Updating this thread:
Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.
I’d be very, very surprised if Weir isn’t found to be mentally ill. I hope the doctors can help her.
I hope the other girl accepts a similar plea deal.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.nydailynews.com/amp/news/crime/suspect-slender-man-case-accepts-plea-deal-article-1.3429617
And that does not happen by accident
I dunno, maybe we should mention the victim didn’t die again.
Or the fact the Supreme Court has held that it’s unconstitutional to impose the death penalty on people who were minors when they committed their crime. (Roper v. Simmons)
I really think we can take this on the road, if we get the sequencing of the repeated points down pat.
I’m not familiar at all with Wisconsin’s laws but does the fact that it was clearly premeditated come into play at all? It wasn’t random or a crime of passion, from everything I had read they spent some time planning things, but again, idk.
Sure. But remember: 1. The girls were 12 years old when they committed the crime. 2. They believed in this fantasy being called Slenderman–and thus could well be mentally ill. So obviously the punishments should be much less than if they were mentally sound adults.
The mental health issue should be and from what I’ve read is being looked into. Is the one girl still being evaluated? What’s the story with this one to be tried as an adult? I’m sure she was evaluated wasn’t she? Apparently she was found fit to stand trial.
The age is definitely a factor because at 12 they know right from wrong but could it be argued that their brains aren’t fully developed? Teens are much more impulsive than adults and I think that’s partly due to brain function, I could be completely wrong about that 
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Plus being 12 at the time they weren’t even teens yet.
You know it’s been said that teens are old enough to understand death – they just think it happens to other people?
I was 23 when I gave up rock climbing. I realized that I might get seriously injured, or even killed if I had an accident. At 6 I was old enough to be scared of falling when climbing: at 23 I was old enough to understand consequences.
Babies should not be punished at all: they start out not understanding intention. In their early twenties they understand consequences. In between there is growing up.
Which of you, when you were 12, didn’t understand that killing people is wrong? Did you need to understand that death was something that could happen to you to understand it?
The only reason I can give this girl a pass is if she’s schizophrenic. If she hallucinated a voice and possibly a person telling her to do evil things, that sounds like a form of schizophrenia, and she would find it very hard to resist the voices, especially at a young age.
I will admit, however, that putting them in adult prison seems dumb. Kids do need to socialize for their brains to finish developing, and there won’t be very many kids, even if you do keep them sequestered from the adults.
Anyways, that’s my 2 cents. I admit I’ve not really checked up much on this.
I’m reminded of the infamous case of Mary Bell who strangled two younger children to death (she was at the ages 10-11 at the time, the other children were 3 and 4). She served 12 years then was released and given a new identity and went on to live a relatively normal life until reporters found her again 18 years later. It goes to show that sometimes children who commit horrific crimes can grow up to be regular members of society.
Today in Britain a court order that protects a convict’s identity is called a “Mary Bell order”.
I think you said it well and I agree with you, I think unless there is some mental illness going on, they understood exactly what they were doing and what the outcome could be to the girl they attacked. The one factor because of their ages may be that they did not think through the consequences for their behavior, as in, what would happen to themselves. If they were rational I don’t doubt for a moment that they were aware of the harm they were causing the victim, but I think young kids have a tendency sometimes to think they are infallible and they can’t see things all the way through. How that plays out in the case, I have no idea.
I dont think most children of that age truly understand “consequences”. Yes they basically know right from wrong, but when it comes to actually thinking things thru??? Especially a kid that’s been screwed up by parents or other adults close to them.
Just like many adults, if given the chance and opportunity to learn a different life, children can be rehabilitated.
At 8 your kids are old enough to understand that they have to look before running out into the road. And they will look before crossing the road. Unless they are chasing a ball, or doing something else.
Growing up is a gradual process.
Anissa Weier was found mentally ill and her plea agreement calls for at least 3 years in a mental institution. The other girl goes to trial next month.
StG
Anyone else get a flashback to McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
Awesome! I’m not going to prison. Then he meets Nurse Ratched.
Hopefully Weier will get the professional counseling & medication that she obviously needs.
There’s two factors for trying them as adults isn’t there
- The crime was somewhat thoughtfull and planned, it wasn’t some sort of angry fight or spur of the moment “got drunk and mugged a homeless man” thing… they had a long term motive and they carried out a plan.
- There’s a certain sickness of the mind implied that might take more than 5 years to cure… and that the adult court system deals with ! The judges in adult courts deal with psychiatric reports a lot more … they will be a problem when they are 18 too.
The juvenile system is more about removing kids who have been lead astray by the bad people in their environment (family, neighbour kids, gangs…) and lax rules at school… so they actually learn right from wrong and discipline.
The crime of planning a murder and then attempting it ? thats not environment.
There are mental health facilities in adult jails, and jail sections at mental health institutes, and that may be why its not considered such a bad thing… basically the adult court can hand the person over to the mental health system of the state… the accused can decide whether to get a fixed term, or an open ended term. the open ended term can get them out early, or can see them locked up for ever.
Recently I’ve heard of a pedophile being held past the end of their fixed term, as they are still mentally ill and clearly unable to stop themselves reoffending… The realisation is that they have finished their criminal sentence, but still can’t convince a psychiatrist they are anything close to sane…the mental health laws allow them to be held.
But that soon leads to the idea that if all violent criminals are insane to some extent, then why bother with fixing sentences in terms of years… why not just set some minimum and then leave it to psychiatry ?
Anissa Weier was previously released: