10-year-old boy beats 90-year-old woman to death in bed

A 10 year old Cleveland boy has admitted to holding a cane over a 90 year old woman's throat and punching her in the face while she laid in bed , killing her. All this because she yelled at him.

The boy is charged as an adult with criminal homicide.

I was wondering what everyone else thinks about this 10 year old being charged as an adult? Personally Im ok with it I say lock him up forever.

Brown said he would also follow up with a request for a competency hearing, saying evidence gathered by prosecutors suggests the boy may have mental health issues. He said those issues could indicate he is not competent to stand trial and also may support the transfer of the case to juvenile court.

State police said the beating occurred Saturday when the boy was visiting his grandfather's home in northeastern Pennsylvania.

link

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
The boy is charged as an adult with criminal homicide.

Good. He needs some time in the cooler before he goes out into the real world. Children with these violent tendencies, who actually act out on them, scare the crap out of me.

I'm sick of hearing mental incompetency issues being to blame. Violence is wrong and it needs to be taught to everyone one way or the other. There are other ways to channel aggression and it needs to be taught.

The article also says he lied about hurting the woman. He knows how to make decisions. 'Nuff said.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

The boy did what he was told, but came back with a wooden cane, which he hooked around Novak’s neck and pushed into her throat for several seconds before punching her five times in the throat and five times in the stomach, according to the Scranton Times Tribune.

nypost.com...

The boy was charged as an adult but can petition to have the case moved to juvenile court, the newspaper said.
He will appear in court on Oct. 22.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

Lock him up forever? Why not just execute him?

He's 10. If he killed someone he is mentally ill.

Violence isn't something people are born to. Every violent person is just responding to their environment. I bet he was abused or grew up in extreme poverty or both.

If you're going to put a 10 year old away you condemn him to a life of misery and mental illness. Better off killing him if that's your attitude.

Violence is everywhere. This is to be expected.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

I read this earlier and was blown away at the violence shown in the 10 yr. old kid, all because the older woman yelled at him?
Seriously?

What is eerie is the kid didn't hesitate to do what he did

Normally I would be iffy about trying him as an adult but in this case, that kid needs to be off the streets
He is messed up in the head, no conscience
Definite danger to society, especially as he gets older

This is just my opinion...
Sad regardless

He is clearly mentally ill and at minimum has intermittent explosive disorder. Probably a lot of violence in his world. We don't know enough about him to draw conclusions but all in all not to be tried as an adult. He isn't an adult.

a reply to: Lysergic

His last name kinda sounds like Killa and he does look like one of those trouble making, spoiled kids. Wonder who taught him how to hit and fight like that....

a reply to: alienjuggalo
Something is waaayyy wrong with this picture.
Would he have tried that with a 25, 35, 45 year old?
If so - I would say 'mental/psychological disorder'.
If not - then, I'm guessing that he calculated that he could handle a 90 year old.
...and again - something is very wrong with that picture.

ETA: Okay - he supposedly said he wasn't trying to kill her...just hurt her.
That's still way out of bounds of civilized behavior.

originally posted by: tavi45
a reply to: alienjuggalo

Lock him up forever? Why not just execute him?

He's 10. If he killed someone he is mentally ill.

Violence isn't something people are born to. Every violent person is just responding to their environment. I bet he was abused or grew up in extreme poverty or both.

If you're going to put a 10 year old away you condemn him to a life of misery and mental illness. Better off killing him if that's your attitude.

I bet you missed the class on Ted bundy eh? That guy was as normal as normal can be minus all the killings he did.. so no you are wrong.

And let's not talk about the politicians who like to play chess wit the wars they have eh?

This only speaks to one thing. The amount of effort we put into mental health in this "first world" country is on a "third world" level. We are so quick to blame guns, video games and rap music for all of our problems we forget to pay attention to the human mind.

Life is stressful. Does that mean we need to cottle and placate to everyone with an insecurity? NO. What it means is that we need to start responsibly assigning blame when things go bad. We all know there is an epidemic with mental illness in this country. When the mentally ill do what they will undoubtedly do, should we blame the tools they use or blame society for not having better methods in place to help these people?

Perhaps if we didn't spend so incredibly much on resources combating the war on drugs, entrapment and intelligence gathering on our own citizens, we could use some of those resources to better help those who need it.

Just a thought.

I hear lock him up forever, or just execute him...... most people in general are just savages. You people who think that this is the answer are the problem in this world. This child (person) needs help. Helping, and showing compassion is the key to this mess. Most people want to lock away problem people and just forget about them, or lets just kill them and move on. There is hope for this child, why can't others see this? This cycle perpetuates with no end in sight, and makes me angry that more is not done. Instead of two lives being ruined, how about only one? With less being left in anguish! We really need to start giving more of a $#!+ about people in general

a reply to: Helious

Agreed. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this child was failed by multiple people and the government as well.

Yes, the kid obviously needs to be off the streets, but I don't agree that he should be tried as an adult (I think we can draw that line at freaking 10). He needs all the help he can get, not years and years in a crappy environment that will only make him worse.

We really need to address the mental health crisis in this country. Ignoring it is clearly not working out very well.

originally posted by: WanDash
a reply to: alienjuggalo
Something is waaayyy wrong with this picture.
Would he have tried that with a 25, 35, 45 year old?
If so - I would say 'mental/psychological disorder'.
If not - then, I'm guessing that he calculated that he could handle a 90 year old.
...and again - something is very wrong with that picture.

ETA: Okay - he supposedly said he wasn't trying to kill her...just hurt her.
That's still way out of bounds of civilized behavior.

Regardless, my problem is what in the hell is a 10 yo doing thinking this way to begin with?
Why in the hell or rather what the heck propelled him in the first place to physically hurt the lady?

He knew what he was doing by pressing the cane to her throat- at the age of 10, kids know it will choke you
And then to hit her repeatedly?

Not all cases are to be blamed on violence in the home

Some people are just born evil i.e. no conscience, no remorse, no care

I don't know the answer here. Locking him up doesn't exactly serve any purpose, given the quality of our prisons any prolonged detention is guaranteed to make him a violent criminal in the future. On top of that what are we deterring by locking him up? Telling 10 year olds that it's not ok to act like a selfish brat? 10 year olds barely have a concept of rules, jail, and society... they have very self centric mindsets. They're never going to get the message. To be honest I doubt the kid even has a real concept of life and death.

At the same time however, the kid needs to learn that what he did was (very) wrong. If we believe the justice system to be rehabilitative at it's core, which is part of the mission statement despite how we act then don't we owe it to the kid to make sure he can turn his life around? That probably means predominantly mental health care and not punishment.

originally posted by: snarky412
Regardless, my problem is what in the hell is a 10 yo doing thinking this way to begin with?
Why in the hell or rather what the heck propelled him in the first place to physically hurt the lady?

He knew what he was doing by pressing the cane to her throat- at the age of 10, kids know it will choke you
And then to hit her repeatedly?

He was probably thinking she hurt me (or didn't give me what I wanted) so I'm going to hurt her. It's a very common line of reasoning among kids. Even among adults it's pretty common.

a reply to: ThichHeaded

Uh Ted Bundy had serious mental issues. Everyone is superficially normal until they're noticeably crazy.
I know tons of really really twisted people who seem normal.

m.psychologytoday.com...

There is no such thing as being born a killer. There are biological (science shows many if not all of these are environmental such as a stress or trauma to the mother while pregnant for example) causes for some mental illness.

If you are born healthy and your life is free from poverty, violence, or negative social factors like ostracization you won't kill anyone.

Here's an article illustrating my point.

"It is important to note that genes alone do not cause someone to be overly aggressive; as indicated, environment is also a key factor."

yvpc.sph.umich.edu...

Also here's a super interesting story about a neuroscientist focused on violent behavior and serial killers who found out his genetic heritage is that of murderers. He looked into it and found his brain has all the trademark signs of a serial killer. Yet he isn't one and is a totally nice normal guy.

www.npr.org...

Clearly genetics play a part but far more important is epignetics which your average yokel doesn't even know about. Do some research. Stop buying into the myths and propaganda. There are no simple answers in our complex world no matter how much people want there to be because their fragile worldviews can't handle uncertainty.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
The boy is charged as an adult with criminal homicide.

Good. He needs some time in the cooler before he goes out into the real world. Children with these violent tendencies, who actually act out on them, scare the crap out of me.

I'm sick of hearing mental incompetency issues being to blame. Violence is wrong and it needs to be taught to everyone one way or the other. There are other ways to channel aggression and it needs to be taught.

The article also says he lied about hurting the woman. He knows how to make decisions. 'Nuff said.

Brings to mind the old movie Lord of the flies.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

This is certainly alarming considering the boy's age. My youngest brother is a third grader (9 years old) and there's another boy in his grade that I could see doing this. It all started over the summer, the boy kicked and punched his pet rabbit to death then proceeded to put it on his bed and jump up and down next to it to see how high he could make it jump. According to my parents, and brother, he has formed an unhealthy obsession with my brother, constantly following him around and freaking out if my brother talks to any of his other friends at school. He's always talking about guns and shooting people, and we think he's attracted to my brother because my other brother and myself hunt a lot and have multiple guns(which we keep under lock and key)

My mother has talked to the boy's mother about his behavior and even she doesn't know what to do. She told my mother she even had the boy evaulated and the docs didn't find anything amiss. All the signs are pointing toward sociopath in my opinion because of the blantant lack of emotion this boy exhibits.
Hopefully something will happen before we have another Jeffrey Dahmer.

It's kids like this and the boy in the OP that need to be caught as soon as possible and treated somehow to avoid situations as in the OP

I think the boy needs locked up. He only wanted to hurt her (???) because she yelled at him? A boy with that much violence in him will re-offend. Next time it will be another vulnerable person too. They talk about him needing help but the only help people get from the mental health doctors are drugs. What if he forgets to take them? I am sorry but I feel the time to cure his violent tendencies was before he killed someone. My brother was violent to me when we were younger, and I mean violent, he slit my throat with a butcher knife because I was going to tell on him (kid stuff), he was 14 and I was 12. He was very good at saying what ever the adults wanted to hear to get out of trouble, all the time holding them in disdain. The only thing that kept him from killing someone as( as far as I know), was spending 10 yrs in prison for assault. He came out a changed man. I am sure if he had not went to prison we would have murdered someone. Good thing he didn't have access to a frail 90 year old. This 10 year boy needs to know consequences.

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
A 10 year old Cleveland boy has admitted to holding a cane over a 90 year old woman's throat and punching her in the face while she laid in bed , killing her. All this because she yelled at him.
The boy is charged as an adult with criminal homicide.
I was wondering what everyone else thinks about this 10 year old being charged as an adult? Personally Im ok with it I say

Parental guidance is not a part of many households. When you have kids have total control over their environment this is what can be the result of kids raising kids or kids left to raise themselves developing their own values with no influence from anyone but other kids.