Five Year Old / Murder Charge

[Jermyn Davidson]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Who puts their children in the care of a mentally handicapped person???? Most certainly they should be prosecuted for criminal neglect, at the very least.

How "mentally handicapped" is this person?


The parents had enough confidence in the intellectual capacities of this person for a reason.

In fact, this 16 year old was more than likely someone known and trusted by the family-- thus, the decision to give her the chance to exercise a sense of responsibility in a situation that usually does not include the risk of death by drowning at the hands of a five year old.

[Jermyn Davidson]

Sometimes, tragedies happen and there isn't anyone to blame.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

I disagree.

The 16 year old fell asleep.

If there was a known risk of this 5 year old killing the 18 month old, then the parents would never have left the life of their 18 month old in the hands of a 16 year old.



This is one of those cases where I truly believe that there isn't a human being that can be held responsible for this tragedy.

I think a 16 year old is normally capable of watching a child. Capable enough to know that they can't go to sleep and leave them unattended. So while I wouldn't hold a 16 year old as responsible as an older adult, certainly they are old enough to know that they had a job to do and sleeping on the job isn't on the agenda.

That said, I read the second article and found out that the 16 year old was mentally handicapped, which places the onus for this directly on the parents or primary caregivers.

I have a friend who let her daughter stay all night with another little girl. Both the girls are 6 or 7 years old, and the place where she spent the night--there are two other small children, ages (approx) 4 & 2. The mother of the 3 kids got up the next morning and went out to buy donuts, and left ALL FOUR of those children alone in the house. The two older girls were using curling and straightening irons to fix their hair while she was gone. I don't know about you, but I can think of at least ten things that could have gone tragically wrong in that house while the mother stepped out. Anywhere from dropping the curling iron in the sink with water, or the 2 year old wandering outside or one of them choking on something, etc. etc. IMO, that comprises neglect. My friend was livid when she found out, btw.

An adult DOES need to think about the possibilities and "see things coming" that may or may not happen. Part of parenting is taking precautions to prevent the unforeseeable. Yes, tragedies happen, but some are preventable, and in this case, leaving small children unattended is clearly neglect. (Because having a 16 year old mentally handicapped person isn't leaving them "attended).

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

How "mentally handicapped" is this person?

Does it matter? I wouldn't leave my children in the hands of anyone who wasn't 100% capable of making good, rational decisions and of reacting correctly in the case of an emergency.

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

Sometimes, tragedies happen and there isn't anyone to blame.

True enough, but IMO, this is a case where blame can be placed.

[Pragmatist]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Does it matter? I wouldn't leave my children in the hands of anyone who wasn't 100% capable of making good, rational decisions and of reacting correctly in the case of an emergency.

Exactly. My personal comfort level would not be to have an extremely competent, responsible 16 y/o watching my young children at midnight, let alone someone who may have deficiencies in judgment.