Contol freak parent kills innocent man.

[Rebiu]

What does everyone think of this?

Control freak parent kills innocent man.
Vigilante makes mistake

It seems that his two year old daughter told mommy that the neighbor put his penis on her belly. Dad straight up murders the man. Police say there was zero evidence against dead man. Now dad is going to be tried for murder. Mom for lying to police and daughter will have the trauma of causing an innocent mans death even if by mistake.

Considering the tone many here on hypography have taken towards any hint of child sexuality I wonder if this is a mistake many of you could make.

The author says; From what I can tell, it sounds like the mother took some words spoken by the little girl - who said that James came to her “in the starry night” and put his penis on her belly - and let her own fear as a parent weave a story around them.

If one considers a prepubescent to have no innate sexuality, as many here have maintained, then the only possible source of these notions is abuse hence the blinding rage and murder that followed.

I have tried to be the voice of moderation only to be shouted down as an apologist child rapist of the world and accused of being a damaged victim of sexual abuse myself.

[InfiniteNow]

I'd say there's more to the story. Clearly, there is context involved in the man's understanding. While he was not necessarily acting rationally, he was clearly doing something he felt strongly about. From a different news source:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ct/20061011/...tinghistoddler

The couple were already distrustful of James, an assistant funeral director who lived next door with his elderly parents, because he walked around his first-floor bedroom naked, a habit they had reported to police.

In the detective's report, Edington's sister-in-law said the 2-year-old gestured toward her genitals and said, "Barry is this" and spoke of him "putting it" on her "belly and nose."

"He comes to me in the starry nights," the girl told her mother, according to the sister-in-law. When Christina Edington asked the toddler to elaborate, "she replied that he makes noises that sound like 'heehaw' and then it feels like rain on her," according to the report.

Twere it my daughter, and I were confident the claims were true, I'd have broken several bones in his body, cut his penis off, taken him to the zoo and fed him to the crocs...


Now, if was a mistake, well, that's a tough issue. We'll have to wait and see what the courts decide and how good his attorney is...

[Rebiu]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

I'd say there's more to the story. Clearly, there is context involved in the man's understanding. While he was not necessarily acting rationally, he was clearly doing something he felt strongly about. From a different news source:

You say there is more to the story and yet your link provides nothing that would constitue more. What is this "more to the story " you speak of?

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Twere it my daughter, and I were confident the claims were true, I'd have broken several bones in his body, cut his penis off, taken him to the zoo and fed him to the crocs...

Then you would go to jail and you daughter could see you once a month. Real smart parenting decision.

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Now, if was a mistake, well, that's a tough issue. We'll have to wait and see what the courts decide and how good his attorney is...

A man was violently murdered in his bedroom with a knife and you think the issue is wether the killer made a mistake.

I is not very clever of you to post links to older articles and then try to say there is still uncertainty. This article Cops: No Molestation Before Dad Stabbed NeighborWas published eight days after yours suggesting there is no longer any ambiguity.

[InfiniteNow]

The more to the story part is a gut feeling. You do not generally go killing someone in this context if it's a first time offense having no merit nor confirmation.

Not yet a parent, so my rhetorical offense would only result in rhetorical jail time. Perhaps my mindset would change upon entering the realm of fatherhood.

Thanks for the updated link with new information. That was clearly lacking in the post above.


Cheers.

[Freddy]

Taking the law in your own hands is unwise and against the law. Unless one catches another in the act then force cannot be used legally. Allowing law enforcement personnel do their job is the wise action to take. Many of us however, may have acted in the same manner if told our child was molested by a neighbor out of high emotional stress.

[CraigD]

I think this murders and other crimes motivated by emotional outrage at even the possibility of pedophilia (eg: Donald Kegan’s alleged plot to kill 2 registered sex offenders by setting fire to their state social services department-run home) result from at least the following widely held beliefs:

• As stated by thinkandask.com, a news opinion site that advocates the execution of all pedophiles, the belief that “For the record: 2-year-old girls (or boys) do not, under any circumstance, have the mental capability to describe molestation unless it is true. Period.”
• Agreement with various poorly-researched claims that child victims of sexual assault suffer severe, often irreparable psychological harm. Often, these claims are supported by therapists interviews with mentally ill patients in which the patients are encouraged to “recover” memories of forgotten incidents of sexual assault, despite numerous demonstrations that both mentally ill and healthy people can be induced to recall events that never happened.
• Adherance to a code of Hammurabic justice, in which anyone taking – or, per the previous belief, ruining – a life, should be put to death.

The first 2 of these beliefs have been discredited by a large body of well-controlled research, yet continued to be widely held, often on the basis of “common sense” or “gut feeling”.

The combination of these erroneous beliefs lead logically to the conclusion that any person accused of sexual assault by a child should be killed. Because the legal systems of all but a few countries don’t punish sexual assault on a child by execution, this compels a committed person believing these ideas to kill the suspected assailant themselves.

IMHO, the best way to prevent future crimes such as the murder of Barry James is to educate the public, dispelling the psychological misconceptions that may have motivated his killer. Responsible, well-trained therapists should let the public know that children of nearly any age often invent fantastic stories about even shocking subjects, often while appearing absolutely sincere. Experience parents should relate to their children, friends, and neighbors their common-sense experience of the unreliability of children’s accounts. And both therapists and parents who have been though it should reassure the public that children are not “ruined” by even the most severe and traumatic sexual assault, and of the importance of reassuring children that this is the case, both in discovering ongoing assault, and easing their fear and confusion concerning it. Children who are victims of sexual assault need the love and support of their parents, not a demonstration of their vengeance.

The danger of psychological disorders resulting in pedophilia should not be discounted. People with these disorders are many times more likely than the general population to abduct and kill children or adults. However, the same erroneous beliefs described above are held not only by people advocating killing pedophiles, but by pedophiles themselves. Their self-loathing and remorse that only deepens their mental illness, making them more likely to hurt or kill others. Public education of the emotionally level science of child and adult psychology can not only reduce the occurrence of criminal reactions to pedophilia, but the occurrence of the mental disorder involving pedophilia.

[Sleeth]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Taking the law in your own hands is unwise and against the law.

Well done Einstein… we would never guess that one!

Originally Posted by Freddy

Allowing law enforcement personnel do their job is the wise action to take.

Dear god....you really are a genius. *cough cough*

[Rebiu]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

The more to the story part is a gut feeling. You do not generally go killing someone in this context if it's a first time offense having no merit nor confirmation.

Most murderers only commit the crime once. There are no realistics scenarios in which people typicaly kill. If you did not catch it the police were considering charging the mother for misleading the authorities, translation: they think she lied about what her daughter said.

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Not yet a parent, so my rhetorical offense would only result in rhetorical jail time. Perhaps my mindset would change upon entering the realm of fatherhood.

Lets hope you mature enough not take the law into your own hands.

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Thanks for the updated link with new information. That was clearly lacking in the post above.


Cheers.

It was the newslink the origional had. Nothing new.

[Rebiu]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Taking the law in your own hands is unwise and against the law. Unless one catches another in the act then force cannot be used legally. Allowing law enforcement personnel do their job is the wise action to take. Many of us however, may have acted in the same manner if told our child was molested by a neighbor out of high emotional stress.

This is true. I would recommend that people always apply a health dose of doubt and skepticism before they decide to end another persons life.

[Rebiu]

Very nice post CraigD