Teen strangles 10 year old brother, inspired by Dexter

[deathshead2]

Having a brother on my own...I just can't even picture this, I hope this kid gets what coming. The saddest bit was his younger brother telling him:

"Andrew...stop"

And talking that his urge to kill is like eating a hamburger.

 

[Sarge 2.0]

Why not?



You know what? I was going to type a whole page's worth of an argument to show you exactly why you're not only incredibly wrong about the bolded portion, but also just plain ignorant, but then I realized that this is the internet, so it doesn't matter.

As for this right to life, I don't believe that it's a right, I see it more as a privilege, and one that should be revoked when you murder someone. In my mind, a right is something that cannot be revoked, no matter what.

As for the cruel and unusual punishment clause, I think that the death penalty would be a more effective means of punishment if it were cruel and unusual, as it would serve as a deterrent for the more rational criminals out there. The psychos like this kid, well, they won't be deterred by anything.

Don't get worked up, see my post where I said it wouldn't happen again and realize that I haven't slept in about 27 hours and forgot to edit out the portion you bolded, but totally intended to. Not that you would have known that I'm way past fatigued, but that's why I forgot to edit that portion out.

 

[bgates87]

Having a brother on my own...I just can't even picture this, I hope this kid gets what coming. The saddest bit was his younger brother telling him:

"Andrew...stop"

Me too. Reading stories like these make me sick. I've got a 14 year-old brother sleeping in the other room right now, I could never imagine myself taking his life. The only thing more infuriating than hearing stories like this is having someone (cough cough *SARGE*) suggesting to you that you are the same as a person who murdered their own brother, and that you'll probably do the same if you get the chance.

 

[katie_girl09]

As for this right to life, I don't believe that it's a right, I see it more as a privilege, and one that should be revoked when you murder someone.

Thank you.

People are so quick to classify things as rights when they are actually privileges. Like having children.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

This kid should suffer. I don't think the death penalty would provide that, but maybe living in prison away from his family, friends and privileges wouldn't either. It's tough when you're dealing with the insane.

 

[SuperFerret]

Don't get worked up, see my post where I said it wouldn't happen again and realized that I haven't slept in about 27 hours and forgot to edit out the portion you bolded, but totally intended to.

Fair enough. That just struck kinda close, you know, but I've also responded without thinking on here, so I know how that is.

 

[Sarge 2.0]

Fair enough. That just struck kinda close, you know, but I've also responded without thinking on here, so I know how that is.

Yeah, you have my apologies. And honestly I'm impressed to have been able to construct a coherent sentence at this point. Eventually the content of my posts will trail off into passages from Madame Bovary.

 

[C. Lee]

This kid should suffer. I don't think the death penalty would provide that, but maybe living in prison away from his family, friends and privileges wouldn't either. It's tough when you're dealing with the insane.

You plan on making him suffer by keeping him away from his family.....wasn't the brother he killed a part of his family.....

 

[Sarge 2.0]

Me too. Reading stories like these make me sick. I've got a 14 year-old brother sleeping in the other room right now, I could never imagine myself taking his life. The only thing more infuriating than hearing stories like this is having someone (cough cough *SARGE*) suggesting to you that you are the same as a person who murdered their own brother, and that you'll probably do the same if you get the chance.

That wasn't precisely what I was saying (or even implying), it was more like it seemed to her that certain portions of the earth must produce happiness -- as though it were a plant native only to those soils and doomed to languish elsewhere. Why couldn't she be leaning over the balcony of some Swiss chalet? Or nursing her melancholy in a cottage in Scotland, with a husband clad in a long black velvet coat and wearing soft leather shoes, a high-crowned hat and fancy cuffs?

...

Wait, what was I saying?

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Killing a 17 year old out of revenge makes us no better than him.

 

[terry78]

Nothing is more unsettling than being assaulted by someone in your own family that you basically are supposed to be the most comfortable with. The thought of one of your own family members just snapping one night is creepy on its own.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

You plan on making him suffer by keeping him away from his family.....wasn't the brother he killed a part of his family.....

Not necessarily. I'm saying that, while that may work for sane criminals, it might not work for him. As he's clearly bonkers.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I am okay with the death penalty.

Killing someone is the only way to surely make sure they never kill again. By locking them up, there is the possibility of being released somewhere down the line, the possibility of escaping from prison, etc... One way or another, a lot of these guys get back out on the streets.

There is also the fact that it takes tax dollars to keep these guys locked up, and why should the public have to pay money to keep a guy sheltered, fed, and clothed when he is such a vile monster?

When you commit such an in humane, heinous act, I believe that you lose your right to humane treatment. It's not about eye for an eye, it's about ridding society of people who are capable of such evil. On the same token, it's not even about punishment, again as it is protecting society from such evil.

So no, I am not anti-death penalty, not at all. Rights can be lost, and I do not believe that you retain the right to humane treatment when you fail at humane behavior.

 

[Sawyer]

Ugh.... I'm so sick of nutjobs. If only there was a way to tell who is/will become a bat**** crazy murderer just by looking at them, and then we could just ship them off to an island and let them kill eachother or, hell, crazier things have happened, maybe they would all live in peace with one another. Like their own little psychotic nation. Who knows? Just leave regulars alone...

 

[SuperFerret]

Ugh.... I'm so sick of nutjobs. If only there was a way to tell who is/will become a bat**** crazy murderer just by looking at them, and then we could just ship them off to an island and let them kill eachother or, hell, crazier things have happened, maybe they would all live in peace with one another. Like their own little psychotic nation. Who knows? Just leave regulars alone...

Germany?

 

[deathshead2]

Ugh.... I'm so sick of nutjobs. If only there was a way to tell who is/will become a bat**** crazy murderer just by looking at them, and then we could just ship them off to an island and let them kill eachother or, hell, crazier things have happened, maybe they would all live in peace with one another. Like their own little psychotic nation. Who knows? Just leave regulars alone...

We should have built the prison from Escape from New York back in 1997

 

[bgates87]

Killing a 17 year old out of revenge makes us no better than him.

I don't view the death penalty as a form of revenge. I think that most reasonable people who support the death penalty view it as a form of assurance. When a person commits murder and shows no remorse, no understanding that what they did was wrong, and no sign that they won't murder again if given the chance, I think the death penalty is called for because it's the only way to know they'll never kill again.

The only way to change this in my mind is to fix the judicial system so that life sentences are actually life sentences. For the kind of murderer I described above the process should go like this: Arrested, Tried, Sentenced (if found guilty of course), Imprisoned, Buried. There can't be anything between those last two steps. No parole. No time off for good behavior. No "business decisions" by courts making room for new prisoners. They go to jail and they stay there until they die, period. If a "life sentence" worked that way 100% of the time I wouldn't support the death penalty.

 

[Sawyer]

Germany?

Probably... I've never met a German. But I'm sure that at least once in their lives, every German has had a murderous thought...

We should have built the prison from Escape from New York back in 1997

Yep. Kinda missed the boat, America...

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Damn. I got a real Michael Myers vibe reading that. The kid is ****ed up.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Of course Dexter can't be blamed for this. Violent, twisted and disturbing content not only shows up in the fictional universe that is television, but also everyday in our very real world. If the show is the true inspiration behind this act, it still isn't to be blamed. People are crazy. And this kid probably would have done what he did whether he watched the show or not. He's at an age where he should easily understand the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Even if he were younger and didn't understand this, Dexter would still not be at fault, but rather the parents who weren't closely monitoring what the child was viewing on television. Clearly this kid is ****ed up... and that's what it comes down to.

I completely agree here. I'm not sure that anyone else got this out of the article, but it read to me like he had had these thoughts for a while, and that he was able to relate to the show Dexter because the way he felt about himself, and murder.

 

[The Apatow Crew]

Just what the hell are wrong with kids these days, that make them so such f'ed up things?

 

[SuperFerret]

Mass media. It doesn't cause these things, since they've been happening all along, but we sure as heck hear more about it these days.

 

[LiveWire777]

I love that show, but this is one F-ed up story son

 

[Aesop Rocks]

This kid must not be that much of a Dexter fan.

Dexter never strangles his victims.

 

[SuperFerret]

This kid must not be that much of a Dexter fan.

Dexter never strangles his victims.

Wait until next episode.

Inspired by a true story.