Girl, 14, says she helped father commit suicide
 

Wow, I don't know what to think. Part of me says that she was right (and very brave) to end his suffering. And if that could be proven beyond a doubt (which I don't think can be done), then I hope she is let off easy, because I am a supporter of assisted suicide. I see no reason why something that is looked at as admirable if done to animals should be considered criminal if done to people. But then another part of me thinks that she could have made up the story, and murdered him. Since there was no letter, and no one else lived with them apparently, her word is really all they have to go on. It's unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Never heard of anything like this. :hmmm:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7189078/?GT1=6305

What, no comments people?

Yikes, hmmm.. I don't know what to think. The fact that she was unemotional kind of makes me thinks he might have wanted him dead, but it doesn't mean she killed him differently, and besides it could be false.

I am a supporter of assisted suicide too. Well, I wouldn't call it 'supporter' but I have nothing against it. From reading the article, the girls enviornment seemed difficult and her life probably wasn't easy. The neighbors talk about the father in a negative way.. so I guess if he was violent and things like that, I would understand if he would want to kill himself (you know, under-the-surface-emotional-pain) but I also think that if the girl is mentally ill, she wouldn't mind killing him. This reminds me of all those stories where little children killed their parents because they "wouldn't let them stay up late", or things like that. :none:

Question: Why are they not sure if they should punish the girl as juvenile or adult? She's 14!

That's the US Justice System for ya. Stranger things have happened. :rolleyes:

ypsidan04, I noticed. :( That's just insane. Why do the two terms exist? So that you can tell them apart. But seems like theyre not even needed when a 14-year old girl still can be punished as an adult even though she's juvenile.

I think american supreme courts ruled that punishing juveniles was unconstitutional... or was that only for death penalty regarding juveniles? :confused:

Anyway... in my opinion no child should be punished for a crime. Neither do I consider euthanasia a crime, but that's another story.

That's right.


Well, especially with heinous crimes like "murder" (_in quotes_), some people feel like throwing the book at them, so to speak.

And if they are charged as juveniles, they go into detention, and I think are automatically released on their 18th birthday, and some people see that as too weak of a sentence.