peteer01 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) Confession: Boy bludgeoned sleeping mom over PlayStation By Joseph A. Slobodzian INQUIRER STAFF WRITER When her 16-year-old son got into trouble last November, Rashida Anderson responded with punishment - she took away Kendall's PlayStation. That proved fatal. Following a 90-minute argument the day after Thanksgiving, police allege, Kendall went into his sleeping mother's bedroom, hit her 20 times with a claw hammer and ultimately killed her. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/116241209.html?c=r Unbelievable. Attacks her with a claw hammer, tries to "cremate her" in the oven, and then finally kills her with a chair leg before hiding her corpse and reporting her missing. He goes on to say, "she was the only person who cared for me." Would capital punishment really be a bad idea here? Edited February 16, 2011 by peteer02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Capital punishment wouldn't solve anything and it never has. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheForgetfulBrain Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Capital punishment wouldn't solve anything and it never has. I have to agree with Faiblesse here - there's nothing like going onto Yahoo, or some other miserable news source where you see nothing but rancid comments clambering to kill one person or another. That said, I'm not sure what is to be said or done about something like this. It's a sad, hideous situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteer01 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) Capital punishment wouldn't solve anything and it never has. I'm not trying to argue whether or not capital punishment is a good idea or bad idea, but how would you "solve" this situation? Is there an elegant solution of what to do with this twisted young man? What would you consider the way to "solve" this? While my capital punishment comment was a bit of gallows humor (Dukakis would appreciate that one), saying that it wouldn't "solve anything" suggests that you do have a solution. I'd be interested to hear it. Edited February 16, 2011 by peteer02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I don't think this kid truly understands what cremation demands. Also, he must be a genius. Surely I shall convey my worries to the police, telling them that my mother has not returned home! Cop: Perhaps the home may have a clue as to her whereabouts! Finds corpse. ಠ_ಠ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteer01 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) I don't think this kid truly understands what cremation demands. Also, he must be a genius. Surely I shall convey my worries to the police, telling them that my mother has not returned home! Cop: Perhaps the home may have a clue as to her whereabouts! Finds corpse. ಠ_ಠ Yes. While games may not actually desensitize us to violence, they apparently may cause us to dramatically underestimate the intelligence and diligence of real world police. (I'll change the color of my car. They'll never find me now! If that doesn't work, I'll just crouch in this shadow until they forget about me in a few seconds.) Edited February 16, 2011 by peteer02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) This is why we teach the Gammas that "ending is better than mending". /sarcasm But in all seriousness, that is pretty overboard. Over a PS3 of all things, and even that, murder, too. People sure have strange priorities. Yes, that was a Brave New World reference. Edited February 16, 2011 by Pirandello 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I don't think this kid truly understands what cremation demands. Also, he must be a genius. Surely I shall convey my worries to the police, telling them that my mother has not returned home! Cop: Perhaps the home may have a clue as to her whereabouts! Finds corpse. ಠ_ಠ Yes. While games may not actually desensitize us to violence, they apparently may cause us to dramatically underestimate the intelligence and diligence of real world police. (I'll change the color of my car. They'll never find me now! If that doesn't work, I'll just crouch in this shadow until they forget about me in a few seconds.) Unless you play Need for Speed, of course. In which you learn that no matter what European turbo-charged supercar you're driving, a police sedan will ALWAYS be able to catch up to and GO FASTER THAN your $750,000 car tuned with $450,000 worth of aftermarket parts. Nope. They're just regular cars. Mhm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I'm not trying to argue whether or not capital punishment is a good idea or bad idea, but how would you "solve" this situation? You can't really solve this. Best anyone can do is lock him up and give him psychiatric help. The damage done is beyond solving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteer01 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) You can't really solve this. Best anyone can do is lock him up and give him psychiatric help. The damage done is beyond solving. Agreed. That was basically my point. Whether you think locking this kid in a mental institution or a correctional facility is the best course of action, or if you believe that capital punishment is the best course of action, the is damage done and no course of action "solves" it. Whether you come from a culture and upbringing that views life in prison as cruel and unusual and worse than capital punishment, or if you believe the reverse, that capital punishment is worse than life in prison, trumpeting that one of those "doesn't solve anything" is only meaningful if you have a solution that does. Again, there are no easy answers for what should be done with this young man, but my gallows humor was never meant to start a debate on capital punishment. Edited February 16, 2011 by peteer02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra92 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I'm thinking we should have these people chained up and they can row my personal fleet of ships. Either that or we can chain them all up for use in chain gangs or for work in the salt mines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 But in all seriousness, that is pretty overboard. Over a PS3 of all things, and even that, murder, too. People sure have strange priorities. I know, right? I mean, if it had been a 360 that would be one thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 long story short: I'm against capital punishment. lock the kid in a cell and put pictures of him and his mom or just his mom on the walls. life without parole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra92 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 long story short: I'm against capital punishment. lock the kid in a cell and put pictures of him and his mom or just his mom on the walls. life without parole. and let him keep his belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I'm okay with that. if he does it himself, gen pop, whatever, I don't care. We didn't pay for it then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nexus Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 But you're paying to keep him in the prison in the first place. Cheaper to murder him than keep him locked up, usually. (Not that I'm advocating Capital Punishment) This is ridiculous though. Even at the height of my gaming obsession, I wouldn't ever be that angry. The kid must have some kind of underlying issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 actually, capital punishment and death row costs more than housing an inmate for life without parole. http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Yeah, more than a needle. Got all that paperwork to file. And prison inmates are used for slave labour, so they earn their keep too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 actually, capital punishment and death row costs more than housing an inmate for life without parole. http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42 I always found that strange. Why is it that there's so much red tape associated with death penalties that it costs more to put a bullet through their head than to keep them locked up and squandering taxpayer money for the rest of their lives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 maybe because of the many exoneration and wrongful executions that have happened and continue to happen. if you were executing someone, wouldn't you want to make DAMN SURE they were the person actually responsible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 He feels remorse for it? That dumb bastard. I might buy that if he shot her or killed her in some other way that was instantly lethal, but no, apparently after he got the hammer the thought process was something like this. *WHACKWHACKWHACKWHACK* "Die mom, die! That'll teach you to take away my ps3!" "Oh, she's not dead yet. Well I'll fix that! Get in there! Get in that oven!" "Is this maybe a bad idea? Should I not be doing this? Oh hey, a chair leg! That'll finish the bitch off" "Well that was a long and extremely deliberate process. Now to just drag the body out." "I got caught? OH I FEEL SO MUCH REMORSE!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 if you were executing someone, wouldn't you want to make DAMN SURE they were the person actually responsible? Then couldn't this be applied to cases in which the perpetrator is so ostensibly obvious that it'd be plain stupid to not know who did it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Due process doesn't work that way. You still have to decide which cases are so painfully obvious, then you need safeguards in place to make sure it's accurate, etc etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 "innocent until proven guilty." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted June 27, 2011 Report Share Posted June 27, 2011 I have an issue with the state "punishing" an individual. Imprisonment is not about punishment (or rather it's not just about punishment. It's about protecting the public from criminals until they are rehabilitated. You've got to look at the kid and ask, "Is this something that is going to happen again?" Some cases, say where a guy is going bankrupt, his kid's terminally ill and he catches his wife in bed with someone and kills them both. You can look at that and say, this was a man under duress, who was pushed beyond his breaking point. Chances are, he won't do something like this again. So you lock him away, assess him over a period of years, give him the counselling he needs etc, and then, when he's back on an even keel, you cut him loose. This kid, well, if he's gonna snap over something tiny, you need to look a lot more closely at why he snapped. Could be that he will never be stable enough to release into society, so you keep him locked away, treat him (medically) as best you can, and try to make him a productive member of the prison population until the day he dies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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