I put this here, because for one reason or another, this pisses me off. Either they are actually going to charge an 11 year old with murder as an adult, or this story is fluff.
You don’t leave a 2 year old with an 11 year old. That is wrong, unless you have personally observed the abilities of said 11 year old to be beyond sufficient to care for the baby. Whoever left the baby with the child is grossly negligent. This is obvious.
I also don’t understand why no other news agency is covering this story, which makes me wonder about the legitimacy of the information. Without another source I have nothing to verify against, which also pisses me off.
If anyone sees this story anywhere else, or can confirm any of the story (or better yet negate it), please post.
It’s the DA’s office that actually decides if someone is prosecuted as an adult. It does not look like they have made their mind up yet. I doubt whether she will be prosecuted that way.
An 11 yr old babysitting a 2 yr old doesn’t seem like its really all that out of whack. (Depending on her prior babysitting record of course.) Am I mistaken?
But agreed - messed up situation - hopefully the investigation can actually figure out what happened. I’d probably have a hard time with charging her as an adult, but it does depend on the full details.
Yes, it varies. Bottom line is, it does not matter what the police have recommended. The decision about how to charge her has not yet been made, so its premature to get upset.
IIRC, I was 11 when I took the Red Cross babysitting course and started babysitting a couple of kids in the neighborhood. I want to say I was taking care of the baby (definitely still a baby and not a toddler) across the street when I was 12. I don’t see why everyone is blown away by the idea of a child who may herself already be pubescent helping to care for someone else’s child. 11 would be too young to be a parent, but not to help out for a couple of hours at a time.
I was baby-sitting toddlers and babies when I was ten. With a list of phone numbers in my pocket, and a neighbor across the street that had agreed to be an emergency backup. I managed not to kill any of my charges.
That said, I don’t care who is in charge of the decision, there is absolutely no fucking way they should even for one second consider charging an eleven-year-old as an adult.
Period.
I can see valid debate in the mid to late teens; and I can see me coming down on either side of the debate, depending. But . . .
Eleven? There is simply no way, absolutely no fucking way that any rational person in this country should consider for one moment that an eleven-year-old should be charged as an adult.
Sorry for the double post but on re-re-reading the CBS link, it does appear it could have been the 11-year-old’s mother who left her in charge, not the 2-year-old’s.
Since I was babysitting when I was eleven (and no one died), not necessarily dangerous, except in hindsight.
If, if fact, racism is a factor in this “recommendation”, then this country has delved farther back into barbarism than even I–the eternal pessimist–have previously suspected.
My question is whether the mother of the two year old knew the other mother was letting their child watch. And, yes, I do think you need to show some capabilities as a sitter before you are used, especially that early. That said, most eleven year olds are perfectly fine.
I also question even the charge of murder–have you seen how many times on TV that blunt force head trauma does not kill? Don’t get me wrong–it’s still an immoral act, but I know that, when I was at that age, I thought hitting people on the head would just knock them out.
Are there any more details? This could have been as simple as playing on the bed and the 11 year old shoving the little one to be playful or mean, and the worst happening.
God knows I was an ass to my little cousin growing up and at around 9 if I saw her I shoved her. Thank goodness nothing ever happened. My poor cousin.