This has got to be the most absurd thing i've read in days.
quote:A woman was convicted Monday of contributing to the suicide of her 12-year-old son, who hanged himself in his closet with a necktie after being picked on for months at school over his bad breath and body odor.
Judith Scruggs, 52, was found guilty of one count of risk of injury to a minor for creating a filthy home that prosecutors said prevented J. Daniel Scruggs from improving his hygiene. She faces up to 10 years in prison.
"There are those who may disagree, but it is our position that parents are responsible for the care and welfare of their children and must ensure their basic medical, emotional and psychological needs are satisfied," prosecutor James Dinnan said.
Prosecutors presented evidence that showed there was barely room to move around her home because of clothes, boxes, papers and other debris that littered the floor. The kitchen was full of dirty dishes and spills and stains. The bathroom floor and the bathtub were covered with clothes, and the toilet, sink and tub were soiled.
ok, so the woman had a nasty house and her son comitted suicide, i'm really struggling to see how this means she should be put in jail. its crap like this that makes me wonder if jury trials are really such a good idea after all...
Posts: 380 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
They're clearly suing her now because they failed to go after her for neglect when it would have been timely.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
This started making the rounds on disability email lists yesterday. For what it's worth, here's my take (already written elsewhere) on it:
What about indicting the actual bullies as co-conspirators?
Whatever else this woman may or may not have done, she wasn't the who "kicked and punched" him. That was done by his schoolmates.
And what about the school officials? Someone noticed the bullying, maybe? Or this distinctively bad hygiene he had? Do the words "mandated reporter" mean anything? Maybe this woman could have used some help - or maybe she was (sarcasm on)just too lazy to clean or get help in spite of the fact of having two (cough) well-paying jobs. (sarcasm off)
If they want to hold the mother accountable, fine, but they should also hold the rest of the community's feet to the fire. But I guess everyone can rest easy now that the mother has been legally scapegoated.
The old adage "it takes a village to raise a child" is incomplete.
Sometimes it takes a village to kill one too.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
If she had forced him to shower, then that would be sexual abuse. What about the "father" of this child? Should he be prosecuted for being absent?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
/tangent Do you think the people raised in dirty houses have stronger immune systems?
It is kind of odd among the "dog people" I associate with. About half to 2/3 of them are relatively normal other than their dog show hobby, and when you go to their houses while there may be ordinary clutter and a little more dog hair than non-dog housholds you don't think anything of it. The other 1/3 to half however live in filth. Their houses stink, and the floors haven't been cleaned in months dishes are piled everywhere and it grosses you out. You wouldn't necessarily guess it from their appearance either.
I'm trying to figure out what causes people to have actual filthy houses. I don't think it is laziness but I can't figure out what it is.
I make a distinction between clutter and dirt, my mother and I tend to be cluttered, and yeah we probably don't windex the windows or clean the toilets quite as often as we should, and sometimes the dishes pile up. But we know we should be doing all of the above, and we do get things done eventually. These truly dirty people appear to have given up.
They do not live in their houses. They live in an imaginary world.
Lets start them out with a clean house. Ahhh, time to relax. Now a little clutter. But it isn't too bad. Not nearly as bad as the mess that is usually in their house. Add a bit more: I gotta clean the house, but I'll do it tomorrow. And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and now it is completely overwhelming. Just looking at it makes them shrink back into an imaginary world where their house may be cluttered, but it isn't too bad.
Creative people have this problem especially because they are pretty imaginative. I have to admit, that of the writers I know, if they are the ones responsible for cleaning the house: the women, their houses are messy. I think writers have a specific problem in that they have their imaginary worlds before the house even gets messy. They don't even notice the clutter.
My house is typically fairly cluttered, but the dishes get done regularly, the floor gets swept. About once a week it is really clean. I do it, but I do it for my husband. I see the house through his eyes, and a clean house is important. If I didn't have that, I guarantee it would be a lot messier.
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:They're clearly suing her now because they failed to go after her for neglect when it would have been timely.
Yes.
quote:If she had forced him to shower, then that would be sexual abuse.
Not unless she got in naked with him or touched his genitals or made any overt or subtle sexual guestures.
If you toss your twelve year old in the shower when he hasn't showered in days, that's not sexual abuse in the least.
quote:A friend of mine proposed to me the idea that suicide is a clever legal device for covering up murder, and I'm somewhat inclined to agree.
Not unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing and carry it off PERFECTLY. It's harder than you think to make murder resemble suicide longer than first glance.Mandated reporting laws are a terrible idea, because what MUST be reported can never be entirely clear.[/QUOTE]Mandated reporting actually makes things easier. No one ever reports alone, you always ask your supervisor beforehand. It also means that you won't get prosecuted for reporting. It also keeps more kids safe.
posted
mack, I had a hard time interpreting this statement the first time I saw Adam613 quote it, but I don't think that's the point. I think what he's saying is that when somebody commits suicide of their own volition, it's because some people in that person's life were crappy and gave that person hangups, and so it's actually their fault. Like if I had committed suicide, that it would have actually been delayed murder by the people who abused me. Not for insurance purposes or revenge or rage or any kind of greed, but just because some people are plain human garbage.
(Am I getting this right, Adam?)
While there's something to that, on the whole, I don't agree. As I've said elsewhere countless times, we as a society must insist on the fiction that the people responsible for an act are the people who commit it. Otherwise, in the case of suicide, it makes it too attractive as a revenge fantasy (You'll feel guilty when you realize you're responsible for this!), and in the case of other undesireable actions, it makes it too easy to excuse victimizing others by transferring the blame onto other people.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:It's harder than you think to make murder resemble suicide longer than first glance.
I'd agree with one caveat - it's not that hard to make certain kinds of murders (using smothering, drug overdoses, and other stuff) look like an "assisted suicide" or "mercy killing." Even though these things are illegal in most states, prosecutors often don't press too hard on something being framed as an "assisted suicide," since they don't like their chances of getting a conviction. Sad and scary.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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because it's so true
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