Wisconsin Teens Claim They Stabbed Friend To Please Slenderman: Update

[Michel Henzel]

See, it's not video games at all. It's photoshop.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I don't even...I've been hearing about this for the past few days and I can't even wrap my head around their logic. These kids are dangerous. To use the girl's own words: Part of me wants them to be locked away forever, another part thinks they deserve help.

How the hell do you think something like Slenderman is real? What the hell is wrong with these two monsters that they got this idea in their heads? I hope they enjoy the rest of their lives being known as completely raving lunatics.

 

[EHKOS]

Huh, I guess Professor Frink got that stab wound thing down pretty quickly.

I was under the impression these girls were in the nineteen age range, but twelve, wtf.
Playing pretend and tea party and such isn't enough, we had to up the ante in this modern day full of stimuli eh? I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be tried as adults, maybe spend some time in an institution for the criminally insane, maybe try and fix their heads before their brains solidify. I can't even tell if this is too young to understand the ramifications or a case of mental illness.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

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.

So it's ok to put an innocent 12 year old girl through excruciating pain and come within one millimeter of killing her, but the attackers "good name" shouldn't be called into question? What sense does that make?

I've already said it before, but it's incredibly obvious that these girls knew what they were doing, and had every intention of killing their victim. It was planned months in advance, for fuck sake.

 

[Sniperyeti]

Look at how much I care about their precious privacy.

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ಠ_ಠ

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!"

It's an important consideration in the justice system actually, once everyone has finished handwaving about how terrible everything is. Particularly in relation to children (who are seen as more capable of reintegration), name suppression is there to support the accused's (note: not yet found guilty at the time the story was published, so presumed innocent under our system) right to privacy and society's interest in rehabilitation of offenders.

These children were 12 years old and presumably had some form of mental incapacity or disorder. I tend to agree with the person above who wondered if this was likely to happen anyway, 'Slenderman' was just the fiction these girls latched onto as a framing device for their thoughts.

Assume that, with sufficient treatment and continued monitoring, these girls could re-enter society and live productive lives (if they can't, well, they're of no further interest to society). Should that be frustrated by widespread media coverage of their identity? If all else being equal these girls could make a 'recovery', and having spent their allotted time in a mental institution or prison have 'paid' for their crime in a retributionist sense, should they not be able to go about this without widespread media identification damaging their chances? A society which allows this seems self-destructive to me.

 

[major_chaos]

yeaaaa not getting dragged into the "only in murica" bullshit, or the "perpetrators rights" arguments, and going "this is horrible" would be unoriginal, so instead fun fact: My intro to criminology teacher at college is the the defense for the girls who did the stabbing. He couldn't talk about the case much, but he did say he wasn't super optimistic about the outcome.

 

[lacktheknack]

Look at how much I care about their precious privacy.

ಠ_ಠ

ಠ_ಠ

ಠ_ಠ

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!"

It's an important consideration in the justice system actually, once everyone has finished handwaving about how terrible everything is. Particularly in relation to children (who are seen as more capable of reintegration), name suppression is there to support the accused's (note: not yet found guilty at the time the story was published, so presumed innocent under our system) right to privacy and society's interest in rehabilitation of offenders.

These children were 12 years old and presumably had some form of mental incapacity or disorder. I tend to agree with the person above who wondered if this was likely to happen anyway, 'Slenderman' was just the fiction these girls latched onto as a framing device for their thoughts.

Assume that, with sufficient treatment and continued monitoring, these girls could re-enter society and live productive lives (if they can't, well, they're of no further interest to society). Should that be frustrated by widespread media coverage of their identity? If all else being equal these girls could make a 'recovery', and having spent their allotted time in a mental institution or prison have 'paid' for their crime in a retributionist sense, should they not be able to go about this without widespread media identification damaging their chances? A society which allows this seems self-destructive to me.

implying anyone will remember their names in a year

Integrity can be regained, trust can be earned, etc. I think that further punishment of everyone knowing who they are and what they did makes it MORE likely they'll take their own crime seriously.

It would be best if they were convicted guilty before the names got out, but still. The victim said who they were, that's incredibly damning.

 

[kerrowecrisis]

Thinking about it, I wonder what those attempted murders were like to even believe those stories. Even more so if they even believe it themselves...
That's some crazy crap.

 

[Soulrender95]

Slenderman to me has always felt like that campfire ghost story you make up to scare your friends, nobody believes it your just trying to scare everyone else and it's fun because we're all in on the joke, so to me blaming it on slenderman feels like an attempt to get away with doing something evil by pretending your crazy, and given the level of pre-planning apparently involved using a well known internet created horror entity as a scapegoat seems a little too convenient given the level of "insanity" these girls are trying to project.

I'd more likely believe it if they'd gone for something more wholesome and friendly like say Thomas the tank engine or Postman Pat.

 

[FPLOON]

The more I think about what we know about this whole ordeal, the more I fear someone would turn this story into a full-fleshed movie... I don't know why my mind always go towards the "future movie adaptation" mindset, but it's something that wouldn't surprise me as time passes...

Also, I'm grateful the girl that got stabbed is still alive... but I also feel sorry that she may never recover mentally afterwards... *sighs*

 

[Sniperyeti]

implying anyone will remember their names in a year

Integrity can be regained, trust can be earned, etc. I think that further punishment of everyone knowing who they are and what they did makes it MORE likely they'll take their own crime seriously.

It would be best if they were convicted guilty before the names got out, but still. The victim said who they were, that's incredibly damning.

The issue with your first point is that with Google searches etc details like this don't easily disappear - for example any future employer can simply search their name and be presented with these media articles on the accused. Worse yet, the media in future might pick up on their release from prison and re-publicise their identity and the events which occurred. We can hope that trust and integrity can be regained, but surely you agree that the availability of this information will make that disproportionately difficult. If a reformed individual would otherwise be accepted back into the community and live the rest of their life with integrity, why would we allow the possibility of that being prevented by the availability of old news articles identifying them?

The issue with your second and third points is that they lean towards 'trial by media'. While there are certainly arguments for and against the publication of an offender's crimes as part of their punishment or as a method of warning the community - is this something we want the media to handle before the accused even comes before the courts? Even if the position of the accused looks 'incredibly damning' at the time, accusations can be wrong, confessions can be false, and new facts can come to light. A person's guilt in the criminal law should be determined by a court based on legitimate evidence and the law, not announced to the public by various privately-owned newspapers based on speculation.

 

[FalloutJack]

I agree, it'd be as crazy as following Pastafarianism. Which I am sure I misspelled.

Ah well, the Pastafarians are a kind and gentle folk, big lovers of ironic humor and poking fun at Scientology. They're alright.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

implying anyone will remember their names in a year

Integrity can be regained, trust can be earned, etc. I think that further punishment of everyone knowing who they are and what they did makes it MORE likely they'll take their own crime seriously.

It would be best if they were convicted guilty before the names got out, but still. The victim said who they were, that's incredibly damning.

The issue with your first point is that with Google searches etc details like this don't easily disappear - for example any future employer can simply search their name and be presented with these media articles on the accused. Worse yet, the media in future might pick up on their release from prison and re-publicise their identity and the events which occurred. We can hope that trust and integrity can be regained, but surely you agree that the availability of this information will make that disproportionately difficult. If a reformed individual would otherwise be accepted back into the community and live the rest of their life with integrity, why would we allow the possibility of that being prevented by the availability of old news articles identifying them?

The issue with your second and third points is that they lean towards 'trial by media'. While there are certainly arguments for and against the publication of an offender's crimes as part of their punishment or as a method of warning the community - is this something we want the media to handle before the accused even comes before the courts? Even if the position of the accused looks 'incredibly damning' at the time, accusations can be wrong, confessions can be false, and new facts can come to light. A person's guilt in the criminal law should be determined by a court based on legitimate evidence and the law, not announced to the public by various privately-owned newspapers based on speculation.

So your point is that there shouldn't be consequences to attempted murder? I'd say future employment should be the least of their worries right now. When you stab a 12 year old girl, there are going to be consequences that follow for the remainder of their lives, regardless of whether or not they get rehabilitated (which I doubt will happen).

And yes, that information is going to be readily available to anyone who cares to look it up, that's the point of documenting things. Sorry, that's just kinda how posterity works. Thankfully we don't live in an Orwellian society where attempted murder can be covered up and censored, struck from the record or whatever you want to call it because it might have negative consequences for the attackers. Which it should, by the way.

I don't know how deluded you are, but I don't think you're going to have to worry about trial by media here, considering that they confessed to it. Not only that but it was premeditated for months on end. I know the legal system isn't perfect, but it's better than the system of zero-accountability you're talking about.

 

[Strazdas]

why is this on the escapist? This is not related to games, movies, technology or comics. Since when did this became a criminal report site?

Normal 12 year olds can tell the difference between stories and real life.

Just browse around DeviantART and it's clear many tweens and young teens are into this stuff.
This crime isn't an issue of age, rather of mental illness.

This. mental illness is at work here. sane people can tell the difference between real and fiction since the age of 3. Too bad there is pretty much no mental care there, it could have been prevented.

So your point is that there shouldn't be consequences to attempted murder?

No, he was saying that the consequences should be determined by court of law and not mob justice (media).

 

[fractal_butterfly]

There was a case of murder in Tessin, Germany in 2007, where two young men murdered a family while roleplaying characters from Final Fantasy. You know, the nice and colorful JRPG. A murder connected to Slenderman makes some kind of sense, but Final Fantasy is no Horror at all and sports only comic violence.
I think a sick mind will go any length to find excuses for violent behavior. Giving it some kind of "backstory" is only a way of rationalizing the crime. Some people seem to be born with the urge to hurt and kill others. I cannot quite decide if we should help them or lock them away to keep everyone else safe.

Link to an article on the incident: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/germany-shocked-by-teenage-murderers-the-origins-of-a-bloodbath-a-461381.html