If his IQ has been confirmed then he will not go to prison. They can sentence him for any number of years and it won't matter. He will end up in the Mentally Retarded Defendants Program, where he will be placed in what is basically a high-security group home. It's like a jail for people with mental retardation.

The bottom line: Once one enters the MRDP the number of years of one's sentence is irrelevant.

^

So it's okay if they violate a non-"innocent"/young human life, you will pay their bill in that case?

It's not like I'm personally paying to keep them alive. Of course I wouldn't do that if they handed the bill to ME.

And they couldn't hurt the guards if the security was good enough and they were put in solitary.

Revenge is not the answer. Ever.

Does it suck we have to pay money to keep them alive? Of course. But we definitely should.

[edit on 12-6-2009 by Donnie Darko]

look i have two kids, so i know what im talking about here

if someone harmed one of my kids in this manner, id be their judge jury and executioner

you think id allow the government to place them in a protective cage to be safe for decades?

someone kills/rapes my kids they will only know 1 law

the law of the jungle

[edit on 12-6-2009 by muzzleflash]

Originally posted by xxpigxx


As for not footing the bill . . . if you pay taxes, you are footing the damn bill. Period.

well, If he/she is on welfare, than they aren't paying anything

i am not saying anyone is or is not, but i do expect that kind of talk from a welfare junkie "im not paying for it!"

yet expects all of us to foot the bill...

OMG, I am so outraged I couldn't finish the article!

I have an adult child who has a form of autism and her IQ is 72, there is no way that any person with an IQ of 47 can in any way be held accountable to a criminal code in this way. What the hell is wrong with Texas, they put the mentally disabled to death, they deny DNA evidence in cases because of a statue, and now this!

If any state in this union has some real bad karma it is this one. Shame on you judge, shame on any system that would do this to a mentally retarded adult.

regardless of how "smart" one is, if they are a part of a society , if they do the crime they must do the time. If laws start giving way to certain excuses such as low intelligence, than that would be labeling one human being more beneficial than another human.

A human is a human, and if humans have laws, than we might as well stick with them , even if ones IQ is below a hundred.

I say a law is a law and keep it that way ! Call me insensitive and call me an A*&h%&*# , yet ponder on the societal benefits.

Originally posted by debz325
If you are saying that mentally disabled people should not be in prison then the prison's would be empty.I am also not sure that intelligence is important in moral questions.I personally believe all child molesters should be hung in a public square.What kind of society does not protect the innocent?God bless Texas!

If the boy had been fondled by a 7 year old boy, would you hang the boy who fondled him in a public square?

If an adult, through no fault of his own, only has the intelligence of of a seven year old boy, should he be hung in a public square for feeling up a child?

If you say yes and are typical of Texans, then I say God help Texas.

Originally posted by wclv13
BTW, if an 18 yo is that incapacitated, who was watching him? THEY should go to prison for neglect.

As the (single) parent of a young man with a similar IQ, I can tell you it's impossible to watch him all the time.

What's more, it's also not the best thing for the young man concerned.

Like my son, most adults in this IQ range are trained to take themselves to a sheltered workshop and back each day. Parents of handicapped adults have to earn a living, shop, cook and clean, just like parents of normal adults. Parents also have to teach their children independence. I'm not going to live forever, (I have a degenerative heart disease,) so I have to send my son out to buy food and clothing and pay bills on his own, so he can survive without me.

Once, 10 years ago, my son held a small dinner knife to a neighbour's throat. Luckily for me the neighbour was very understanding and talked sense into my son and got him to put the knife away and go home. Another time he got frustrated when McDonalds wouldn't honour his voucher and started throwing tables around. Luckily a stranger stepped in and took care of him until he was calm and put him on a train home.

I will always be grateful to these people for their forbearance. Without their patience police could have been called and my son shot. Instead he's learned better self control, and now can be trusted out on his own.


I am so glad we don't live in Texas.

The sad fact of almost all crime and punishment and criminal justice is that if his IQ was 147, not 47 he probably wouldn't have gotten caught.

The worst criminals and the greatest threats are the ones that will never be captured.

Some of you on here are from another century. How in god's name can any of you say that a person with the capacity of a child deserves prison or worse for this.

If DENY IGNORANCE is the theme of this site, then a whole lot of you need to be on some other site where ignorance is the norm!

Okay, the shear ignorance shown in this thread has got me shaking my head in disbelief.

First off, Donnie Darko, where do you get off? You obviously have no prior knowledge of the subject of Texas Criminal Law, all your comments are seeded with so much ignorance it is astounding. I suggest before you go comment about something you have no understanding of, that you go research it to its fullest extent and then make intelligent and insightful posts. Right now you're not looking so hot with your responses. I read this entire thread and when you didnt make a generalized comment about how bad Texas Justice system is you would go on to insult people with opinions that differ from your own.

Realize that Texas has a whole different culture than your own and you're not going to change it anytime soon. Texans are happy to punish our criminals to the fullest extent of Texas Law, which is the death penalty.

While the charge of 100 years in prison for this young man is harsh in some ways, he received it from a jury of peers and therefore deserves it. Leave it to the lawyers to appeal the conviction for a lesser sentence.

Edit: Grammar

[edit on 6/13/2009 by Tentickles]