To hope William Cornick spends at least the next 50 years in prison if not the rest of his life.

[smokepole]

William Cornick should never be released from prison, for his horrific and brutal attack on Ann Maguire. The judge has sentenced him to a minimum sentence of 20 years, no doubt based on his age. However, despite his teenage years and the stupidity and thoughtlessness that comes from these years his crime was so appalling he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

The only country that sentences children to full life terms is the USA, that is called a injustice by most of the world , because it does not allow for rehabilitation of children. William Cornick can not be rehabilitated for this crime and despite what the European court of human rights will say , he should serve the maximum sentence available under English law "Life in Prison".

The parents of Cornick must be living in a nightmare, wondering how they have bred such an evil child and thinking they are to blame for not stopping him from committing this heinous crime.

WandaFuca the sentencing remarks of the judge are unbearably sad.
Susan Francis acted absolutely heroically in her attempts to help Ann to safety, and the way in which she comforted her friend by talking to her about her children as she lay dying.

Too sad for words.

Interesting article here on dangerous severe personality disorders! treatability and mental health legislation.

Note that this boy has not been diagnosed as such but has been described as having psychopathic traits, but the article is interesting anyway.

Whoops, stray !

"despite what the European court of human rights will say "

And what have they said?

Someone who doesn't feel empathy can be taught to fake it but not to feel it.

Have just read the judge's sentencing remarks and they seem to me to be very well reasoned and appropriate.

The leading psychiatric expert is quoted in the report as having 'found evidence of personality disorder with some marked psychopathic traits with a preoccupation with homicide. He said he [Cornick] presented a risk of serious harm to the public and that the risk was immediate and unpredictable, and could cause serious and lethal injury'.

Yes, Susan Francis was amazingly brave in what she did for Ann Maguire. She must also be suffering terribly. And the other kids in the classroom.

Holy Fuck, those sentencing remarks are some of the most horrifying few paragraphs i have ever read in my life.

Empathy cannot be wholly taught, but we can remove barriers to its development by managing anxiety, self doubt and self esteem issues. we can also teach self awareness, self regulation and listening skills, the lack of which can lead to apathy.

Those sentencing remarks are chilling. The things he said to the psychiatrists and the things the psychiatristssaid about him, the details of the crime. Absolutely shocking.

I don't think he should ever be released after reading those sentencing remarks.

Thank you to the pp who posted the link to the remarks.
It isn't pleasant reading but it does come from a witness to the findings of the court.
I suspect he's of the same ilk as Ian Brady and probably will rot in jail. He's ruined so many lives.

What 'barriers' to the development of empathy were there for Will Cornick that don't exist for most other teenagers? I don't think having diabetes covers it, or even comes close. He could be reasonably expected to have a capacity for empathy comparable with his classmates. Instead, he has none. Don't see how that can be traced to him not being given enough chances to develop his self-esteem.

Maybe we should accept that some people are just evil.
This young man is evil personified as far as I am concerned.

Teenagers brain development is very different to an adult brain... Lots of changes going on

He had no issues through childhood. Adolescence is a difficult time

If he was evil then why wasn't he also evil aged 2 or 6 or 9??

Sorry, can't find where I read it.
Interesting Guardian article here though.

I've just read the Independent news on this and I agree that, as he has no remorse, is proud of what he has done and considers that he did a good thing, he can bloody well stay in jail til he rots.

Call it what you like - psychopath, sociopath, evil personified, personality disorder or what - the effect is the same, he thinks he has the right to dispose of people who cross him. And that sort of person belongs behind bars, where they can NOT just dispose of people as they like.

I wasn't speaking specifically about Will Cornick's lack of empathy. I was responding to a comment up thread that empathy cannot be taught.
I think it's fair to say that none of us can know what led him to this.

I still believe that there is the possibility of rehabilitation. And I don't believe children are born bad or evil.

Another person here who doesn't believe that people are born evil, it's too easy to say that. We have no idea what the boy has experienced in life that brought him to this point.

The whole case is so terribly sad for everyone involved, including the child who committed the crime.

Saying that doesn't mean that I don't understand the seriousness of the crime, I truly do. Two years ago family member of mine was murdered (by another family member) in similarly horrific circumstances. I do not feel that the perp is 'evil', he is in prison now and that is the best place for him at present. Ann Maguire's killer appears to have some sort of mental health disorder, prison also seems to be the best place place for him (for the sake of people around him) but to say he is evil, no I don't agree with that.

I'm torn. He has shown his thinking to be so far outside 'normal' thinking that it can't possibly be the thinking of a normal person. It is rational and he accepts that it is awful, but views it as the only sensible course of action.

So, he's either 'mad' or 'bad'.

I guess the fact that there was no clue that he was having troubled thoughts and appeared to be normal, makes it hard to ascribe his behaviour to an illness. At the same time, as his demeanour didn't change throughout the time preceding and after the killing until the present day, makes it hard to conclude that it was a psychotic break of some sort. It seems, in other words, that there was no acute cause of his behaviour, which leads to the conclusion that it arose from his inherent personality.

I'm not even sure it's possible to make a distinction between "mad" or "bad". Let's assume he's a psychopath (sociopath) and is incapable of feeling normal feelings of warmth or kindness or empathy towards another human being. Is that "mad" or "bad"? It seems to me that either term is equally adequate or inadequate, in that it's just another way of saying that we don't understand what's going on here.

Janet Malcolm once said that the label "psychopath" was just another way of restating the problem, which I think is true. We say this boy killed his teacher in cold blood because he's a psychopath. How do we know he's a psychopath? Because he killed his teacher in cold blood. The whole thing is circular.

"I think none of us can know what led him to this".

Precisely.

Can't there be a middle ground, I think he's a psychopath too but has he been assessed? has that been diagnosed? even if he's 'bad' not 'mad', I hate to read 'rot in hell' comments for some reason. He could remain indefinitely (with a possibility of review and reassessment) in a secure psychiatric unit.

Me too Stopbarking.