Child Murders!!

[Goodsoulette]

Although the full details havent been revealed yet it looks like another innocent child has been taken from its bed and murdered. What did a 6 month baby do to deserve to be put in a drain . Now I know having a baby of a similar age it makes me a little sensative but the whole sorry thing made me cry again.

Is it me or are a lot of bad things happening in our country to our children, it seems more so than ever to me.What are we going to do to protect them? Should the parents be doing more? would you let your children play in the street? Or should sentencing simply be tougher?

[gessoo]

It's dreadful and I know just how you feel. However, apparently crime against children has not risen. What has happened is that we know a lot more about it now, through media coverage, than we ever did years ago. There will always be dreadful cases like this, but we have to get it into perspective. It would be so easy to wrap our children in cotton wool and not let them out of our sight, but we have to be sensible and realise that we must let them grow up and be able to deal with life.

I wouldn't let a child play in the street - but that is more to do with increased traffic than anything else. I played in the street, but there were only two cars in the whole street fifty years ago!!!

I don't know that tougher sentencing would be a deterrent, but I often think that people commiting such crimes should be locked away for a very long time and that a sentence of say 7 years should mean 7 years and 'life' should mean life!!

[libertie]

Looks like some family members are in this up to their necks...and yes I do despair of some people!! Can't begin to imagine what would drive someone to do this! But as I've pointed out before children die every week in this country at the hands of their parents / guardians which to my mind is even worse - if that's possible - than dying at the hands of strangers, for after all if children should be able to trust anyone it's the person who gives birth to them and what a huge betrayal when that someone allows something like this to happen to them!! Sorry don't mean to pre judge this particular case I just get so angry and frustrated when I hear of things like this!

[brachiopod]

libertie has beat me to it.

The vast majority of child abuse and child murder is occasioned by members of that family or by people close to or known by the family.

The 'snatched from the street by a stranger' scenario is still relatively rare, but is one that provokes the most fear and the receives a disproportionate amount of media coverage.

Parents then over-protect their children by not letting them play in the streets etc, who are then growing up without having a realistic sense of either risk or danger.

In answer to the question 'should the parents be doing more?', in this case, (though details are sparse at present) it is looking like the answer for at least one of the parents is that they should have done less.

[Goodsoulette]

yes, I realise this is the case now when I posted this nothing was said about who had the child.

Are we sure there is no increase in child molestation? I thought that maybe the internet was helping these perverts find like minded indidviduals. I do understand that we here more because of better press coverage but I think I am going to turn into a wreck one day soon.

[kick3m0n]

2 of the answers above are spot on - most children who are abused or killed have this done to them by parents/guardians or family members (ditto adult murders, rapes etc). This whole fear about strangers snatching children is just not bourne out by any statistics - yes it happens, but the number harmed by people known to them is several fold higher, tragically.

[gessoo]

Yes, most crime against children is carried out by their own family or close friends. Again, I wonder has this actually risen? If so, could it be something to do with the demise of the extended family and close knit neighbourhoods where child abuse could not be covered up quite so easily? Just a thought.

[libertie]

Fair point gessoo...but who knows for sure! Think the best we can do is enjoy our children and grandchildren as much as possible and thank God that most of them are being brought up in happy, loving homes we should then spare a thought for those that are'nt!

[sp1814]

Just a thought - at our workplace, we can give money to nominated charities free of tax (the money is deducted through our salary prior to any deductions).

I know that the NSPCC do admirable work in protecting vulnerable children - if this is something that concerns you, as it does me, perhaps you could persuade your companies to set up a similar scheme (called 'GAYE - Give As You Earn).

[noxlumos]

I don't think child abuse is increasing, I think it's just brought to our attention now more and children are more readily believed when they "tell".

I can't imagine the scenario I encountered when I was child who having been horribly physically abused by my father, I finally plucked up courage to tell a local priest when I was six who then looked me straight in the eye and told me I should never say such wicked things again and promptly told my father what I'd just told him.You can imagine the result of that conversation.

I let my kids play because I know statistically that it's highly unlikely they'll be snatched and as brachiopod says we can't keep them without knowledge of the dangers or we create the very danger we're fearing.

God rest the poor little mite and I hope whoever killed him goes to prison for a very very long time.

[lightoftruth]

I feel a majoe reform of the Jury system i think that a double jury should be used in murder (not manslaughter) cases. It should be the job of one jury to decide guilty or innocent. And the other to decide if a death penalty would be fitting.