To feel incredibly sad over treatment of the slenderman attempted murder girls

[Carollocking]

So I watched the documentary early this morning and just can't stop thinking about the 2 girls.
I understand what they did totally and they've never once denied what they did either.
I just feel so very sad that a so called compassionate society would treat as they are.
Of course it was wrong but they need help and love and care and proper treatment,not to be put on trial as adults 2 years after the offence with a chance of anything upto 65 years In prison.
I already have a low opinion on the USA in general and this lowers it more to feel it's terrible to treat them as they are.
I think about if it was my eldest girl and yes she knows right and wrong but no girl her age thinks about consequences thinks about things at all as an adult will.
I think the justice system they are been put through is very sick and twisted.also makes me wonder if they were of rich parents this may not be as it is now.
If they had been allowed to be tried as juveniles they would be out of prison at 18 but could still be monitored fully as needed. That would still be 6 years in prison. For a child 6 years is An entire life to them.

I know nothing about this particular crime, but I agree that the American so called justice system is a travesty. Children are locked up for life without parole for non violent offences, people are on death row for murders others have been proven to commit and those others haven't been given a death penalty for the murder, millions are locked away due to unfair, racist or poverty driven prejudices, the whole thing is utterly utterly out of control and with the new evil liar in charge it can only get worse.
Not that our system is sorted by any means, but nowhere near as totally awful as the USA!

There is a middle ground between letting them wander freely, possibly a risk to others and then on the other end of the scale "letting them rot".

I do agree someone who has done this shouldn't be able to do this to someone again. But how about some sort of open sentence, with counselling, mental health input, medication if needed. And not to be freed until judged no longer a danger. However long that takes. Let the experts judge.

Didn't Mary Bell go on to be a law abiding citizen?

Thankyou all for commenting so far I have to go for a time but I'm interested to be back later.
Whether I agree with your or not I am very interested in your opinions and comments

Adara true we're more "sorry you got raped,murdered,attacked etc,but our jails are full and lah dee da so out they go in a few years" and what a surprise it is when they reoffend. Who would've thought? No shit, Sherlock!

Are you being deliberately naive OP? They tried very very hard to kill her, they wanted her to die, stabbed her multiple times and planned her death in great detail. People that make excuses for people like that are best case, ridiculous, worse case, twisted themselves. They deserve at least what they got, if not worse. I will save all my pity for the poor child they hacked nearly to death.

Hunter spot on. I am sickened by this thread.

But they didn't attack their friend for fun, or to rob her or for revenge, or for any criminal reason that most of us have heard of before.

They believed that Slenderman was stalking them, would kill their families, and wanted them to live in his mansion in the woods, and to appease him they must kill their poor friend.

They were picked up by the police in the way to the fictional mansion, which would only make sense if they absolutely believed that the stories were literally true.

The greatness of a nation can be judged on how it treats its weakest members.

the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

Back, and as I said I'm not interested in what they did or didn't do for the millionth time

Totally agree possum

And if sickened why come on the thread,there's plenty of other threads for you to -annoy- post on

I watched this and work in a related field. My thoughts are this - the main perpetrator already had a diagnosis of schizophrenia by the age of 12 and struggled to deal with emotions as discussed by her mother. The other girl was easily led, as confirmed by her father.

When dealing with young offenders in England you firstly have to take into account whether or not the crime is considered sufficiently grave. Generally offences which are deemed to be very serious - and this is. Secondly the likely sentence to be received by the girls. Anything over two years detention leads to a case being tried in the U.K. Crown court. As these girls were charged with attempted murder any sentence is to be in excess of that. I'll admit I'm not aware of the process of the courts in the state they are currently being tried, but it doesn't surprise me that they are being tried as adults.

Secondly, there was premeditated actions by the two girls and this wasn't their first attack on this victim. There is a history to this which is deeper than the documentary, read about it, as it is well established as part of the prosecution case.

Also, the slender man documentary was very one sided. The views of the defendants parents and their backgrounds are relevant, of course, but it adds an element of sympathy which wasn't able to be counterbalanced by the views of the victim. Why was this? It's actually because the victim refused to be part of the documentary. In fact, both her and her family wanted nothing to do with the media due to the trauma the poor girl has suffered (and is still suffering). This lead to the documentary presenting a one side view. A documentary with only one view is so overwhelmingly biased that it's almost irrelevant.

Those girls were young but were deemed old enough to understand their actions. It must be a difficult case for their defence lawyers as this type of crime is so rare in people this young, hence them scrambling for mental health issues as to provide some reasoning for the actions of these girls.

But their actions were abhorrent and should result in very serious punishment as it was down to luck that the victim didn't lose their life.

Scrappy your exactly online with my thoughts

It was pointed out on the documentary that if they had been more popular at school, and had they have been in a group of perhaps eight children, their beliefs would have been diluted with other friends pointing out how irrational their convictions were.

But with just the two of them bouncing ideas and stories between them, and one of the two particularly suffering from audible hallucinations, the had no one to reason with them, or possibly raise the alarm with the adults around them.

Nameisbarbara one min you say one has recognised schizophrenia and next you say lawyers scrambling for mental health issues. A contradiction or not.
Also having now read pretty much everything I can find available I've seen not one mention of any other attacks on this girl or anyone else ?

Sorry, I was referring to someone else who said the lawyers were scrambling for mental health issues for something to do to explain the situation. The mother of Morgan said she was diagnosed as schizophrenic yet it didn't cover in the documentary, nor has it been covered in the press as to whether this has been accepted by the prosecution but it may well be used by her defence team as part of the trial. It appears that she is well enough to stand trial though as assessments will have been made and will be ongoing leading up to the trial.

There was a previous attack on the victim. It was a few days before the knife attack, and obviously much less serious, but not the first time the two girls attacked the victim.

Did you never consider why the documentary was so one sided? I think had the documentary been much more balanced with the victim in mind people would be much less likely to say that the girls should be dealt with leniently.

I am not sure I'd feel differently myself as the way i feel I have obviously massive relief the victim survived and hugely sorry for her experience at threre hands and of course my heart goes out to her.
But I still feel compassion and care for the perpetrators also not because of what they did of course not but I feel if treat anyone decently it can only have good effects and not negative ones,I hate to see any child treated badly whether they have done good or bad,I want to see help for them as I will not judge a child as evil,something makes them this way whether mental illness or other things I don't know of.
By rising above instant hatred and loathing gives us the ability to see good possibilities in the future rather than looking with hate and disgust.no one can turn the clock back but you can influence the future for the better.
So I don't think I'd change my opinion whether the program was more bias another way.

Would you feel differently if they'd managed to kill her? Genuine question.

No I wouldn't as that isn't my point,my point is treating them with decency and compassion no matter what,
If all a society can do is lock little girls away forever then to me it shows that society is as much in the wrong as they were in there offence,so to me it wouldn't change my opinion no

I agree, OP, I had the same reaction watching this and finding out that they would be tried as adults.

I have the greatest sympathy for the victim and her family, but also for the families of the two girls. It is heartbrealing for everyone involved.

I also believe in a compassionate society. I don't believe that people commit violent, horrific or murderous acts in isolation. Essentially, I don't believe in the concept of "evil" - rather that something, somewhere, is or has misfired, and that we as a society will learn more from studying people who commit such crimes in the hope of understanding why they did it, and thus to perhaps potentially prevent it from happening again.

These girls do deserve compassion as well. Compassion is not a black and white, zero sum game. It is not 'normal' for two 12 year old girls to believe in something like the Slenderman to such an extent; it is not 'normal' to believe they essentially have to make a sacrifice to him; it is not 'normal' to feel so detached from the act of killing.

They probably do need to be hospitalised or incarcerated for a long time, until they are deemed no longer at risk. But that doesn't mean simply that they are evil and deserve no compassion at all.

Totally agree "Thurlow"
Compassion should be for everyone without question.
And yes in reference to treatment they both obviously need this and yes however long it takes it takes.be it 5 years or 25 years

Anyone regardless of age has to be lacking empathy and compassion to be able to stab a human being 19 times. They know right from wrong, the very thought of ending someones life makes the majority of people ill, even the armed forces, people who are trained to kill for their country get access to psychiatric help because its difficult for them. These children, meticulously and callously planned this childs murder, and then went through with it, and even found an excuse to try and get out of it. My sympathies are with the victim. The other 2 girls utterly deserve their sentence.

I don't agree at all children are children. If not why do we have laws for everything In A child's life to protect them and help them but not for this it's rubbish.
They deem children too young to decide on alcohol,smoking,sex,choosing education themselves but when the Chips are down they are adult,absolute crap

Scott ,So in saying your statement you would say the same about a rape victim stabbing her attacker is also not ok,or an abused person fighting back in the end,or numerous other things that happen,that it's just black and white In Your mind is it.
Personally I judge every case different since there is always lots and lots more than the obvious.

The legal process being slow must be extremely difficult for the victim as well as the accused but the legal profession encourage it to make money. The lawyers act on behalf of the accused so I'm not sympathetic unless you are saying that the parents of the accused are making this decision against the wishes of the girls.

I think that it is inevitable that cases like these end up being tried in an adult court since they are so unusual. I suspect that the "worst" cases that are tried in youth courts are when one child dies as a result of an accidental death. For example, two kids argue and in the resulting scuffle one gets pushed into the road and dies. The premeditation and the severity (19 times ) is just so extreme.

It's not hard to believe that there may be mental health issues involved. To stab someone multiple times and not stop when their friend is bleeding, gasping, crying... is not a normal reaction.

My only knowledge of the US prison system
is via Orange Is The New Black where it's clear that privatisation means that profit is prioritised over rehabilitation services so have little chance of being rehabilitated.