14 year old charged with murdering new born child

[Wibbins]

This is just heart-breaking, it makes my blood boil that there are people that believe if this happened while the baby was inside her womb then it should be legal. I just hope she's locked up for her entire life for doing something as cruel as this.

A 14-year-old is accused of choking her newborn to death while the baby was still attached to her by the umbilical cord.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_1928754.html

[FlaGator]

This is just heart-breaking, it makes my blood boil that there are people that believe if this happened while the baby was inside her womb then it should be legal. I just hope she's locked up for her entire life for doing something as cruel as this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_1928754.html

The Supreme Court just ruled that doing that is unconstitutional.

[m00]

This is just heart-breaking, it makes my blood boil that there are people that believe if this happened while the baby was inside her womb then it should be legal. I just hope she's locked up for her entire life for doing something as cruel as this.

I was thinking the same thing. This tragedy is a symptom of a sick society, where there is no dignity nor respect for human life, nor are people held accountable for their actions. Nor are adults held accountable for the actions of their children. This is the age of Sodom and Gomorrah.

[FlaGator]

I was thinking the same thing. This tragedy is a symptom of a sick society, where there is no dignity nor respect for human life, nor are people held accountable for their actions. Nor are adults held accountable for the actions of their children. This is the age of Sodom and Gomorrah.

If this girl was your daughter would you be willing to send her to prison for life?

[m00]

If this girl was your daughter would you be willing to send her to prison for life?

If this girl was my daughter, I should go to prison.

I don't believe in prison sentences like that for minors, because I don't believe in punitive justice for people that have no representation. But in the case of the minor the adults are responsible (that's what a minor status means).

[FlaGator]

If this girl was my daughter, I should go to prison.

I don't believe in prison sentences like that for minors, because I don't believe in punitive justice for people that have no representation. But in the case of the minor the adults are responsible (that's what a minor status means).

So if you didn't know she was pregnant you would accept a long prison sentence because of what she did. You would deny the rest of you family your companionship and income because one daughter acted against the nature you tried to instill in her.

For the sake of debate what if you believe you did everything in your power to raise her on a solid more footing and this still happened?

[m00]

So if you didn't know she was pregnant you would accept a long prison sentence because of what she did. You would deny the rest of you family your companionship and income because one daughter acted against the nature you tried to instill in her.

Well, I would flip this around. If I knew as a parent I was responsible for the (criminal) actions of my children, then I wouldn't take parenting lightly. This is how it used to work, at least informally. 150 years ago, if your son went off and shot someone it could start a blood feud between two families. If your daughter killed her newborn, your whole family might have to move out of state because nobody would talk or do business with anyone with your last name. People used to take parenting seriously.

I think the biggest negative consequence of the nanny state is that it tricks parents into thinking they don't have to raise their kids because "it takes a village."

For the sake of debate what if you believe you did everything in your power to raise her on a solid more footing and this still happened?

For the courts to decide whether I was culpable. But you know, but I highly suspect this daughter was let to run wild/do what she want/not have any consequences.

[Hawkgirl]

I read this story yesterday and it made me sick. How does a parent not know her child is pregnant? What kind of mother/daughter relationship is this? This is an example of the erosion of family.

[FlaGator]

Well, I would flip this around. If I knew as a parent I was responsible for the (criminal) actions of my children, then I wouldn't take parenting lightly. This is how it used to work, at least informally. 150 years ago, if your son went off and shot someone it could start a blood feud between two families. If your daughter killed her newborn, your whole family might have to move out of state because nobody would talk or do business with anyone with your last name. People used to take parenting seriously.

I think the biggest negative consequence of the nanny state is that it tricks parents into thinking they don't have to raise their kids because "it takes a village."



For the courts to decide whether I was culpable. But you know, but I highly suspect this daughter was let to run wild/do what she want/not have any consequences.

I tend to agree, but I'm playing a bit of the devil's advocate on this. If it can be shown in a court of law that my negligence led to my daughters actions then both she and I need to be punished. In this case I don't think that she deserves life in prison because I don't belief she is old enough to truly understand the nature of what she has done. I'm not sure that all 14 years olds understand giving birth to a baby has certain responsibilities attached and that one of those is protecting the child.

I suspect that since she hid the fact from her parents that she was pregnant she probably feared their response to finding out. In her mind she had to kill the baby in order to persist with the coverup. I feel her intent was more based on maintaining the lie and the killing was a consequence of that thought process. I'm not condoning what she did. She murdered a baby and needs to be held accountable. I just question the rush to judgement that she is to be punished as an adult. If she was 17, then I would not feel this way but I keep fresh in my mind that that 51 has a way of forgetting what 14 was like.

[noonwitch]

She's in Florida, so what are the odds that she will be tried as a juvenile?

I doubt she will face first degree murder charges, my guess is that she will be tried for manslaughter as a juvenile and be released sometime around her 21st birthday.


Her aunts tried to tell her mother and her mother was conned by the kid. I wonder if this is a single mom? My guess is yes. I wonder if the father of the baby was another teenager or an adult?


My professional experience tells me there is a lot more to this story that has not come out yet.