Baby Abusers - Serious Question

[sp1814]

Over the past year, there have been a number of stories about baby torturers, and every time I read one of these stories, the same question comes to mind...

"Why do they do it?"

I ask this as a serious question...how could parents torture a child?

Can any one point me to studies on this (online). I understand what sadiam is, but there must be more to it than that surely (especially when the child is your own)?

Children being put into microwaves (US story), beaten up, drugged etc.

I want to understand how this happens and more importantly why. There's got to be more than "they were just evil"...surely?!??

[redcrx]

a question to which there is no answer.

some of the tragedies can be put down to post natal depression. But cases of abuse and torture.......who knows.

[weeal]

quite often the stories mention the 'mothers boyfriend' or partner and it does seem to be a common denominator in such cases - please dont think Im slagging off second partners just noticed it is mentioned often

[justmetoo]

Iv wondered about that as well, really I dont think there is an answer.

[jane1098]

These people haven't got a clue on how to control their anger and will stop at nothing to shut a crying baby..etc... up.
They just don't care enough about the child.
They are selfish,egocentric *******!!!!

[weeal]

I cannot for the life of me imagine how anyone could lean over a child and harm them, I am not a parent yet I cant stand to see a child in distress for whatever reason.

It defies belief.

[daffy654]

The majority of the parents concerned in these cases are of very low intelligence and have little or no family support.

[weeal]

true daffy, and then you get the ones who are high flyers and kill their whole families !!! what the heck is that how can they - intelligent people - do that ?

[daffy654]

I think the high flyers could well have an inflated ego,they may believe that if they can't have their family then nobody else will either,they treat their own flesh and blood as an item they own :(

[weeal]

so it kinda comes down to a 'control' issue

on one hand lack of control
on the other complete control

v.interesting and horrendous

[annie0000]

On the boyfriend/partner issue, maybe it goes back to the basic instincts of getting rid of the competition to your own genes. My mother has always said that she would never trust a young male in charge of a baby that wasn't their own- which is a bit extreme, but her reasons were that young men don't have the patience and that you would never leave a lion in charge of another lions cubs. My apologies to all those lovely stepdads out there, but maybe when intelligence doesn't kick in, basic instinct does.

[andy-hughes]

It's virtually impossible to apply rational thought to such irrational behaviour.

It's a given that these individuals are way beyond standard concepts of love and protection of children, but beyond that, the common factors appear to be jealousy of a child - which is very common, but not usually vented in such an extreme fashion, and sociopathy, an inability to understand or empathise with suffering of another, combined with no perceptible sense of right and wrong.

The idea that these actions are the result of concious rational thought are wide of the mark, which makes them so incomprehensible to the majority of people.

I think the reasons are individul, complex, and beyond any simplistic labels like 'evil. i also think that trying to reason around them makes your head hurt, so it's best simply not to try.

[weeal]

hi annie, thats exactly what I was unable to articulate lol

[annie0000]

hi weeal - I was trying to be careful, because I know that there are loads of lovely guys out there that take on and raise other mens kids in the most fantastic way, just as there are real fathers that cause a lot of harma nd suffering o their own kids. Maybe as has been said, it is unfathomable, but as a society, we need to work out a way to ensure safety for all kids.

Not sure what the story is with social services etc in this case, but I think that the responsibility lies with all society to care for our neighbours etc. it is unfair to put that burden on a few shoulders even if they are getting paid.

I bet there is not one person here who has never made a mistake, its just that our mistakes dont usually amount in life or death scenarios.

[sp1814]

I get the 'uncontrolled fits of anger' thing, and even the 'very low intelligence' thing. But from what I undertand in many of these cases, it's systematic abuse going on for months or even years...

I mean, remember the story of the little girls who were being starved by their parents - it was only noticed when neighbours saw one of the girls ferretting around for scraps of food left out for birds.

I understand armed robbery, I understand fraud. I understand drug smuggling...they all have a financial end result...but I don't get sadism.

'Spose you have to be a sadist to get it.

[carrust]

Just a few points.
1. Successive governments have cut mental health budgets.
2. The increase if heroin on the streets.
3. Cannabis psychosis (skunk is extremely strong).

I think the above points could have some bearing on matters.

[annie0000]

The view that cananbis is harmless is just so wrong - ask anyone in mental health care.

[Octavius]

As said, there are a myriad reasons (not excuses) as to why this might occur, be it lack of biology between the child and parent, jealousy, substance abuse, anger etc etc. Rather than trying to look at it atomistically, you could view it holistically, in three ways:

1. Disinhibition: socio-cultural and situational pressures may cause torturers to undergo a lessening of moral inhibitions and as a result act in ways not normally countenanced by law, custom and conscience (or societal acceptability).

2. Organisationally: like many things, once torture or abuse becomes established as part of internally acceptable norms under certain circumstances, its use often becomes institutionalised and self-perpetuating over time, as what was once used exceptionally for perceived necessity finds more reasons claimed to justify wider use.

3. Dehumanisation: this is the point reached whereby the torturer/abuser, see victims as objects of curiosity and experimentation, where pain becomes just another test to see how it affects the victim.

Again as said, you are trying to view the rational aspect of an irrational mind � which is the science of psychology � and one many of us cannot grasp. Similarly any abuse and torture (physical, sexual and psychological) of children, or indeed humans in general is a repugnant human trait to many of us, and one we could never knowingly understand nor comprehend.

[tigerlily11]

In the animal world it is a case of survival of the fittest and infantacide happens often.
If to many babies are born mummy will some times kill one to give the others a chance. Male lions will kill the cubs that were fathered by another male to insure his own genes will rule.
But for humans it's just mind numbingly nuts.
For all our so called civilised maneriasms that are supposed to make us better than animals, it would seem we are not better but in fact worse than animals.
We have no excuse for doing these things. It is not a case of survival or some other base instinct. It is some thing that is unique to human nature and occures no where else in the animals world.
What it is.... well maybe we will never know.

[sammmo]

At the end of the day these people are just bad eggs.. they will never be any good.. theres no chance of rehabilitation for these people.. they will just locked away and cost decent hard working tax payers alot of money to keep.. after around 10 yrs they will be released to do it all again to someone elses kid.. what i can't understand is why we don't just either inject them and put them out of there misery or use them as human guinea pigs ..that way we will at least get some use out of there twisted lives..

[lynbrown]

Many abusers were themselves an abused baby but they managed to survive. They have grown up damaged.