k wrote:
] Now, here's something that really gets me heated. We have a
] brilliant 13 year old girl who hid her pregnancy from her
] parents for 9 months, who then threw the baby out her bedroom
] window after it was born because she was "scared." Please, you
] are kidding me. Put her in jail with Andrea Yates, and round
] up her ignorant 15 year old boyfriend, and the parents too. Do
] us a favor and rot in prison. There's no excuse for this.
]
] [ Certainly, there's no excuse for killing an innocent baby,
] but this sounds more like the outgrowth of a more systemic
] problem, and one which I'm not convinced prison can solve.
] Prisoners are a huge drag on our society, the equivalent of
] treating the symptoms of a disease instead of it's causes.
] There's been a lot of motion lately in the medical community
] towards preventitive medecine, because it's cheaper to prevent
] a disease than to cure it, not to mention, more pleasant for
] everyone involved. I think the same sort of thinking is
] sorely lacking from discussions of social diseases.
]
] Anyway, it's almost certain that the girl, at least, will be
] in jail for a while, and probably the boyfriend too.
] Negligence of that magnitude is undoubtedly deserving of
] punishment. I just think those who call for strong
] punishments ought to think extra hard about finding ways to
] minimize the number of people who recieve them. In some cases,
] prison may serve that purpose, but I don't think that's true
] in all cases. -k]

While I can certainly see your point, I would beg to differ. I think people are in general are in a behavioral decline, and all sorts of crazy things are blamed on social disease and lack of understanding. However, in this case, it would have been impossible to help her because she never reached out to anyone. Last time I checked, social workers and other responsible parties that could have helped her aren't mind readers, and potential "victims" of social diseases need to know that actions like these--when there are a ton of available options--just isn't acceptable. How much ignorance is too much, and what do you do if people don't listen?

RE: 13 year old throws baby out her window and lets it die