I doubt she will be out in a few years.
I hope you’re right on that point. To clarify: I have a Psych minor from SMU and yes, I understand the concept of mental illness. However, it continues to appall me that mothers with small children who were “ok” beforehand could kill their children. Perhaps I am too emotionally close to the case at hand, but I can’t go along with those that feel more sorrow for HER than they do for the children she beat to death.
I may be speaking for myself here, but I think EVERYONE involved should be mourned.
I find it frightening that you have actually studied the subject and yet seem to be absolutely oblivious of what exacty psychotic behavior is. and anyone is “ok” before they get ill.
and I don’t see anyone who isn’t appauled about the deaths of those children.
So, if you would please, stop acting as if those of us who also recognize how very, very ill this woman is (including the fucking 3, 4 professionals who’d actuallly examined her, vs. read newspaper accounts), do **not ** appreciate the tragedy of the children’s deaths.
no, Lola you do not speak for yourself, as far as I can see.
She was fucking crazy, man. Every expert says so. Excuse me if I take the word of real experts over that of a self-righteous raving asshole on a message board who claims to have a Minor in Psyche.
IF she really was insane and IF she can be rehabilitated then where is the “injustice.” Your pathological need for payback is no more rational than wanting to punish a virus or an earthquake. Mental illness is a pure “act of God,” so to speak. There is no free will involved. There is no “culprit,” only another victim.
Whoa! Let’s all take a big step back.
My concern is that someone brutally beat her small children to death, and we as taxpayers wll be paying for her rehabilitation. I grow weary of reading these stories. I feel that those who kill should be put away. That’s it.
Why would you doubt her suffering? Imagine for a moment that you woke tomorrow morning to find that you had slaughtered your own precious children during the night in some fitful state of madness. Wouldn’t you suffer for the rest of your life? What makes you think that she is any different?
Who you are is very much a product of your own brain chemistry and connections. A person who is mentally ill is, for a least a time, brain-damaged. It can happen to anyone. Sometimes it is a matter of a terrible car accident or a high fever or a lack of oxygen. At other times something else may cause the brain not to function and the real “you” is no longer there to be in control or make reasonable choices.
I take you at your word, Blonde, when you say that you had rather die if you had done something like what this woman did. But what if one of your own children became so delusional that she or he killed a child “for the glory of God.” Would you want your child put to death or would you want your child’s illness treated and mind made whole again?
No one in this post has indicated that they are without pity for the children. We don’t have to chose to pity only one side.
Spoken like a true psych minor.
So, which is it?
Just for you: I’ll go with an either/or.
Goodnight, cowboy.
I think that there is a real difference here between Ms. Yates and Ms. Laney.
Ms. Yates was depressed, but there was never really anything suggesting that she suffered halucinations/delusions/other major disruptions in her perception of reality, just that she used a bath tub as a mechanism to deal with what she might have perceived as a reasonable way to deal with a horrible situation. I think that her sentence was appropriate becasue she always knew drowning her kids was wrong. Same with the other one (Smith) who drove her car into a lake with her kids in it. Especially considering her well-planned and cynical racist attempts to disguise the crime.
Ms. Laney, on the other hand, had completely lost grip of reality to the point that she no longer could distinguish between right and wrong, thinking that stoning her kids would actually save them from further suffering.
-threemae
really?> my memory is that she’d recently (w/in the prior month or so) had been hospitalized for post partum psychosis
You never did answer my previous question: do you think that there are any circumstances in which mental health in a valid defence against criminal prosecution, or are you just opposed to it when the victims happen to be the same age as someone in your family?
Heavy sigh. Yes, I do believe the lack of mental health is a valid defense, but I am wary of the ability of those convicted to become good citizens, as it were. Do you have any shining examples of mothers who killed their kids and went on to become the nice lady next door? I’m not trying to be as cynical as I’m sounding. And, for the record - yes, I am biased in this case. I haven’t ever tried to pretend that I’m not.
Give me ONE example of a women who killed her own children, walked out of the psych ward, made a life for herself and contributed to our society, in any way.
Again I may be speaking for myself, but I don’t think anyone is expecting her to do that. 
Again, LolaBaby speaks for the masses. Or, at least, this mass. I don’t think we should be deciding who gets to live or die by how much they’ll be able to contribute to society. It may very well be that the mental trauma here is too great for Mrs. Laney to ever overcome, and she’ll spend the rest of her life in a mental hospital. She still doesn’t deserve to die. She was sick. She was unable to recognize the consequences of her actions. This family has already been visited by enough tragedy. Why do we need to add even more to it?
You’re confused? Make that two of us. 
G’night all. Enjoy the full moon tonight.
So what are you trying to achieve here? Are you trying to justify your position that she should simply be put to death? Is that it? Because quite frankly, unless that’s your position, you’re doing the worst internet version I’ve ever seen of a broken record.
So here’s the recap. She’s already locked away. She ain’t coming back into society for a long time, if ever. Unless you’re prepared to be some sort of vigilante who’s prepared to stalk her and kill her in the future if and when she is released, basically you’re just hovering in your own thread keeping it alive for the sake of it. You’ve got nothing substantial to add now. We know your position - you want vengeance. Great. You’re outraged. Great. But for fuck’s sake… we all know it’s a dreadful, sad affair. So spare us please the sustained sanctimoniousness. Spare us this display of righteousness which implies none of us have any heart but you. Spare us any further posts on the matter. You’re merely prolonging the sadness of an already sad matter.
Blonde, I don’t think the issue is really whether or not this lady can become a productive member of society. I have met a lot of people in my life that I didn’t think were particularly “productive members of society.”
It is absolutely horrifying to think that someone could kill their own children, and especially in such a disturbing manner. But I have a very hard time believing that she could have done such a thing and NOT have been mentally impared in some way. It goes against her natural instinct as a mother to do something like this.
I don’t believe we have anything to “gain” by putting this woman to death. I doubt seriously that she will be released in “a few years”, but that is for her doctors to decide.
~J
Frankly, I can’t think of an instance where the woman was let out, period. Even if she was rehabilitated.
I’d like to think that with medication and a little deprogramming she might some day be able to come back into society as a functioning contributor, but even if she became as sane as you or me (well…maybe “you”), they probably wouldn’t let her out.
I don’t know why you’d be biased. You’re not the only one with children here. We’re talking about a sad situation that everyone can relate to. Do you think that you have any more right to be outraged than the rest of us?
It’s not the outrage that defines a civilized society. It’s what we do with that rage.
Take it easy on Blonde everyone. Some subjects bring out passion in certain individuals as opposed to clear thinking.