Did you see this on the news last night? A family in Georgia was asked to baby sit an eight month old infant. A 16 year old teenager took the baby and bounced it off an inflated pillow. His buddy video taped this and the kids uploaded the video to YouTube because they thought what they did was "cool." A teacher apparently saw the YouTube video and contacted the police. In the video you can see the teenager placing the infant on an inflated pillow. He then falls onto the pillow with his knees and the baby flies through the air. It looked like it got as high as 3 feet and you can hear it crying. To be candid, I couldn't watch the end of this video. The casual indifference of the teenager and the ensuing act was just too horrifying. According to news reports, the parents rushed into the room and asked why the baby was crying. The boys explained that the baby had "fallen" off a pillow. The boy who bounced the baby has been arrested and has been charged with both first and third degree cruelty to children. He could be incarcerated at a juvenile center until he turns 21. The other boy has yet to be charged. The county sheriff is so annoyed that he's meeting with the district attorney on Monday to see if he can convince the DA to press charges. I cannot even imagine what any of the parents think. The baby was taken to a local hospital where doctors were relieved to report that the infant had suffered no injuries. Here's a link to a news story complete with video. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/02/teenager-bounces-baby-off_n_110491.html
I'm sorry, but the boy's 16. I've had ridiculously immature 16-year-olds who've done some stupid, stupid things, but I would hardly advocate tossing them in jail and letting them rot. As you said, they thought what they were doing was "cool," and many people have done stupid things that they thought were cool. There's no reason to throw this kid in jail - nobody was injured; I think he should get community service or no more than a year in juvenile. What good will come out of him being thrown in juvie with young rapists, young murderers, and young drug dealers? He'll come back out a lot worse than when he went in. Also, the entire argument for throwing the metaphorical book rests on appeal to emotion...
I saw this on the news yesterday and was horrified!! I would say that community service and probation aren't going to be enough for this boy. Obviously, it is going to take a lot for him to see the light.
I hope you are not suggesting that there be NO consequences. The Georgia Code of Crimes and Offenses, Title 16, Section 16-5-70, specifically states: (b) Any person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree when such person maliciously causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain. (e)(1) A person convicted of the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree as provided in this Code section shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five nor more than 20 years. (3) A person convicted of the offense of cruelty to children in the third degree shall be punished as for a misdemeanor upon the first or second conviction. If anything, if this kid is tried in a juvenile court, the worst that will happen to him will be that he'll stay at a juvenile center until he's 21. That's just 5 years. If he was tried as an adult, he could get 5-20 years. Granted, the maximum penalty under the juvenile code would equate with the minimum penalty of the adult courts ... but there is a big difference between jail and juvenile detention.
Since when is child abuse cool? And as far as "nobody was injured" I wouldn't say that unless I was in the baby's, er, diaper. They said that the baby was being checked out, not that it hadn't been injured.
Hold on there. I didn't say child abuse was cool; I said he thought it was. Please don't force words in my mouth. My only suggestion is that they search for a better alternative than to mix him up with young delinquents who have committed far more heinous crimes.
The baby has been checked out twice by doctors. The mother was on the news last night and said the baby is fine. Just because the baby is fine doesn't make it any less heinous of a crime. "We should only punish this boy if the baby had gotten a tramautic brain injury." is the vibe I'm getting from bluelight. I don't care how "immature" you are, you need to be held accountable for your actions against someone else's child.
That may be the vibe you're getting, but it's not correct. I advocate punishment for the boy, but I don't think putting this kid under the jail is a real problem-solver.
I didn't even try to watch it - just horrible.The fact that someone was taping it and posted online bothers me too. It's just callous. I do however understand what BlueLight Star is saying. There are crimes that are motivated by brutally and aggression and there are crimes where people just make really bad choices. If the kid doesn't have any kind of record for doing anything to hurt children in the past - maybe it would be more effective to have him educate others on child abuse or work for a center for abused children and see for himself the damage he could have caused.
This sickened me to watch the video. I kept thinking about his poor little brain bouncing in his skull. I wonder if he will have major trust issues with strangers now that are not the normal seperation issues that occur at his age (8 1/2 months). It also brought back painful childhood memories of mine. My brother used to take my hamster and put it in the middle of a pillow. He would then fold the pillow in half. Then he would quickly pop the pillow open and my hamster would go flying to my bed.
And the punishment of juvie until 21 would have been just fine if, God forbid, the baby had actually hit his head on the table and died.
Here's the question we have to ask ourselves with any criminal. Is this the result of a really stupid choice, or is this the result of the type of behavior which shows that he needs to be kept away from the rest of society for protection? Does this mean he gets no punishment? Of course not! It definitely requires punishment, but jail is likely only to change the kid from someone who simply makes stupid choices to someone who learns negative behaviors from the juvenile delinquents that are there as a way to protect society. This kid is no psychopath or sociopath from what I can tell.
I don't think a 5 year jail sentence is what he needs. I highly doubt it was a "malicious" act. Teenagers are stupid. Put him in jail and he'll probably end up worse. Sometimes I hate that our system thinks that jail is always the best decision.
There's something called common sense. Anyone know, especially at age of 16, that you do not take a fragile baby, place them on an inflatable pillow, and toss them into the air!!!! Stupid decision? No, stupid decision is sneaking out of the house to watch an R rated movie. This involved another innocent human life that could have been killed or disabled! Honestly, this kid needs serious consequences. As well as the person holding the camera. ETA: oh, and thank goodness for the teacher who saw the video and reported it!
I just watched this- I don't understand how a person could do this. My 8 year old cousin knows better than that. I don't know how much jail would do but both of the teenagers need some kind of training on children - how to care for them and how to prevent abuse. I think they are both stupid the one for doing it and the other for allowing it and taping it. Not much else to say.
I tend to be a bit old fashioned and believe that there should be consequences to the choices that we make in life. With this being said, I don't necessarily want the 16 year old to go to jail ... but there HAS to be some sort of consequence. Not only did he bounce the baby off a pillow, but he talked a teenage buddy into filming it. This is where the 3rd degree charge comes from. Both boys also lied when the parents asked why the baby was crying. The fact that the baby was not hurt is irrelevant. The teenager in question should actually thank his lucky stars that the infant WASN'T hurt or even killed. As far as I know, the parents of the infant have not made any comments. I don't know if they plan to file a civil law suit ... but if they did, I think it'd be a reasonable consequence for the 16 year old to have to get a job and work off the cost of punitive damages. The money could then go into an interest bearing college fund account for the infant.
I just watched the video and it made my stomach turn. I do believe this TEENAGER should be punished with juvie. At that age they know right from wrong. That is a huge problem with teenagers these days.....they are not held accountable for their actions. If this young man is doing these type of things at this age, imagine what he could possibly do in the future.
I would like to know what the parents of the 16 year-old were doing at the time. If the argument is that these kids were too immature to think that doing something like this was "cool," then why were they trusted to watch an 8 month-old baby in the first place?
