keep your playboys locked up, they'll find someone who's playboy mags aren't locked up. Ask any parent, their kids will get into things and their ability to supervise does not extend beyond the parent's direct area of control. They can lock down every computer in their house but there's always the neighbor's house, or the library, or the school etc etc.

Oh I would NEVER lock away handheld gaming devices from kids. They're the new walkman/discman/thing to hand your kids when driving or flying long distance.

I meant not giving unsupervised access to the internet. That, I believe, I far more doable. Just put a password on your ipad's web browsers when you give your kid the thing to play flappy bird or cupcake-maker - and make your PC off limits unless you're there to supervise in person... with google safesearch on.

And you're right about the contextual weight. That was exactly what I meant earlier.

 

[Jupiter065]

So, no, it's not violating people's privacy when it's part of public records.

they are being tried as adults

Yeah the fact that it's legal to publish their name because they're being tried as adults in the broken american legal system doesn't really change the fact that violating the privacy of children by publishing their names is a shitty thing to do.

 

[lacktheknack]

So, no, it's not violating people's privacy when it's part of public records.

they are being tried as adults

Yeah the fact that it's legal to publish their name because they're being tried as adults in the broken american legal system doesn't really change the fact that violating the privacy of children by publishing their names is a shitty thing to do.

Look at how much I care about their precious privacy.

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Only on the internet can you find people with so little perspective that when you read about two teens stabbing another one 19 times, their main thought is "BUT THE ATTACKERS' PRIVACY!"

 

[Jupiter065]

They're delusional 13 year old girls. They need therapy, not to be locked away for the rest of their lives and not to have their names dragged through the mud in international news.

 

[bossfight1]

Personally, I think it should be determined whether these two are seriously mentally disturbed; if they're not, they should be tried as adults. 12 year olds might not be that much older than children, but they've had plenty of time to mature and develop; as such, they should know when something's NOT REAL, and therefore doesn't demand you spill blood in its name. If they're not insane, they're simply, in my honest opinion, stupid. (Harsh? Maybe. But I don't see how anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence AND sanity would ever do something like this.)

Whether or not they're insane, how did these two decide who their victim would be? If they decided to kill someone, chose their target THEN became friends with her, then that's just horrid and depraved.

I am glad the victim escaped, though; from what I hear, she's on the mend. Very fortunate, considering one of the stab wounds in her chest was millimeters away from being fatal. Though I doubt she'll be able to just shrug this off in the future; I'm no psychologist, but what she went through is viable PTSD territory.

 

[FalloutJack]

I guess they can't tell the difference between fiction and reality.

No. They made a choice to prefer their own constructed fiction *over* reality. It's the same process that creates gods for people to worship - it's a preferential choice.

There's no logical reason in a dying world why this shouldn't happen more often. Bringing the Slenderman to life is a way to condemn the real world - it's saying "yeah, Slenderman is terrible, but not so terrible as reality itself".

Calling the girls "cray-cray" is turning off one's brain to the full reality, and the resulting ignorance will only encourage future similar actions.

Actually, that WOULD be not telling fiction from reality, textbook even. Zealous religious behavior, killing in the name of your lord in savior, is wrong. If I'm not mistaken, those big books in fact say "DO NOT KILL" quite boldly. The gods - any interpretation of a diety worshipped today - do not command us to kill, nor should we. Those who think otherwise are delusional or missing the part where it's unforgiveable. Putting something as nutty as Slenderman as your god IS madness, almost like genuinely worshipping Cthulhu.