For those questioning why parents aren't prosecuted when a child kills herself

[TeddyR]

Or someone else with an unsecured firearm, here's a parent who will be going to prison. Note that based on the story this woman should not have had a firearm to begin with:

A 5-year-old New Jersey boy fatally shot his 4-year-old brother in the head while playing with his mother’s gun.
***
Police arrested the children’s mother — identified as 22-year-old Itiyanah Spruill — and charged her with endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation related to the death, according to NJ.com.

Spruill is being held in jail on a $310,000 bail while she awaits arraignment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/26/new-jersey-mother-charged-after-5-year-old-son-fatally-shoots-little-brother/?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_rhp-card-national%3Ahomepage%2Fcard

[Journeyman]

1. As well she should. She placed the children -- and all of us! -- in grave danger . . .

Had the child missed, and fired through a wall, a neighbor or passerby might have been killed instead.

I've no compassion for people who are so reckless with theirs and other people's lives. My heart aches for the children and I hope the the surviving brother finds peace in the loving arms of new, responsible caregivers. But the mother can rot

[some guy]

14. - and all of us! -- in grave danger . . .

That's a bit extreme. I'm in Colorado and didn't feel at risk at all.

[some guy]

21. I just don't hate her as much as you.

I was really busy last week, and missed all the two-minutes hate sessions. Embarrassing, I know, but there it is.

[Journeyman]

22. I don't hate her. I just want justice for her children . . .

and for our society to treat criminal acts with the requisite behavior that will ensure safety and justice for all.

She left a gun where children could get it. And for her reckless, irresponsible behavior, a child will live the rest of his days with a pall over his being. The other child will rot. Let her life be filled with the same burdens.

[some guy]

24. See post 10

I want society to care about people long before the punishment phase kicks in.

To quote Joni Mitchell, "Is justice just ice?"

How much did society fail her gefore she ever considered needing a gun?

[Journeyman]

25. And how much did she fail us? And even more damning, how much did she fail her children? . . .

The gun isn't the issue. The irresponsible, criminal behavior she exhibited with it, however, certainly is. And how society treated her is irrelevant to her leaving the gun where a child could get it.

[some guy]

28. How society treated her

is entirely relevant to how she came to have a gun to leave at all.

[Journeyman]

30. How did society's treatment of this woman influence her decision to leave a gun unsecured?. . .

I'm truly interested in the contortions required to reach that conclusion.

[some guy]

33. It isn't a conclusion.

I don't know enough (and neither do you) about this woman's history to adequately judge her to be victim, or to judge her to be monster.

I don't know what her hopes and dreams were at 9, for instance.

I do know the society I live in well enough to see this as an anecdote of possible societal benign neglect. I would prefer society to be more compassionate, and thus advocate for that perspective.

In general, I would rather use instances of awfulness as a means of holding a mirror up to that society and ask if we are doing the best we can.

You seem to be averse to that, and that is your choice. I don't expect I would able to convince you of my perspective. You have to see through your eyes.

I will simply wish you love and compassion in your life.

[840high]

17. +1

[Duckhunter935]

2. Good, she seems like a real winner

A prohibited person.

[exboyfil]

3. Color bar check

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/these-black-parents-were-charged-when-toddlers-shot-themselves-but-these-white-parents-werent/

Darker the skin the more likely to be charged.

Same applies to leaving your kid in a hot car. A white woman forgot her kid and was not charged. A black man was charged with murder. Both of these in Mississippi within a month of one another.

[rug]

5. Check.

Itiyanah Spruill. $310,000 bail.

[yeoman6987]

8. You know she deserves to rot in jail

If she were white, I'd say the same.

[exboyfil]

9. Agree with that

I was only pointing out it is more likely to be charged with negligence with your children if you are black given the same set of circumstances.

[yeoman6987]

11. I'm hoping that changes. I think most have gotten off from all different cultures

Now when it happens again, the populous can scream "jail them like the last person." I think it will work that way.

[zenabby]

12. Maybe

you would say the same, but the law would not. I knew the moment I read this article that the mom would be black. It's black, almost never whites, then mom. Moms are always held responsible, not dad. Racism and Sexism is well and alive.

[840high]

15. So would I.

[Duckhunter935]

26. Indeed so

[uponit7771]

18. +1, as soon as I read the OP I knew ... not shocked nor surprised

[BumRushDaShow]

20. We have a case here in Philly

that happened just after the Democrats included their sit-in - same M.O.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160625_Sources__Girl__4__believed_to_have_accidentally_shot_self.html

(and 2 other cases were briefly described in this article as well)

[Igel]

31. The writer needs to learn how to think.

He can say that it's difficult to compare the cases, because they're in different states with different laws. Then he insists on comparing them, without dealing with the difficulty.

"That's an awfully high mountain to get over. I'll just pound myself against it and assume I'm on the other side."

That's for starters. The more problematic point is that there were, he said, 23 cases.

He points at 4 or 5 of them. Less than a quarter. Without even a suggestion that they were randomly chosen (although with that small a sample, the error rate would be large. Heck, even with a sample of 23 it's still a problem.) Yet from those 4 or 5 presumably non-randomly chosen examples, he tries to make some significant claim about the statistical distribution by race.


All that's left is confirmation bias and assuming the premise.

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Let her rot. nt

[JI7]

6. probably because she is black

if she was white people would say "losing a child is punishment enough"

[Separation]

19. I tried to find something

To prove you wrong, but I knew you were actually correct.

Check this out

[giftedgirl77]

7. Bet she's not white.

It's a terrible accident if white & negligence when the skin is brown.

[LongtimeAZDem]

34. This guy was white, and New Jersey gave him three years in prison for an unsecured rifle

that his 4-year-old son found and killed a 6-year-old friend with.

Not claiming there's no disparity, but it does happen.



http://www.app.com/story/news/crime/jersey-mayhem/2015/02/05/anthony-senatore-sentenced-brandon-holt-shooting/22920201/

[some guy]

10. USA! USA! USA!

5 year old boy, so she gave birth at 17. Pregnant possibly as young as 16. But, you have to jump through lots of hoops to get an abortion.

Parent at 17, the story doesn't mention a father. Hard to finish school, support a child in a nation that hates providing benefits for poor people.

Society finally decides to step in when it's time to actively punish, once its own benign neglect becomes deadly.

I wonder when Itiyanah fully realized society hated her.

What sort of society hates its young and would rather punish than educate and nurture?

[zenabby]

13. Such a sad but true post

The society that was never there till she made one mistake, and steps in to actively punish.

[REP]

23. Don't look at her reality

Just be scared because guns and hate her. Don't try to imagine how her life got to this horrible event.

(Birth control isn't always easy to get or afford, either)

(And I hope the assumption she consented to the sex the lead to her pregnancy is correct)

[Brickbat]

27. This.

[Hoyt]

29. I think this line from your link is the key, though one few gunners will follow :

“I don’t understand, why would you have a loaded gun in your house anyway and have kids?” another neighbor said. . . . "

[gwheezie]

32. I knew she was black because of the bail and charge

All adults who leave unsecured loaded firearms around children should have felony charges, none of this is accidental.