Child Murderers

[bloom]

- This is supposed to be rare (as mentioned in the first story) - and then I saw another story on yahoo....

"On average, about six children under the age of 10 have committed murder or non-negligent homicide a year in the United States since 1976, said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston. "They do occur," he said, "but they are rare."

Neighbors Saw Anger in Girl, 9, Accused in Killing

The 9-year-old girl's mother was gone only briefly Monday, running upstairs to the 11th floor to borrow a hair-straightening comb to help give the girl braids before a barbecue downstairs in the courtyard.

The girl was playing with one of her closest friends, with whom she spent so much time that some thought they were related, an 11-year-old named Queen Washington. Everyone called her Queenie. In the 9-year-old's apartment on the seventh floor of the Linden Houses in East New York, Brooklyn, the two girls began to fight over a ball, the police said.

As any parent will tell, even the gentlest child has an occasional tantrum. But the 9-year-old, while bright and inventive, struck some of her neighbors as a different kind, a girl who often showed flashes of nasty, violent anger when she did not get her way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/nyregion/01girl.html

Boy, 7, Suspected in Tot's Beating Death


TAMPA, Fla. - A 7-year-old boy beat his baby half-sister to death with his fists, feet and a two-by-four because he was jealous of the attention the girl was receiving and because she would not stop crying, police said Wednesday.

The State Attorney's Office is deciding whether to file charges against the boy in an attack that rattled even veteran homicide detectives.

"The veteran detectives who worked on this case have never seen a case with someone as young as a 7-year-old show so much violence and so little remorse," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

The attack occurred May 22 in Tampa, where the boy had been visiting his father. Seven-month-old Jayza Laney Simms was dead on arrival at the hospital where her parents rushed her. <more>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050601/ap_on_re_us/baby_killed;_ylt=AsY8uCTPMzVkutxkP3Fv92ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2M2YzbmJmBHNlYwN1cw--

[paula777]

1. 6 cases in 30 years and 2 of those in the past week. Very strange

I don't even know what to make of it. Bad parents, bad environment or maybe they were just born evil? Maybe they are too young to understand thier actions. I have no idea ....

[montanacowboy]

2. Born sociopaths

have no consciences, no feeling of right or wrong - a lot like *

[paula777]

4. You may be right. I read a really interesting article that someone posted

earlier today called 'Bush on the couch' It's all about * being a sociopath. Allthough the article doesn't really say he was 'born' a sociopath, it was more about events that turned him into one. Here it is ...

http://hnn.us/articles/7106.html

[SmokingJacket]

5. Six cases a year.

Born evil? No.

Born unable to anticipate consequences? Maybe.

[paula777]

7. oh, oops, I mis-read it

[neweurope]

6. Wasn't that six per year?

----------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[ArkDem]

3. This is what bush has done to america.

[China_cat]

9. No, sad as it is, I really believe

that this is what the state of neo-natal medicine has brought us to.

I wonder how premature those kids who killed were. There seems to be a very strong correlation between prematurity and sociopathy. Maybe it's the fact that incubators don't do much for parent/child bonding, maybe it's that those last few weeks in the womb are when the empathy circuits are formed.

But if you look at it carefully you'll see that incidence of sociopaths has increased as the ability to keep younger and younger neonates alive has advanced.

[FizzFuzz]

11. now THAT is interesting

I've read a fair amount but hadnt come across that.

I'm glad to see you post this though; Dr Robert Hare is the foremost expert on psychopathy and he makes clear that though there are nurture aspects, psychopaths a mostly born rather than made. {on edit here: on reading down to bloom's statistics ...hmm well that does contradict this statement. Or maybe in part. Hare wasn't talking only about murderers, and psychopathy doesn't mean only murderers. I'll have to reread Hare, get cleared up on this. I know he talked about neuropathies and other physical abnormalities associated with psychopathy)

It can show up in kids from abusive neglectful homes as much as it can show in kids that are given attention and good care.

read "Without Conscience"--Dr Robert Hare and
"We Need to Talk About Kevin"--I can't remember the author but this novel describes in depth the torture of having a psychopath for a child. It was obviously extensively researched, maybe case studies from therapists working with families and their psychopathic kids? I don't know, but it is very clear that we can't always conveniently blame bad parenting.

[bloom]

12. With the one thing I posted

I was more interested in the penalty aspect. I have recently watched a couple shows that explore prisons as dealing with mental illness and people who feel separated from society. Finland works on this a lot more than the US, for instance.

I noticed a lecturer in pediatrics responded to the one article with:

"In the editorial "Children who kills" it is stated that children who kill are still rare. I guess you are strictly speaking for the reality of Great Britain and Europe. This is not the reality for poorer countries and war regions. The causes you point out ("All have experienced severe family adversities: domestic violence, neglect, child abuse, substance misuse, maternal depression, and absence of fathers")are all present and common in these regions, but in the poorer countries the phenomenon "children who kill and are from higher income families" is getting more and more common. New claims for juridicial responsibility of the child are getting frequent in Brazil. I guess this is not the answer! Education for all has been the claim for long to drop the indexes of violence of lower income people, children included. Now we see educated people killing as well. We must review the values of education if we are to get a less violent world! "


I agree that there are psychological conditions that some of the children are born with - not that it's a matter of the mother's depression or the father's absence or vice versa for that matter.

[FizzFuzz]

16. just a real quick thought in response to one point in that quote

and only off the top of my head, but...

I keep coming back to overpopulation. As we crowd ourselves more tightly together, and as we destroy the beauty of nature and open spaces, I am certain that we will see all kinds of negativity take form and spill furhter and further out of control.

Certainly there's alot more to think about, but I think this is one crucial among many, and its a factor that is mostly overlooked. imho

[bloom]

8. More statistics

For example, statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1995, indicated that 15% of all offenders for murder and non-negligent manslaughter were under 18 years old. Of them, 29 offenders were 9-13 years, and 1268 were 13-16. Even in 1995, children committing murder was not an isolated occurrence. Children committing murder is not a recent trend.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that "arrest rates for homicide among youth 14-17 years of age increased 41% between 1989 and 1994, compared to an increase of 18% for youth 18-24 years of age." During the same period, homicide arrest rates decreased 19% for adults over 25. "Nearly 20% of all violent crime arrests in 1994 involved a juvenile under 18 years of age." To add to this, a New York Times survey (April 30, 1998) reported, "Teenagers are as likely to own guns as to play a musical instrument."

http://www3.azwestern.edu/psy/dgershaw/lol/ViolentChildren.html

[bloom]

10. "Children who kill - They can and should be reclaimed"

"Juvenile delinquency, including violence, is increasing, but homicide committed by children remains rare.1 While the acts and features of children who kill are heterogeneous, all these children are seriously disturbed, with high rates of neuropsychological abnormalities, poor impulse control, school failure, and truancy. All have experienced severe family adversities: domestic violence, neglect, child abuse, substance misuse, maternal depression, and absence of fathers.2-4Because homicide by children is so rare, population approaches to prevention are not realistic.5 But the evidence, though limited, is that with good care and psychiatric treatment the children do well and do not reoffend in later life.2 This fact should govern the way that they are treated by the criminal justice system. <more>"

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/322/7278/61

[devilgrrl]

13. Two words - Jesse Pomeroy

America's first documented child killer from 1880's...

It's tragic but nothing new. Quit behaving like it's a recent phenomonon as result of the 1960's because it isn't.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/pomeroy/1.html

[bloom]

14. I was responding more to the fact that two stories popped up in one day.

I'm sure they have always happened.

Cain and Able and all that. Legends are based on it.

I still find it shocking and sad.

[devilgrrl]

15. Oh, I hear you.

I just responded expecting to hear these types of stories non-stop for the next few weeks from the whore media. You know they're going to try that "the lack of morals in society" crap again.