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New York, 11:20 AM
Tue Dec 1
57 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/26/09
11/23/09
11/20/09
Cutting is not indicative of borderline personality disorder. In fact, it is not required to be diagnosed with BPD. BPD presents differently in every individual and cannot be diagnosed under the age of 18 unless the behaviour (this means meeting at least five out of the nine diagnostic criteria) has persisted for more than a year.
Many people who suffer from depression engage in self-injurious behaviour and do not meet the requirements for BPD. I suggest, before you make such comments which only contribute to the stigma of the disorder - making it harder for those who suffer from it to get proper treatment - you educate yourself.
11/20/09
"Update: Following a two-day search, Elizabeth's body has been found. Police have a juvenile person of interest in custody have haven't released his name. All they'll say is that he knew Elizabeth, lived not far away, and was older than the girl. "
"His"/"he" .. so sexist and judgmental, the press! :p
11/20/09
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11/20/09
"Now, with all these cameras focused on my face,
you'd think they could see it through my skin.
They're looking for evil, thinking they can trace it,
but evil don’t look like anything."
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11/20/09
But has anyone ever seen the movie Heavenly Creatures or know the true story it's based on? In it, two young teenagers kill one of their mothers. Now, one of those girls is a successful and seemingly normal crime novelist. Another is a nun.
This story makes me sick, but it's impossible to know if this girl could be rehabilitated. She might be a psychopath for the rest of her life. Or she might change.
11/20/09
Sorry, but prison is not just for rehabilitation. It is also for punishment.
11/20/09
11/20/09
Second, children are regularly punished. It is part of child-rearing. Misbehavior is met with punishment; this is how social mores are developed.
Third, the punishment should fit the crime. While I don't believe that a 16 year-old should serve 15 years for selling crack cocaine (partially because I feel that drug sentences in general are overly harsh), for the crime of matricide - the killing of one's on mother - through bludgeoning someone to death with a rock, the person who commits such a heinous crime should be punished, even if she is 27 months younger than the age of majority.
The legal age of majority is an arbitrary number, evidenced by the fact that 16 is old enough to be entrusted to drive a 2,000 lb. vehicle, 18 is old enough to be conscripted into military service and used to be old enough to smoke and drink, yet, until a quarter century ago, suffrage belonged to those at least 21 years of age. Now, 18 is old enough to vote but you need to be 21 to drink or smoke.
Before you can make an assertion like yours, you must first answer "Who is a child? Are a children equal children? Should any child ever be punished?"
#tips
11/20/09
This also reminds me why I no longer want to write about this stuff after 5 years of doing it professionally. After a while, teen killers - hell, killers in general - all seem to fit the same templates. And yes, it's incredibly depressing.
It's a good thing they are trying her as an adult. The only good place for this kid, sadly, is probably jail. And unless the depression overtakes her and she succeeds at suicide, she'll continue to run game on the people around her in there, too.
11/20/09
11/20/09
You realize that the fictional character Patrick Bateman was a serial killer only in his own mind, don't you? He never actually comits any of the murders--they're just deranged fantasies.
Although his motives parallel those of this all-too-real teen killer: For Bateman, too, the fantasy of killing people was the only way he could summon any sort of passion, ie, "feel something." That's how I always interpreted the book, anyway.
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11/20/09
As other commenters have noted, Bustamante's statements are highly reminiscent of the classic psychopath, whose neurologically derived resistance to conditioning results in an inability to empathise, which can be channelled by abuse or lack of supervision into violence or homicide. That's not an excuse, it's an explanation.
11/20/09
11/20/09
There was a family on Dr. Phil (I know, I know) the other day. The little boy was OBVIOUSLY a sociopath. He tortured and killed small animals, pushed his mother down stairs, etc. He'd been in and out of mental health treatment.
But what can society do about people like this kid? We can't throw them in jail because we know they will inevitably hurt someone. We have to wait for it to happen and punish them after the fact.
Honestly, if it were up to me, I'd put these little freaks on an island and let them duke it out amongst themselves.
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11/20/09
@KentuckyBabe: Ah, I glossed over that paragraph. That's the kind of corroborating evidence I was talking about.
I went to an Innocence Project function this weekend, and obviously I'm still in the mood.
11/20/09
My good southern mama will argue that a middle name is how you can separate the serial killers from the rest of us; she advised me to never go out with anyone whose middle name was Dean, Dale, or Wayne.
Dailene. Girl never had a chance.
11/20/09
11/20/09