SlenderMan Murderer Teens to be tried as ADULTS and face up to 65 years in prison!

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Religion is commonplace so in that manner it's normal. That doesn't make it any less creepy to me. Religion is just a cult that got big. It's functionally similar. Agree to disagree. We won't progress on this aspect. A religious person and a Slenderman believer are both potentially lacking the mental capacity to be held accountable for their crimes, and should have an alternative sentence should an underlying psychiatric condition be the culprit.

that is either a naive/simple mind, or the mind of a child. Either way....the judge is wrong.

Naivety and simple-mindedness are both characteristics of 'adult minds' of adults who are convicted of brutal crimes all the darn time. Why are they not prosecuted as minors for their "minor minds"? That's rhetorical

The judge was evaluating whether these teenagers were cognizant of their intentions and the consequences of them. The judge obviously had more evidence to evaluate than we do. What limited information we have suggests these teenagers were very aware of the nature of their crime. A crime they planned for a while. What the consequences would be for their victim, and what the consequences would be if they were caught.

Couldn't happen to two better people.

a reply to: Lucid Lunacy

It would be prudent to note that "religion" is a broad term encompassing many belief systems across many geographical areas, and across the entire recorded and unearthed human history. "It got big" because human brains seem prone to it.

That aside, i am sure the judge had access to many things that you and I don't. Like political pressures, and precedent set by a justice system that seems to enjoy delivering to The People their pound of flesh.

That's precisely what can and does happen. By the judge. Legally. If you and others don't like it then voice dissent and get the law changed. As it stands it's up to the judges discretion to assess each homicide case involving a minor and to determine if said minor should be tried as an adult.

Like I said I don't disagree with you on this point, obviously there needs to be some wiggle room, but that wiggle room can only extend so far before all logic is lost. Imagine if there was a child rapist facing charges and the judge decided that the child was actually an adult because they seduced the adult and actually planned the whole thing out. If the child was 16 then it might be reasonable to treat that person as an adult and drop the rape charges. Now imagine if that child was 12 years old, I don't think any judge would let the charges drop in that situation, they'd never consider a 12 year old an adult under those circumstances. At the end of the day emotions always dominate the law and it's sad.

originally posted by: Lucid Lunacy
a reply to: enlightenedservant

What's the point in even having a juvenile court system if minors are treated as adults?

I believe a Law was passed so that they could only be tried as adults if it were homicide crime. Even then it's up to the discretion of the judge if that minor should be tried as an adult.

I can understand that, I just don't believe in the premise of "you can face the legal consequences of being an adult without being able to exercise the legal benefits of being an adult".

This society has become a morass of politically correct
categories of individuals.

Whether you classify these girls as children, or adults,
or mentally challenged, or unaware of the consequences,
the facts remain...

These girls plotted and planned to kill an innocent person.
They gained the trust of that person, then lured him into
the woods and killed him...

What more needs to be said about their character? Their maturity?
Their competence?

When this first happened, I read several articles about Anissa's family being heavy into goth. Her father even praised and shared her Slenderman drawings on social media. I recall reading that an older brother, not living in the home, was some sort of actor that worked in a some creepy traveling carnival type show.
Personally, I think her entire family is weird and I'm sure this is where she picked up this behavior.
I wouldn't be surprised if a civil suit is brought against both sets of parents.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan
Considering I have spent now a decade on ATS reading religious threads, I’m more than cognizant of the all-encompassing nature of the term “religion”. A tendency towards certain beliefs doesn’t in any way lend credence to them in of itself. Nor does it make them less irrational. Or in my eyes, in the context of religion, less creepy or cultish. Religion in all historical honesty is a system of belief now rendered wholly ineffectual as a methodology of understanding the Universe by our scientific progress; A skeleton in our closet that remains hidden to most because of the fervent need to assuage cognitive dissonance.

“No Amount of Belief Makes Something a Fact” - James Randi

Suggesting irrational religious belief is functionally different than irrational Slenderman belief, simply because one is commonplace, is illogical. Suggesting one is prone to fostering delusional thought more than the other is daft. The prevalence of religion doesn't negate that both these things are essentially about invisible beings commanding and condoning action. If we accept that religious people can believe to be in communion with invisible forces and be of sane enough mind to be held accountable for their actions [and we do], then we can of others whom also believe to be in communion with invisible forces [regardless of whether they are found in a known religion].

That aside, i am sure the judge had access to many things that you and I don't. Like political pressures, and precedent set by a justice system that seems to enjoy delivering to The People their pound of flesh.

I fully acknowledge the potentiality of judicial corruption. Would you dismiss the possibility that wasn't the case here?

Many Parents are just not involved in the life of their kids....

We see it over and over where the kids have shown really bad behaviors and the parents are like... "I never knew".