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I really didn't keep up with the charges when he was talking....but it was said that this was the worst case of abuse many involved have seen. The judge did what he had to do under the guidelines.
What do you think CC??
Dr. Charles Sophie is coming on next on HLN....he's head of child services for LA....He'll have some strong comments I imagine....yes he reports Stockholm syndrome.
One of the earlier psychologists commented on the parents as very disturbed...
Sophie says disconnect between their behaviors and professions of love, they don't feel empathy Sophie says...their disconnect is so vast.
I know they will write books about it and I'm very interested in reading them. As far as the parents, throw them under the jail and forget they exist. The only upside is they will most likely die in prison.
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Hmm. When I think of fairness of a sentence, there are some questions:
1. Did the parents believe they were harming their children?
2. Did the parents intend to harm their children?
3. What harm was done?
4. Are they likely to reoffend if released into the general public right now?
5. What sentences have others received for the same behaviors?
6. Is some of this sentence a reaction to how very weird the whole family, created by these parents, appears? Is there some gawk factor?
I struggle with life in prison, with possibility of parole after 25 years. That seems like too much. Also, considering the swiftness of the verdict, I'm guessing the sentence was decided before the children's statements were read. In that case, why put the kids through that whole exercise, if not to listen and consider it? The children were asking for less than 25, and the sentence was at the very least 25, and perhaps never get out.
(And for those who work in the field, for them to say this is the "worst case of child abuse they've ever seen", does that mean they've never worked on a case where a child died from the willful abuse of children by an adult?)
Hmm. When I think of fairness of a sentence, there are some questions:
1. Did the parents believe they were harming their children?
2. Did the parents intend to harm their children?
3. What harm was done?
4. Are they likely to reoffend if released into the general public right now?
5. What sentences have others received for the same behaviors?
6. Is some of this sentence a reaction to how very weird the whole family, created by these parents, appears? Is there some gawk factor?
I struggle with life in prison, with possibility of parole after 25 years. That seems like too much.
(And for those who work in the field, for them to say this is the "worst case of child abuse they've ever seen", does that mean they've never worked on a case where a child died from the willful abuse of children by an adult?)
I'm struggling to imagine thinking that keeping ADULT "children" (seven were between 18 and 29 years old) confined to house arrest for their entire lives, deprived of any education or medical care, intermittently chained, and so malnourished that they failed to physically develop properly and the 29-year-old weighed only 82 pounds when freed, is not one of the worst cases of child abuse people in this day and age have seen.
Hmm. When I think of fairness of a sentence, there are some questions:
1. Did the parents believe they were harming their children?
2. Did the parents intend to harm their children?
3. What harm was done?
4. Are they likely to reoffend if released into the general public right now?
5. What sentences have others received for the same behaviors?
6. Is some of this sentence a reaction to how very weird the whole family, created by these parents, appears? Is there some gawk factor?
I struggle with life in prison, with possibility of parole after 25 years. That seems like too much. Also, considering the swiftness of the verdict, I'm guessing the sentence was decided before the children's statements were read. In that case, why put the kids through that whole exercise, if not to listen and consider it? The children were asking for less than 25, and the sentence was at the very least 25, and perhaps never get out.
(And for those who work in the field, for them to say this is the "worst case of child abuse they've ever seen", does that mean they've never worked on a case where a child died from the willful abuse of children by an adult?)
The penalty for a crime does not have to contingent on whether the act was intentionally harmful. It was harmful nonetheless.
The harm done was that 12 children we starved, beaten and isolated for years. They are uneducated cannot read or write properly or at all, their growth is stunted due to malnutrition and lack of medical care. They have no access to.socialization. yes they would most likely reoffend because of language used by them like I'm sorry if I harmed them". They still do not see anything wrong with their action. There were 12 children abused and tortured. At 2 years per child that's a minimum of 24 years which is a light sentence on a per child per charge basis. So in the case of this the punishment does fit the crime. They have ruined the lives and mental and physical health of these children and deserve their punishment. And the worst case of abuse isnt the child dying it's the child living with the repercussions of their parents abuse forever.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LO28SWM
The penalty for a crime does not have to contingent on whether the act was intentionally harmful. It was harmful nonetheless.
The harm done was that 12 children we starved, beaten and isolated for years. They are uneducated cannot read or write properly or at all, their growth is stunted due to malnutrition and lack of medical care. They have no access to.socialization. yes they would most likely reoffend because of language used by them like I'm sorry if I harmed them". They still do not see anything wrong with their action. There were 12 children abused and tortured. At 2 years per child that's a minimum of 24 years which is a light sentence on a per child per charge basis. So in the case of this the punishment does fit the crime. They have ruined the lives and mental and physical health of these children and deserve their punishment. And the worst case of abuse isnt the child dying it's the child living with the repercussions of their parents abuse forever.
That's a matter of opinion - in my opinion, beating a child to death over the course of days/months is a worse crime.
There are 5 (or was it 4) of these kids in college, apparently succeeding there.
I agree, this is a very, very weird case. On the one hand apparently they are well-educated and well-spoken.
On the other hand, some were chained and beaten, which doesn't match the well-educated and well-spoken thing.
Its easy to focus on these two offenders and want to throw the book at them.
I certainly do and have no problem with the court's sentence.
However, I think we need to ask ourselves how this sort of thing happens. How are people allowed to isolate themselves to the point where they can do this to a family of children without anyone seeing it or reporting it?
Families like these need to receive more scrutiny than they do. And, the authorities need to be able to step in more readily when something like this is occurring.
I don't feel comfortable just saying something like "We have freedom in America and there is nothing you can do."
We need to look for ways that work within our own system to keep things like this from happening.
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