Slender Man stabbing: Should juvenile defendants be tried as adults? (+video) By Cristina Maza, Staff writer FEBRUARY 17, 2015 A judge is expected to decide Tuesday whether two Wisconsin girls who police say stabbed their classmate 19 times to placate a fictitious online character will be tried in juvenile or adult court. The girls, who were 12 years at the time of the near-fatal attack, each face one count of being a party to first-degree intentional attempted homicide. In Wisconsin, juveniles over the age of 10 charged with homicide or attempted homicide are automatically tried as adults. If the girls are tried and convicted in adult court, the ramifications could be lifelong. Wisconsin law states that a person convicted as a juvenile must be released from the system at age 25. If the girls are convicted as adults, they could face up to 65 years in prison. mandatory adult sentences are highly controversial for many reasons. Not all juvenile offenders will commit “These crimes years later, as adults. Efforts to predict which juveniles will and will not continue to offend, regardless of treatment and rehabilitation efforts, have been wrote Tina Freiburger, associate professor and chair of the largely unsuccessful,” criminal justice department at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in her blog for . Many critics of trying juveniles as adults also say that juveniles are not fully capable of comprehending the consequences of their actions and may not have complete control over their behavior. The that their actions were inspired by Slender Man, an unusually tall fictional character that stalks girls’ lawyers claim and abducts children. The girls believed Slender Man would harm them if they did not kill, the lawyers have said. The lawyer for one of the girls, Anthony Cotton, has been particularly vocal in advocating for a lesser charge in juvenile court for his client, saying she thought she was protecting herself and her family. His client had allegedly drawn sketches of Slender Man in a notebook with phrases such as "never alone," ''safer dead," and "can't run." Moreover, Mr. Cotton has said that the treatment his client is now receiving at a mental health institution is “markedly than the care she received while held in jail for several months following the May attack. better”
Slender Man stabbing: Should juvenile defendants be tried as adults? (+video) By Cristina Maza, Staff writer FEBRUARY 17, 2015 A judge is expected to decide Tuesday whether two Wisconsin girls who police say stabbed their classmate 19 times to placate a fictitious online character will be tried in juvenile or adult court. The girls, who were 12 years at the time of the near-fatal attack, each face one count of being a party to first-degree intentional attempted homicide. In Wisconsin, juveniles over the age of 10 charged with homicide or attempted homicide are automatically tried as adults. If the girls are tried and convicted in adult court, the ramifications could be lifelong. Wisconsin law states that a person convicted as a juvenile must be released from the system at age 25. If the girls are convicted as adults, they could face up to 65 years in prison. “These mandatory adult sentences are highly controversial for many reasons. Not all juvenile offenders will commit crimes years later, as adults. Efforts to predict which juveniles will and will not continue to offend, regardless of treatment and rehabilitation efforts, have been largely unsuccessful,” wrote Tina Freiburger, associate professor and chair of the criminal justice department at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in her blog for . Many critics of trying juveniles as adults also say that juveniles are not fully capable of comprehending the consequences of their actions and may not have complete control over their behavior. The girls’ lawyers claim that their actions were inspired by Slender Man, an unusually tall fictional character that stalks and abducts children. The girls believed Slender Man would harm them if they did not kill, the lawyers have said. The lawyer for one of the girls, Anthony Cotton, has been particularly vocal in advocating for a lesser charge in juvenile court for his client, saying she thought she was protecting herself and her family. His client had allegedly drawn sketches of Slender Man in a notebook with phrases such as "never alone," ''safer dead," and "can't run." Moreover, Mr. Cotton has said that the treatment his client is now receiving at a mental health institution is “markedly better” than the care she received while held in jail for several months following the May attack.
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