9 year old girl stabs to death 11 year old playmate over a ball

[bomarl1969]

What she did was terrible, and she needs to be punished and rehabilitated accordingly. But 9 year olds have no business being locked up for life because they lack the capacity to fully understand and appreciate their actions. That will be the case here.

Tell that to the 11 year old's family.

[919191]

Tell that to the 11 year old's family.

The purpose of punishment is not to make the victim or the victim's family "feel better". Most people are not that shallow.

[bomarl1969]

The purpose of punishment is not to make the victim or the victim's family "feel better". Most people are not that shallow.

I know that, but anyone who commits a murder deserves to be locked up for the rest of their life.

[Larry Schuler]

Regardless of age this girl should get life in prison, without parole. This isn't a case of manslaughter, it is cold blooded murder.

I'm not sure this would be a good idea. 9 year olds are still typically young, and sending this one to prison for life will have virtually no affect on other young future murderers. They aren't old enough to stop and think "Hey, if I do this, I'll go to prison for my whole life" or even understand what that means.

Like the Bible says sin is sin and one isn't worse than another. You do the crime, you do the time. All criminals need to be dealt with severly, even children.

Then every single person in the world should be in prison. God is our judge, not our neighbor.

[919191]

I know that, but anyone who commits a murder deserves to be locked up for the rest of their life.

You really think a 9 year old understands the meaning and consequences of a deadly act? That is usually necessary for a homicide to be murder.

[RollyInRaleigh]

While I have a hard time thinking that a nine year old should spend the rest of their life in prison, sometimes I think we underestimate the understanding of children. Sometimes I think they know exactly what they are doing.

[registerthis]

While I have a hard time thinking that a nine year old should spend the rest of their life in prison, sometimes I think we underestimate the understanding of children. Sometimes I think they know exactly what they are doing.

Well, the way I look at it is, when I was 13 or 14 years old, i was able to understand *what* I was doing.

Now, however, not only do I know what I'm doing, but I understand the consequences of it--that my actions have a direct consequence on other people and things that I may not have considered 10-15 years ago.

I think children generally know what they do is *wrong*, it's the consequences they cannot always perceive or understand. It's really something that only comes with maturity and experience.

[RollyInRaleigh]

I don't know about you, but the world is a much different place, now, than when I was a youngster. The things that my son understands, at 7, is at a much advanced level than when I was a child. But, even at a very young age, I understood the consequences of my actions, mainly because it was instilled in me by my parents, my teachers, and the adults that I grew up around. It is a real shame that all children do not have that advantage. What I see now, are many parents and a lot of society making excuses for all sorts of abhorent behavior and finding reasons why their children should not be punished, rather than teaching that rights come with responsibility for one's actions. As another thread suggested, it is a very sad world that we are living in.

[DoogMinAmo]

I know it is a very sad incident, one that I am appalled at as much as many other are I am very sure.

But, did anyone else read "11 year old playmate" and think something else is really wrong with the world today?

[TC81190]

But, did anyone else read "11 year old playmate" and think something else is really wrong with the world today?

No.

[registerthis]

I don't know about you, but the world is a much different place, now, than when I was a youngster. The things that my son understands, at 7, is at a much advanced level than when I was a child. But, even at a very young age, I understood the consequences of my actions, mainly because it was instilled in me by my parents, my teachers, and the adults that I grew up around. It is a real shame that all children do not have that advantage. What I see now, are many parents and a lot of society making excuses for all sorts of abhorent behavior and finding reasons why their children should not be punished, rather than teaching that rights come with responsibility for one's actions. As another thread suggested, it is a very sad world that we are living in.

I'm not arguing about right and wrong, you should do this and shouldn't do that...I'm pretty sure the 9 year old girl knows that killing is "wrong." but, at 10 years old I knew that talking back to my parents was wrong, but i did it anyway, in large part because I didn't understand, fully, the effect my actions were having on them or why they would or would not do certain things. Kind of tough to spell out in an email, I know, but I don't care what kind of parents you have, your upbringing, your environment, etc. The idea of cause-effect is a tough one for children of any age to grasp. It's not so much WHAT'S wrong, but WHY it's wrong.

It's why children are deemed to lack the capacity to make important decisions about themselves, why they are not able to enter into contracts (or may back out of them at any time if they so choose), why they can't vote or drive...they lack the capacity to understand the full effects of the choices they make, even those they know to be 'wrong."

I'm in no way trying to excuse what the 9 year old did, it's absolutely horrible, and anyone that behaves like that obviously has some serious mental defects. But I'm also not going to say that, at age 9, she has made a decision that should deprive her of her free life for the remainder of her life, either.

[RollyInRaleigh]

Nor, was that what I was saying, either, but I do believe that a child of 9 should know that thrusting a knife into another childs chest is in no way the right thing to do under any circumstances. Life should not go on for this child as if she spilled her milk. There should be some serious consequences for this action.

[Unassisted]

Context means everything here.

My guess is that these two girls don't live in an idyllic, suburban setting where every home has a flower bed and a 2-car garage. It sounds more like they live on mean streets where violence, drugs and other forms of lawlessness are everyday occurrences. They probably knew more people who died violently than any of us do.

There's been some grumbling about why parents didn't intercede here. Generalizing with statistics, it's a good bet that dad is in prison and mom was away from home working, since it's the only way she can qualify for public assistance. I'd like to think they would have prevented this if they had been home, but you can't ignore that it was probably not by choice that they were not home.

Rather than simply warming up Old Sparky for the stabber, and putting this out of our minds, I think we should be considering the desperation represented by this situation and thinking about whether this could happen again to others in similar circumstances.

[GAC]

I'm not arguing about right and wrong, you should do this and shouldn't do that...I'm pretty sure the 9 year old girl knows that killing is "wrong." but, at 10 years old I knew that talking back to my parents was wrong, but i did it anyway, in large part because I didn't understand, fully, the effect my actions were having on them or why they would or would not do certain things. Kind of tough to spell out in an email, I know, but I don't care what kind of parents you have, your upbringing, your environment, etc. The idea of cause-effect is a tough one for children of any age to grasp. It's not so much WHAT'S wrong, but WHY it's wrong.

It's why children are deemed to lack the capacity to make important decisions about themselves, why they are not able to enter into contracts (or may back out of them at any time if they so choose), why they can't vote or drive...they lack the capacity to understand the full effects of the choices they make, even those they know to be 'wrong."

I'm in no way trying to excuse what the 9 year old did, it's absolutely horrible, and anyone that behaves like that obviously has some serious mental defects. But I'm also not going to say that, at age 9, she has made a decision that should deprive her of her free life for the remainder of her life, either.

I agree. And yet if it were differing circumstamces, our society today feels this same 9 yr old can make decisions on their own and circumvent parental rights/notification.

You can't have it both ways.

There needs to be greater disciplne/control in both the home and the public schools. Our public school system's hands have been "tied" in this area.

Our society, IMO, has reaped what they have sown. And it's very, very sad.

We've sold this generation of chldren out IMO when it comes to morale truth/relativity. The boundaries have been skewered and erased with little or no accountability.

Not saying this child deserves prison or some harsh treatment. But her actions simply are indicative of the problem. And we're all shaking our heads as to what to do.

Why?

Because we've never, as a society, had to confront such an "epidemic" of our children committing such gruesome murders at such a scale. It's become a norm anymore.

[registerthis]

Nor, was that what I was saying, either, but I do believe that a child of 9 should know that thrusting a knife into another childs chest is in no way the right thing to do under any circumstances. Life should not go on for this child as if she spilled her milk. There should be some serious consequences for this action.

I completely agree.

Reading the article yesterday, someone made a quote along the lines of "The girl didn;t have any family issues--she has a good family." Well, she obviously has issues SOMEWHERE, because 9 year olds don't just stab their friends to death over a dispute over a ball.

Cripes.