In a breaking case from Tucson, three girls say they had been kept prisoner in their home by their mother and stepfather for up to two years. The case came to light Tuesday when police were called to a Tucson home on a domestic dispute call. The two younger girls, 12 and 13, were being threatened with a knife by their stepfather, who had kicked in the door of their bedroom. The girls escaped to a neighbor’s home, where the neighbor called 911. A 17 year old girl was also found at the home. The two younger girls said they hadn’t seen their sister in two years. Police found closed-circuit surveillance equipment in the home.
The mother and stepfather were jailed on three charges each of kidnapping, child abuse with emotional abuse and child abuse with physical abuse. The stepfather is also being charged with sexual abuse of a person under the age of 15.
You must have missed the part where the stepfather is being charged with sexual abuse with one of the children. Maybe the difference is just a matter of degree. I’d say it’s equally as heinous.
I am absolutely not defending what they did, and I think it’s absolutely heinous especially the sexual assault charges.
But I have a sincere question, not JAQing off. Do parents have a responsibility/duty to let their children out of their house? I know that parents have responsibility to care for them, provide food, shelter, clothing, and they have to receiving schooling. But as long as a parent seeks legal homeschooling and provides all necessities and the children are in good health, is it still child abuse to keep them locked in your house and not allow them to leave? If it is, at what age does it become child abuse? Sincere legal questions here.
Okay, just WAGging off here: IANAPsychologist, but it’s easy to imagine that this is very psychologically damaging to the kids. That might be problem enough right there. Note, it’s a medical/mental problem first; only upon that, does it then become a legal problem.
Note, this comment is only about keeping them cooped up; setting aside all the actual, you know, abuse that’s coming out in the details.
It can be quite difficult to prove wrong-doing in these cases (obviously not this particular case with sexual abuse).
A few years ago I was conducting tests at primary schools and encountered a girl who didn’t know any of the animals, aged 9. Her behaviour was strange, too. The first few minutes I was wondering if she was developmentally disabled, but that didn’t seem to be it.
I went to speak to her teacher, and the first thing the teacher said when I walked in, was: “I wanted to ask you about [girl]” She explained the girl was essentially locked in her room with absolutely nothing, besides school, which I think she had only recently been attending since authorities had found out. They were trying to make a case, but she was fed and not beaten and it was proving difficult. I’m sure they’d get something based on psych evaluations though, poor girl.
I worked with a similar kid before, too. She had been kept in the attic by her grandmother. The grandmother loved her very much, and did take care of her, but just didn’t let her out. She was completely crazy, so the kid had some very strange attitudes, ideas and behaviours. I’m not sure of the specifics of the case though, and how she ended up with us. I’m guessing eventually they did prove it was abuse…
I never said this isn’t as bad as Ariel Castro or that there are no similarities.
But Ariel Castro went out and kidnapped three separate children who were essentially strangers to him. That is slightly different from keeping your own children locked up in the house. As gracer points out, in a case like this, it could just be a weird family situation as opposed to “Holy shit, this guy kidnapped three people to add to create a rape dungeon!”
You said “it’s not even close to being the same”. In my book, the fact that they are their biological children is a small nuance. Physical abuse, imprisonment, isolation, sexual abuse are the critical similarities. The younger kids hadn’t seen the older sister for 2 years! In the same house!