To think a teenage girl who killed her mum after years of abuse should not have been prosecuted?

[GrifringGrifting]

I saw a documentary the case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard last night and it has fascinated me.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Dee_Dee_Blanchard

She was a healthy neurotypical child who's mother convinced her, her father and friends and family that she was mentally disabled, had muscular dstrophy and leukemia. She kept her locked up in the house, away from school and her mum only took her out to use her to get charity money off the public. She also filled her with medicine and banned her from contact with her father.

As a teenager Gypsy realized she wasn't so ill after all and her mother's control tightened. She eventually met an older boy online behind her mum's back and he was who she confided in.

Eventually the pair murdered her so Gypsy could be free of her. Gypsy went to jail and is still in now.

AIBU to think she should not have been sent to jail? I'm not saying she should have been let off completely, but surely a different setting where she could recieve therapy for her trauma etc would be more appropriate? As for the mother, I have no sympathy.

You mean like the other severely abused children that go on to become murderers as adults?

The majority of abused kids don't murder their abuser, though. I'm speaking as an SA survivor here. I remember willing my abusive F to die when he was seriously ill in hospital at the end, but that's as close as I got to that.

What Gypsy went through was horrendous, don't get me wrong, but nevertheless the degree of planning that went into the murder was clearly chilling and a prison sentence was called for.

I wouldn't trust the American prison system to provide decent therapy or help for someone who was a victim of Munchausen by Proxy.

Plenty of people aren't jailed for murder/other crimes - they are instead sent to psychiatric hospitals where they get proper professional help. I don't really understand why this wasn't the case here.

Didn’t she try to run away before, but her mother tracked her down and punished her severely for it?

People say “she could have sought help from police” etc, but did Gypsy know that? She’d been kept almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world with only her mother telling her things...

People say “she could have sought help from police” etc, but did Gypsy know that? She’d been kept almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world with only her mother telling her things...

Exactly this. She won't have developed in the same way as other children - she'll have been desperate to escape her abuser. People in that situation don't think rationally or normally!

There are a few things that haven’t been mentioned here.

Gypsy did try and run away but her mother found her so she likely felt that route wasn’t possible.

Dee Dee also did things like tie Gypsy to her bed for weeks. She convinced doctors to remove her saliva glands. She made Gypsy be fed by tube and told her she was deathly allergic to sugar. None of this was true. She managed it by saying Gypsy’s medical records were lost in Hurricane Katrina and she went through hundreds of doctors - some of which did get suspicious but she just found another.

Her mother also told her that the police and courts had a document declaring Gypsy mentally unsound and they therefore wouldn’t believe anything Gypsy said. She then actually did get the equivalent of power of attorney over Gypsy so she could have total control over her.

These things likely sealed Dee Dee’s fate as Gypsy felt she couldn’t get help from the authorities.

I love true crime documentaries and have seen a few Gypsy Rose docus.

I don't necessarily think she should be in prison but she should have been locked up as punishment. I think perhaps a rehabilitation center or secure medical facility would have been a better choice for her and her sentence was way too long for the crime given the extenuating circumstances. She needs to be released into her father's care now so she can start rebuilding her life.

He has a petition to secure her release

www.change.org/p/missouri-governor-free-gypsy-rose-blanchard

Gypsy had tried to tell social workers and doctors before and got nowhere. It's easy for us to say she should have gone to police but she hadn't been brought up to understand her own mind.
The documentary is fascinating. I am amazed how articulate and present she seemed when interviewed. I imagine she has been deeply affected, but spoke coherantly

Is murder ever justified?

If someone is nasty enough, are you entitled to murder them?

If someone is nasty enough, are you entitled to murder them?

Where did anyone say she was entitled to do it?

Not justified, per se, but understandable.

Gypsy did try to run away. She tried to talk to friends, social workers and doctors and I believe she also tried the police when they picked her up from her boyfriends and brought her home to her mother but she wasn't believed. The death of her mother was the only way she saw an end to her suffering.

What she did was wrong and planned with calculating precision. She deserves punishment for that but not ten years in prison. She needs intense therapy and to be around people who love and care for her. And arguably, the Drs who treated her hold some responsibility for the death of Dee Dee.

I don't believe Gypsy Rose is a danger to the wider public.

If someone is nasty enough, are you entitled to murder them?

That's it exactly. The only way to "get away" with pre-meditated murder is to either prove you didn't do it, or be insane. Gypsy could not prove either. She knew what she was doing was wrong. No matter how badly I feel for her, and how much sympathy I have, she committed a crime. The worst crime you can commit.

Honestly, if she serves the whole 10 years I will be shocked. I bet she's out in 5. Which I think is fairly reasonable.

I've followed this case with interest and in my mind what her mum did to her was essentially prolonged torture - needless operations, daily medication keeping her drugged and compliant, fear of death, isolation etc all knowing her daughter did not actually need medical intervention.

I guess the legal issue is that her defence partly relies on her being forced to present as ill when actually in her right mind. So hard to argue diminished responsibility.

But I think it's incredibly unjust for her to spend 10 years in prison - this will only further stop her maturing and cause further issues.

She needed rehabilitation and guidance to live as a functioning adult in the real world but by the time she gets out she will only be more behind her peers and disenfranchised from everyday society.

All round a fucking horrible case and a prime example of the legal system making it difficult to do what's morally right and in the best interest of society.

Not looking to justify, but there's heavy speculation that the mother was involved with the death of her own mother and attempted murder of her step mother. Perhaps on some level, having tried to escape and not being believed, this young woman genuinely believed her life could be in danger?

Horrible case all round.

If someone is nasty enough, are you entitled to murder them?

Well, the American government certainly thinks so, doesn't it? If you behave badly enough, the state will kill you!

@adaline

That is a fucking good point!

Reading the Wikipedia article it seems that her mother made it difficult for her to just run away and that she had already tried that? Her mother had told the authorities of her diminished mental capabilities so if she should try to get help they wouldn't believe her.
I'm glad she is finding prison freeing. I imagine prison would be better than life with her mother. Also controversial but even if her murdering her mother was partly motivated by revenge, can you really blame her? Her childhood/young adulthood was taken away from her. Handcuffed to a bed for a fortnight for speaking in a manner above her perceived age. I think I would want revenge too!

If someone is nasty enough, are you entitled to murder them?

Entitled is the wrong word. I should have said justified in killing them.

Either murder is unequivocally wrong, or there’s a sort of sliding scale, where sometimes it may be justified because of the circumstances. If someone was a really nasty piece of work, maybe they had it coming.

Having said that, I feel nothing but sympathy for her, and although she was guilty of the crime I think time in a secure medical facility would be more appropriate than a custodial sentence.

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=0ahUKEwiX5e31wYTjAhXlThUIHfRJAT0Qxa8BCCowAQ&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov

Here's a video of her being interviewed. She seems quite well spoken but is clearly very damaged.

Argh. Broken link, sorry. Am on mobile.

Do you have an alternate link?

I agree that she shouldn't be in prison, although as pp noted she apparently doesn't mind being in there and will likely be out in five years.

But you have to keep in mind the USA system. In the UK or Australia people get just 10 years (out in five) for just straight up murdering innocent people. But sentences are much harsher there.