>

Parent is a verb, as my mom use to say.
We've glossed over parenting as something anyone can do and doesn't require much effort - just money.  Parenting is intense sh*t that requires huge amounts of skill, dedication, commitment and sacrifice - but it's not something valued at all by society.
When a child murders someone - something went wrong somewhere.  Maybe there were signs ignored by the parents. Maybe too permissive in what was allowed to be watched / gotten away with.  Maybe refusal to see their kid needed outside help. Maybe there was abuse or neglect.  Could be any one of dozens of causes or multiple causes combined that led to this tragedy.
I'm not blaming the parents per se.  But I believe that there is a solid 90% chance that with better advice, guidance and resources provided to the parents - and then excellent parenting skills used regarding this child over their upbringing - that this wouldn't have happened. 
Parents are definitely human.  We mess up. We fail. We don't know what we don't know.  But waving hands in the air thinking that the parents choices/behaviors had no part in this is bad - same as thinking that they were 100% responsible.  The truth falls inbetween.
There was actually just a case I watched on Dr. G where a girl smothered a 2 year old and an infant and the people of Bexar County Texas refused to believe a child was capable of this kind of evil.  Then she went to live with her grandmother and smothered her dog which led to the grandmother turning her in to the police.
Life can get really dark sometimes. >

What the absolute fuck? >

Seriously this makes me want to just curl up. Fuck. >

This makes me want to never have kids. >

If they come out bad just smother them >

These sorts of horrible stories have been around a while, but for some reason they now seem extra worrying. >

I think absorbing the entirety of the Country's and World's horrible News stories, across all 8 Billion of us makes the shit seem out of whack and like things are more frequent than they used to be.
There are nearly 350 Million peoppe in the US.....thats a lot of lives to find fucked up stories in.
I dont think most crimes are any worse or more frequent that they ever were, we just hear about them more because we are so connected (save shootings...we have a real fucking problem there)
A 16yo kid(maybe 17) I went to high-school with in the mid 90s killed both his grandparents with a hammer, beat their heads to mush while they were sleeping and then burned the house down...they found him hiding in a dumpster behind a Kmart(or maybe it was a Jamesway, IDR) covered in blood.....I bet no one outside of my state heard about that, and i bet even a ton of people in the state didnt even hear about it...if that happened today it would be national news >

Violent crime (Including shootings) has actually been plummeting downward statistically for the last couple of decades. 
But now we literally hear about every single crime. >

I heard it was rising back up since the pandemic? >

yea back to 2019 levels, not 1970s levels. >

I've moved around a lot in my adulthood and I'm always fascinated by local stories of completely fucked shit that happened in the days before Internet and the 24 hour news channels in these areas that would likely have never been more than a blurb in national news; things that would been front page news for days in those areas, and maybe would've hit a couple paragraphs on page nine elsewhere. A lot of stories that now get national or worldwide coverage fall into that category. For instance, the guy in Mass that searched how to dispose of a 115 lb woman's body wouldn't be heard much further away than maybe Connecticut and Maine. The Idaho murders might have got coverage within a couple hundred miles of there, and maybe where the guy was found in PA (if he would even have been caught back then). Even in the 90s it's unlikely someone in, say, Arizona would have even possibly been made aware of any of those things. It's definitely a contributing factor in why, even though the world is getting statistically safer, it feels more dangerous. >

Its the internet and 24h news that makes it seem like we have a historically bad crime epidemic. Agree fully.
Its all because they all need constant content 24h a day, 7d a week, 365d a year, and "if it bleeds it leads" is a real thing and that boils down to pure human nature and negative feedback bias which is a real thing. >

Exactly. And to add further examples, just look at the slew of crime documentaries like on Netflix, etc. There's just so many from the early 90s and before that most people had never heard about. Whole seasons of shows covering the ones that might have been little more than regional news at the time. Hell, I sat and watched one episode a while back (my wife drew me in because it was where I grew up and was during my middle school years) that was pretty huge news at the time. Everyone knew a ton about it... where I grew up. She'd never heard about it. That's when it clicked. I was like, yeah, I guess it wasn't something a newspaper over a thousand miles away would've bothered with >

While I understand everything you all are saying, but is the idea of social media influence, and younger generations feeling more alone than ever not something to worry about, or...all the shootings?  
I feel like we are experiencing more shootings in schools and the like, or do you also try and make that sound like it's merely the 24hr news coverage?  There are DEFNITELY more guns in America than in the 70s correct?  More shootings, correct?  I can't seem to square that hole. >

You used to be able to bring firearms to school without issue and keep them locked up in your vehicle, or participate in shooting clubs/competition.
If we weren't shooting each other in schools when we were able to do that, but we're doing it now, it's not a problem with the number of firearms. It's the intersection of social media and a nationwide, 24/7 news cycle and firearms that is the problem. >

This is so sad, a family was just torn apart. >

Shit's getting pretty goddamn bleak. >

Remember to take breaks from time to time. Set yourself a time limit of reading the news. Read the headline (or title of reddit post) and think, do I really need to read that story or the comments.
Go make yourself a cup of tea. Watch your pets play. Look up at the stars. Just take whatever break helps. Only then can you come back and handle such bleak shit and maybe find a way to make your part of the world a little better. >

Fantastic article. I wish more people could accept this is a thing. >

Awful.
At least the parents did the right thing and didn't cover it up with a fake ransom note. >

I got that reference. We’ll probably never know the truth about who killed Jonbenet. >

The poor parents. Damn >

Not a great couple of days for American children, is it? >

Part of me thinks this girl was abused. Not many 12 year old actively want to kill their siblings. A house of violence and abuse could trigger this type of behavior. >

I don’t understand how you got downvoted, what you say is absolutely true. Unless of course there is mental illness going on here. >

We assume young children are capable of feeling love, affection, gratitude, loyalty, etc, but not hatred, envy, resentment or anger?  I think the door swings both ways and we've traditionally relied on family culture to avoid such instances of monstrosity.  When I was growing up with several siblings, we were constantly reminded that violence is not an acceptable means of resolving disputes. As a consequence, our minds were unlikely to consider physical harm to our antagonists as an acceptable remedy.   The college-age daughter of a friend was recently assigned to student teach first grade at an inner-city school in Minneapolis.  She left after two weeks out of fear and frustration.  Most of the school children communicated their wants and needs through violent acts: pushing, punching, using other objects as weapons.  When parents were consulted (which seldom occurred because they don't make themselves available), the parents usually expressed indifference.  No doubt the same behavior is typical in the home, including interactions between children and the parents.  I've no expertise in child psychology, but common sense tells me violence is learned behavior. >

Child murders are a sign of societal collapse... but why am I hearing about multiple a month or attempts a month. I remember this was ground breaking news and would get a documentary. Now it's just a tuesday. >


but why am I hearing about multiple a month or attempts a month

Because there is a 24 hour news cycle to fill and it's easier than ever for this information to fling around, and with ads paying the bills these types of stories get more attention than feel-good stories.
Violent crime per capita is down significantly from past decades. >

Holy fuck what's with all the kids killing people in American recently? >

Parents not being parents and possible mental illness, it can manifest at a young age.