Posted on 07/27/2004 5:57:06 AM PDT by Born Conservative
I saw the most astonishing thing on TV the other day. A psychologist on the witness stand actually said that some people are BORN EVIL and that some are made that way. The doctor also said that when the two are combined, there is really a problem! With the biological father this poor kid has, I firmly believe genetics are at play here.
I sure don't know what the answer is. All I do know is that the kid will NEVER change. Whatever the reason, he is hardwired to act/react as he does.
One point in the article that nobody has mentioned is that he is now 7 years old and was taken away in 1999. That means he was TWO years old. After five years of do-gooders, it should be obvious to everybody that nothing in this world will help now. Only a miracle from Jesus.
My wife and I, after learning four years ago that she cannot have children, entered into a program through Methodist Family Services and State Social Services to adopt a "special needs child." This is defined as a child that is physically or mentally handicapped, or otherwise hard to place. We were visiting with a pair of brothers, ages 9 and 11, who were removed from their mother's home because she couldn't care for them. It seemed that she had a number of children from different fathers, and these were the only two who were full siblings. On the last visit, the older boy began acting out, climbing out windows, stealing at a store, smashing food on the floor, etc. My wife and I are both of small frame, and this 11 year old was as big as my wife. The nine year old was a perfect child all this time. We decided that we couldn't handle this situation and didn't adopt these boys. We would probably have adopted the younger boy, but Social Services didn't want to split up the brothers. I still feel sorry for the 9 year old because his brother kept him from a loving home.
Two months after this happened, God blessed us with a perfect newborn girl, whose mother was a teenager at the time of her birth.
I think about the boys, and feel sorry for them, and also feel it is an indication of the colllasping morals in our country.
You may think both Little Ray and I are crass, but I wonder after the child has gone through all of your therapies and is now an adult, would you be willing to put him under your roof with your children to test out and see if he has in fact turned over a new leaf? Or even in the same neighborhood? Something tells me you wouldn't which means in effect that you offer all these lofty, sweet sounding solutions, but even you deep down inside do not believe he can be rehabilitated, not enough to risk your own family when he is released anyway.
I know when I talk eliminating folks like this, I am talking about cutting this disease out at its root. It doesn't mean all sexually abused children are disposed of along with their pervert abusers, but those children who show serious issues like this child(he is SEVEN and he RAPED another child!!!) should not be allowed to walk the streets ever again. I don't have any faith that someone that damaged can be among regular civilized society and certainly not among children. I feel so bad for this child that he was abused so horribly, but now he is an abuser too and it has to stop somewhere.
More than a little crass, in fact. You're essentially claiming that rehabilitation is impossible (demonstrably false). If we follow your position to its messy logical conclusion, we would have to accept that nobody should ever be released from prison, no matter what the crime.
Surely you realize that there is a middle ground here. Some people cannot be rehabilitated. Some people can. We do not know into which category this 7-yo kid might fall. With careful work, and honest assessments, it is possible to tell the difference.
And if it were left up to you, we wouldn't even try. You're excluding the possibility, and it leads you to a ridiculous conclusion.
Thanks for the update. She's in my prayers every day.
It's generally not a good idea to start off a post with an incorrect statement. It makes the rest of your post look just as wrong.
You could try a lobotomy...
But until you have a solution that doesn't put others at risk, the cold blooded elimination of a violent sexual predator, no matter what his age, seems appropriate.
I have to agree with you and I would love nothing more then to believe this child could be rehabilitated and with God's love and a willingness to change, perhaps it could be, but I can't see allowing a child like this to ever be out to create another "surviver of sexual abuse". The risk to our society is just too great, much like we see the risk of allowing a serial killer to "rehab" and be let loose on the streets--it just doesn't happen.
I feel sorry for the poor kid. If only the crappy agencies had been honest and done something substantive for this child sooner, but as it stands now, he is a predator. It does not matter to the child he rapes whether he is a child predator or the full grown type--the impact will be the same. I hear "moral clarity" thrown around a lot in the last several posts with no real morally clear or relevant solutions to this situation. My guess is we know ultimately what needs to be done, but nobody dare say it or admit it to themselves because it is too much to bear to have to give up on a child.
I don't know if there is a good solution. I would not want to trust that the same system who lied about him having issues would say he is now all better someday and release him around my children, however I know for others it is hard to give up on someone so young. I don't know that there is an agreeable solution for everyone. I would encourage those that think he is able to be rehabbed though to put their money where there mouth is(so to write) and open your home to this boy when he is "rehabbed". Please, show us how much you believe in second chances so that you can encourage the rest of us to be as "morally clear" as you.
nlike some folks, I feel an obligation not to take chances with other people's lives and other people's children
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Same here and I think it is telling that the folks who want to dole out the second chances are not willing to take the newly rehabed offender into their own homes.
Good point Judy..I missed the part of how long he's been out of the home as well.
I wonder if you think putting down a sodomist, rapist who is say 15 is cold-blooded murder too? So ridding ourselves of the disease that is child rape and sodomy along with its purpatrators(despite their age) is cold-blooded murder?
You have not once used the phrase cold-blooded to describe the actual ACTIONS this child did to another child, yet you call someone else here cold-blooded for merely THINKING of a solution to the problem of feral children who have no hope of rehabilitation? HOw positively leftist of you to prosecute the thought over the action. Breathtaking!
Oh, and again, by all means give this child a second chance. I'm sure your doors are open and waiting to give him the love he never got as a child right? (crickets)
The family should definitely have been warned about this kid's problems. But. . .a 7 year old with a history of sexual abuse? Something is wrong with this child - BIT TIME!
r9, this child RAPED AND SODOMIZED another child and from indications has done so many other times as well. He was removed from his home well before he could realize the kind of abuse doled out on him. You do realize of course that other children suffer all manner of abuse and do not act like this right? This, imo, and him already abusing others at such a young age distinguishes him from other folks who are abused. Certainly you can distinguish the extremes can't you?
You did also read the part where I did not advocate the wholesale, well lets call it what it is, execuation or abused children and adults. That would leave me dead as well. I do, however, recognize that on the extreme of this thing are those that can not, for whatever reason be rehabilitated or their crimes are so heinous already, they should not be given a chance to. I wonder if this child was already a seasoned murderer instead of a rapist, would you be all for delving into his psyche and trying to "fix" him?
Again, I ask you, is your door open to receive him when he is "fixed". If not, then why not and don't give me the time and money excuse. I want to know honestly if you could would you? Would you be willing ot stake your family's well-being on is rehabilitation? Perhaps it would help you to know that I don't believe you really believe what you are saying and that is obvious to me *if* you would not welcome this person into your home once they are rehabbed. To me it becomes a matter of folks like Little Ray, Judy, and myself being honest about the fact that we don't believe someone like this can be rehabbed. Folks like you say he can, but aren't willing to stake anything you hold dear on that claim. I'm not making that point to insult you, but for you to understand why I am doubtful and don't take stock in what you or others who hold your position have said. From this end it just seems like a matter of those who want to look compassionate in front of others vs. those who do not give a hoot what any other site thinks about being brutally honest. In the end it boils down to what we can live with--I can live w/ a death penalty on habitual sexual abusers of ANY age, but I can not live with more children being abused and murdered because I thought someone could be rehabbed--perhaps the opposite is true for you and you are free to post your conscience on those issues as am I.
"A good walloping" is apparently part of how the kid got that way in the first place.
I have to agree with you. I used to get them all the time and it turned me into a Paleo-Conservative and Gun-Nut.
oops, sorry for the various mispells--I'm off now to retrieve my hubby from work
Gosh. I didn't realize that. Thanks! /sarcasm
Let's review the bidding. You are saying that this 7-yo child is a hopeless case, and should be either killed or imprisoned for life. End of story.
I am saying that if this child is indeed a lost cause, then he may end up having to be institutionalized for life. However, I do not believe we know whether this 7-yo kid is a hopeless case or not, and simple humanity dictates that we should attempt to find that out.
If he can be "fixed," then I could accept him in my neighborhood, so long as I knew about him, and my family knew to deal cautiously with him.
As it happens, this is not theoretical for me: there's a guy 3 doors down who suffered brain damage, and who is not entirely stable. We're very careful about him, but he is generally OK, and a reasonably productive member of society. By your standards, he'd be locked away for life by now.
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