UPDATE: Missing boy, 4, found in neighbor's dryer

In Fresno, Calif., a 14-year-old has been charged with the murder of a 4-year-old neighbor, whose body was found in a dryer in the teen's house. The authorities say the older boy had molested the child and drowned him so the 4-year-old wouldn't tell anyone.

Comments

[STL]

What kind of experiences did that 14 year old have at home? What movies, computer websites, music and books influenced him? Presumably he had a parent or two living with him - what was their role in this child's life? Did they practice some form of religion or was he captivated by the devil and merely doing his work?

Children committing cruel, adult crimes on smaller children is a shame and sad reflection on our society.

[Quad_Kings]

STL, it doesn't matter what role the parents played. Haven't you heard? The government will take care of everything for everyone! No one needs to be accountable for anything ... Obama and all the lefties will make sure everything is alright through more and more government by the elites. They don't believe there's evil in the world, so their socialist ideals will work fine because all we need is to get along.

[Ein]

Please excuse my crassness, but how does a dead, sodomized child have ANYTHING to do with the Obama administration????

Do you think these kinds of things never happened when a conservative was in office?

[The Golfer]

Ah, the sounds of the morbidly far right in the morning.

[c8h10n4o2]

Well since my parents didn't practice any form of religion, I guess I'm slacking on my devil-influenced duties, seeing as that's the only alternative. Better get to animal sacrificing tonight!

And rather than learning how to do this from a movie or song, he probably learned from first hand experience, most likely from a family member or someone well-trusted by the family.

[Man in a Mission]

c8h10n4o2 has the right of it. Most child on child sex abusers (as well as many adult on child sex abusers) were first victims of sex abuse before they became abusers.

On a separate, but related note: One of the reasons those who treat sexual predators and sex abusers oppose draconian penalties for these types of crimes (especially calls for implementing the death penalty in the case of child rape) is because rather than deter potential abusers and those who would rape children - it simply prompts the criminal to take the further step of murdering the only witness to their crime - the child victim.

I am not suggesting it is society's fault, or the state's fault that this little boy died, simply trying to provide some food for thought about how we respond to cases where the only crime is sexual abuse/rape of a child. This 14 year old boy is now a murderer as well as a rapist and possibly a victim. So now we have no choice but to deal with him harshly. But I think we should do more to educate ourselves, our children, and our community to break the cycle of child sex abuse in the first place.

I know it is not the easy thing to do. Nor does it provide the emotional gratification of calling for/taking vengeance. But I think it is the right thing to do. And like so many things that are right, it is a very hard thing to do.