Hat Tip to April from Around Harlem:
A teenage father, in Forrest City, Arkansas, is charged with raping the daughter he helped give life.18-year-old Reginald Davis is behind bars, charged with raping his eight-day-old daughter Monday night.
Wednesday Davis made his first appearance in court. Because of the severity of the crime, the judge increased Davis’ bond from $50,000 to $100,000…Reports indicate Davis rode with the family to the hospital where she was treated for rape and a fractured skull. The little girl’s injuries were so bad she was transferred to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. WREG
There are no words.
77 comments ↓
Sadly, not the first time I’ve heard of the rape of baby by a father, teenager or not. I am not sure the age or race of the father has anything to do with it. Unless you believe that people are born evil, you have to wonder what happened to this 18 year child as well.
A question to consider, given recent Supreme court cases; given that the father will be charged and convicted, should he receive the death penalty?
I don’t know that race has anything to do with it, but this blog highlights horrific crimes committed against Black women and children. That’s why ppl send in the emails. They know this is a blog that will highlight these horrors.
I actually read a story about a whote woman who peformed sex acts on a 5 year old. In law school I did a clinic at a center for abused children. You would not believe what entire families are capable of.
My question is why wasn’t the father in jail for impregnating a 14 year old and if he had “mental health issues” why would he be left unattended with this child.
This did not come out of nowhere
Of course child rapists should receive the death penalty if that’s what the community standard is. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court believes that murder is the worst crime you can commit, but I am sure that if you gave most communities a vote on which is worse, many would say a child rapist. We don’t make murderers register with law enforcement, but we make convicted sex offenders register. So under the court’s own reasoning, every state with a sex offender registry ought to be able to execute rapists, but they somehow came to the conclusion that executing child rapists was unconstitutional.
This case would also be complicated by the alleged mental illness and if he had been a few days shy of his 18th birthday, capital punishment would be completely off the table.
They apparently are separating him to keep the inmates from carrying out jailhouse justice.
Yet another example of the horrible toll dysfunction and abuse takes on an entire family tree. So now you have a little girl that’s already screwed up before she even had a chance. Lord only knows what kind of life she will live or her children will live.
This child’s mother made the decision to have a child with someone who was “problemed” long before this child was born.
Gina, didn’t mean to offend, more thinking out loud while typing than anything else.
the reason i started following your site is because its about black folks. have to say i did not know the horrific crime part, but liked what i read into the title, and found your tweets insightful.
whataboutourdaughters is a great name.
do you know of a family that has entirely escaped having stories like this somewhere in the tree?
again, my apologies if i missed the point, gotta go, but will finish comment later.
Sigh.
No one should receive the death penalty.
Jesus.
@gem
Depends on the laws in the state. If he was 17 and she was 14…statutory rape charges may not apply…there may be a lesser crime he may have been charged with if the girl’s parents pressed the issue.
Florida for example has a multi-tiered stat-rape system. It all depends on the ages of those involved on how severe the charge will be.
‘Tis a sad case.
Seems like it’s being handled.
If he is mentally ill, then this is whole ‘nother ball game.
Still tragic but tragic all the way ’round.
U back to moderating comments?
This is just sickening and it happens in all races where adults are raping children as young as new borns.
@persistance I was not offended I forget that I get new readers every day I assume everyone is familiar with the blog’s history.
@ jj yaeh I have to moderate temporarily. got a minor troll infestation. its temporary
Damn girl, I was just about to do a post on my blog about waking up one day and finding out that life was swimming right along jes fine. Then I caught your link on my site and decided to take a look.
I’m crying.
I am almost at a loss for words. If I didn’t know that there are children raped and abused daily this story would totally break my heart.
That poor baby girl~may God have mercy on her. No one knows what the outcome of this attack will be in the long run. The skull fracture may have cause some serious brain damage. I cannot even begin to imagine what type of internal damage that the rape has caused.
If her father is mentally ill then who should assume the blame for him not receiving proper treatment? Was this known prior to his eighteenth birthday? Did the mother’s family realize that he was mentally ill? I am not defending him by a long shot. But I know from having family members who are mentally ill that intervention on the part of “sane” members is essential in such situations.
Killing him won’t change what has happened. Nor will it deter others from committing similiar crimes against children. He obviously needs to be locked up. Even if he is mentally ill, he does not need to be free within the society.
I hope and pray that this child will be blessed to come through and be alright.
Speaking of which,
Yes the male was black, and has mental health issues.
As disgusting as this act was, I cant trust the goverment to carry out executions. The risk is too high that some one innocent will be executed if that not happened already.
The fact that the he has mental health related issues also should be considered. The knee jerk reaction is to call out for death but “insanity” is very much real.
I see this as more of a failure by the state goverment to properly fund and monitor, mental health facilities, as well as the black community’s lack of education on mental health issues.
i’m deeply troubled by what i’ve just read. although i know this is nothing new it feels like it should be.
Disgusting. You’re right, there are no words adequate for this.
I will say this again, I believe that castration should be consideration for sexual predators.
No words at all. *shaking head* Might comment later.
Mental illness does not cause an individual to rape an 8 day year old baby. A lot of people are in the dark about what mental illness really is. An untreated mentally ill patient, I’m assuming that most here are referring to schizophrenics, are more likely to harm themselves than others suicide. I believe that this insanity plea is ridiculous. Was this individual mentally ill or psychologically disturbed? Even if this man is mentally ill, I have a feeling that he was already sexually molesting children before he became ill. People forget that mentally ill people still have an underlying personality.
http://www.nami.org/
I made a typo. This sentence should be:
An untreated mentally ill patient, I’m assuming that most here are referring to schizophrenics, are more likely to harm themselves than others.
Instead of:
An untreated mentally ill patient, I’m assuming that most here are referring to schizophrenics, are more likely to harm themselves than others suicide.
@JS
I think you are very misinformed on what a patient with an untreated mental disorder is capable of. The very website you provided listed sexual indiscretion as part of bi-polar disorder. As well as Head traumas, brain surgeries, and medications have been associated with hypersexuality. Onset of hypersexuality has been associated with frontal lobe lesions, frontal and temporal lesions, temporal lobe epilepsy, dementia, Klüver-Bucy syndrome, multiple lesions in multiple sclerosis, and treatment of Parkinson’s disease with dopaminergic agents.
Yor are not born a rapist or pedophile.
No words…
I hate the overwhelming sense of utter helplessness that overcomes me, every time I read a story like this one.
WTF?!
Clnmike,
I am familiar with mentally ill community since I have family members with some of those disorders, and I will admit that I am part of that community also. Not everyone who goes untreated becomes a pedophile or rapist. Sexual indiscretion as part of bi-polar disorder does not necessarily mean rapist or child molester. I never became a sexual predator or violent during my brief untreated period. I take medications now and they have not turned me into alley cat. That type of side effect is very rare and actually most psychiatric drugs decrease sex drive.
Medical misinformation like this is going to cause even greater stigma against the mentally ill community and thus force higher functioning individuals like myself into the closet, which I already am in because of cases like this.
@Clnmike
Might have to disagree that u aren’t born a pedophile.
And JS – You don’t know to many schizophrenics if you believe thry are more likely to harm themselves.
Got a few in the family.
Paranoid schizophrenics are no joke when they believe they are being threatened. You could end u dead.
Sexual issues are common among those who are mental ill…we don’t know what the issues in this particular case are…but if he is ill then that changes the dynmaic quite a bit.
@Clnmike,
It is amazing how so many of you like to blame “mental illness” for the crimes that you personally can not fathom. As a physician, the vast majority of sexual crimes are not committed by the “mentally ill”. There are just some people who are evil and until the black community wakes the hell up from it’s revery, the same type of animalistic abuse will fester unchecked.
Wow Kym just put it out there.
I think it makes people feel safer and more in control by attributing horrific acts to mental illness or any number of factors beyond our control.
Its just hard to fathom that there are those among us who carry out evil if the opportunity presents itself.
So many children are severely abused by family members and friends and not even a FRACTION of those abusers are “CRAZY” or off their meds.
Monica wrote:
“I will say this again, I believe that castration should be consideration for sexual predators.”
I completely agree. If being put to death isn’t a deterrent, being castrated could be. There’s a movie ‘Hard Candy’ that provides an interesting take on that theory.
I realize enforcing it could be a challenge, as innocent men shouldn’t be put through the process by renegade officials with a penchant for torturing black men, but castration is a suitable punishment for a sexual predator who is proven with air-tight forensic evidence to be guilty. In this case especially, it should absolutely be put on the table.
May God bless this child.
I don’t believe people are born pedophiles or sexual predators, as alot of them were molested themselves, but many of them say they cannot control it and know they would do it again if released from prison. Definitely a spiritual problem, and certainly a mental health problem on some level.
JJ and Clnmike,
you both are ignoring the fact that not only do I family members with mental illnesses, but I AM ALSO A PART OF THIS COMMUNITY. I am personally sick of people treating everyone in the mentally ill community as if they are voiceless and therefore their experiences and opinions are irrelevant. Don’t you think individuals who have to live with these conditions, perhaps everyday for the rest of their lives, should be listened to? On the other hand, are people too busy reading books and only noticing UNTREATED mentally ill persons? Perhaps you might have met a schizophrenic or bi-polar person and didn’t even know it because they took control of their health (by taking their medication, regularly going to psychiatric appointments, and managing stress). These conditions happen on a spectrum and not everyone is equally severely ill. Even in this case, I still think he was sexually molesting minors before he came ill, that is if he is legitimately ill. JJ you said that sexual issues were common among the mentally ill. Did you just skip over the part about my personal experiences with this issue? It seems so.
Thank you Kim and ginamobi for providing another perspective. The mentally ill do not commit most crimes, violent or sexual in nature.
This is why there is so many stigmas against mentally ill persons in this country, especially in the black community since we tend to shirk away from getting psychiatric help. Nobody wants to listen to the higher functioning patients or people think that we are similar to developmentally disabled individuals. I will stay far in the closet and probably never openly live as a person with a psychiatric disorder because people will assume the absolute worse.
@JS
“Not everyone who goes untreated becomes a pedophile or rapist. Sexual indiscretion as part of bi-polar disorder does not necessarily mean rapist or child molester.”
Very true, but that doesnt mean that this is the case with the boy here, or that any one who has not examined him can say, let alone call for his death.
@JJ
“Might have to disagree that u aren’t born a pedophile.”
You got some evidence to the contrary?
@Kim
“It is amazing how so many of you like to blame “mental illness” for the crimes that you personally can not fathom. As a physician, the vast majority of sexual crimes are not committed by the “mentally ill”.”
1- I would like to see you pull a quote where I said mental illness is to blame for every horrible crime.
2- This boy is mentally ill there for it is relevant to the case.
3- mental illness exempts you from the death penalty in my opinion which was what I was adressing.
4- As some one who has worked with patients with mental disorders on and off forensic units, up close and personal, I know very well what some one in a manic state, off meds, over medicated, and unsupervised is capable of I have the scars to prove it. And I question any “physician” that would use the term evil to describe some one.
I’ve read about this story a couple of times, since it was shared here on WAOD. I was struck by the fact that the only mention of the mental illness was apparently shared by the mother of the young father in a phone call.
I have very little knowledge of mental illness, but it would seem to me that a condition that made raping a child this young seem feasible, would have to be extreme.
Extreme enough…that maybe he shouldn’t be wandering around inside and outside of people’s homes unsupervised. I mean, surely no one knew this young man was capable of such a horrible act. Or, why wasn’t he already under some supervised care. And, if he really is this … problematic, what made him such a great catch for 15 year old child, unless she had issues also. Apparently, the “15 year old” mother, was showering and this young man took that opportunity to attack the child.
There were other people in the home, also. How the heck big is this house? This story seem just odd on so many levels. I mean first, you impregnate my underage daughter. I’m thinking you are not only NOT allowed back in my house, you’d need to twitch and watch your back the next time you THOUGHT her name.
If you’re my son and you’ve gotten someone’s underage daughter pregnant, you’re having trouble remembering what daylight looks like.
This is just a little too much privacy. There were other people in the house, when this horrible incident took place. Where were they? Were these grown folk who thought, these kids need a little privacy. This story is just confusing, mental illness concerns or not.
One thing we are forgetting is that the MAMA claims he has mental health issues. That don’t make it so. I know PLENTY of Mama’s whose babies can do NO WRONG.
In 9th grade this juvenile delinquent gang banger who used to be an honors student in elementary school got put out os school by our old school principal. Suspended him for the semester. Well his Mama knew good darned well her her baby was a drug dealing gang banger and she sued the school district to let her baby back into school.
The Mama had a LICK of sense because remember we took honors classes together. Well anyway of course Mama gets the school district to back down.
Long story short he did not walk across the stage with us I the 12th grade… he was sitting in jail on capital murder charges. He was not broke. He was not dumb. He was not crazy. He was just immoral and arrogant. He got away with whatever he could get away with until Mama remanded himself into the custody of the state FOREVER.
There is more to this story. there were likely a number of ADULTS who failed to protect both of these children…baby and mother
Its interesting that discussion has ventured into trying to figure out a way for this guy to somehow have diminished capacity. There was a Black mother who MICROWAVED her baby… they threw three books at her and then threw her under the jail… why am I pointing that out? because thet’s what we do around here
3- mental illness exempts you from the death penalty in my opinion which was what I was adressing.
4- As some one who has worked with patients with mental disorders on and off forensic units, up close and personal, I know very well what some one in a manic state, off meds, over medicated, and unsupervised is capable of I have the scars to prove it. And I question any “physician” that would use the term evil to describe some one.–CLnMike
Maybe he was mentally ill. It was suspected that the ring leader in the racist murder/decapitation of James Byrd (Jasper, TX) was also mentally unstable. Perhaps they both should be exempted from the death penalty.
exempt* I mean.
Thank you Gina for caring about our babies.
Thank You.
I read about this last week. I have no words for this either.
Reading the comments, I think some of us got to stop using the mental illness excuse. The man raped his 8 day old daughter, period. You can be “sane” and still do something as evil as this. Some people just have the devil in them. Why is that so hard to believe? Have we gotten to the point as black people where we see our own kind doing something as stupid as this and then try to make excuses for the offender?
And Gina, Texas don’t play! They just call a spade a spade and get it over with.
I;m shocked. to be honest, HOW does one rape a week-old baby. I can’t even fathom the mechanics of it and who caught him? and how is he still alive?
@Clnmike
Do you have proof to the contrary?
No one is saying the guy is mentally ill…it was mentioned and it may be the case. In which case it is an added dynamic in the case.
PLENTY of cases involve people with real mental issues but us Americans don’t have much respect for that so we overlook it as a cause of the crimes they commit and chalk it up to them being evil.
Mental illness runs heavy in my family. VERY heavy. Diagnosed and undiagnosed. So I’m quite aware of what those who are “off there meds” are capable of.
One relative attempted to steal a baby from the hospital and lied about a pregnancy to her dead boyfriend’s relatives even though we (the family knew) she wasn’t even capable of having kids.
Another was sexing an underage relative.
Another started shooting at a relative with a sawed off shotgun when a conversation went very wrong.
Another is currently dead for shooting at a cop (for reasons we are unsure of) this past weekend.
Another tried to rape his sister.
i could go on. Everyne mentioned above have been committed at very points in their lives, have been diagnosed since their teens/early twenties ans are regulary “off their meds.”
Somethign like 85% of the homeless are mentally ill. A similarly high percentage of those locked up are mentally ill but we don’t have institutions to properly deal with them so often they end up in prison when they should be getting psychiatric care.
And Gina, Texas don’t play! They just call a spade a spade and get it over with.
Texas is a state notorious for it’s love of killing people…whether they are guilty or not…and have a special love fo the poor, minority and mentally ill.
Texas is NOT an example of what the rest of the union should live by.
Let the record show that IIIII did not say “they just call a spade a spade and get it over with.” However, I take umbrage at Texas not being an example that the rest of the union should follow. They have a record of prosecutorial misconduct and misdeeds. However look at Dallas County where they have swung open the old files to start exonerating folks, but YES we do believe in state sanctioned killing but NO the standard is not applied fairly to the accused OR victims. You are far more likely to die for killing a White person than a Black person.
Maybe that wasn’t the right phrase to use lol. I wasn’t really speaking of the death penalty when I said it. I was just saying that when it comes to convicting people of crimes, Texas get right to it. Not saying that it was fair. But yea, I should’ve used a better phrase, that wasn’t the right one.
This man is a beast and a devil. He should be castrated then lobotomized or locked up and donated to science for unfettered studying of his brain.
Sound cruel? Oh well. I don’t care. I believe that when you have been proven to have done something this wicked and EVIL, you suffer very dire consequences.
There was a Black mother who MICROWAVED her baby… they threw three books at her and then threw her under the jail… why am I pointing that out? because thet’s what we do around here
I thought that within the past month, the jury couldn’t agree on a sentence and that spared her the death penalty:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/03/ddn090308arnoldlife.html
And she had a big croud of friends and supporters who celebrated the jury’s indecisiveness.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/p/content/gen/sharedoh/photos_galleries/news/local/chinaarnold.html
” It was suspected that the ring leader in the racist murder/decapitation of James Byrd (Jasper, TX) was also mentally unstable. Perhaps they both should be exempted from the death penalty.”
Yes they both should be if they both are.
“One thing we are forgetting is that the MAMA claims he has mental health issues. That don’t make it so.”
That dont make it a lie either.
And for the record no one should be using Texas as an example of ANYTHING law related.
They still got a lynch mob mentality out there.
This is the same state where a cop framed and locked up 46 African Americans on a bogus drug sting in July 1999 in Tulia.
I hate to ask this, but were you all this upset about the mother microwaving her baby? Were you calling for her immediate death and dismemberment, crying for blood, or were you saying that she may have been mental, hmmm?
What About Her Daughter?
You don’t hate to ask anything. You have an agenda in the comments section of this blog and you have made that apparently clear. I was HORRIFIED by the microwaved baby story and the fact that you would come on here and use the rape of an 8 day old baby to attempt to further your agenda and your assault on this blog is despicable.
If you don’t like the blog then leave! Seriously. I don’t understand the fascination with something you don’t like, understand, or care about.
Yes, what about her daughter? What about the thousands millions of daughters? Last week I read a story about girl in India or Pakistan being buried alive. When their women relatives rushed to try to stop them. They shot the mothers and the Aunts. I read about a Woman that had sex with a five year old boy. Didn’t post about it. I’ve read stories about honor killings and acid attacks and all kinds of human depravity, but the reason this post is up here is because a READER sent it to me. Just like they did with Dunbar Village, Daniyah Jackson, Alexis Goggins, Ebony Dorsey, Dorothy Dixon, Romona Moore and all the other crime stories we’ve covered.
Mod2 you don’t give a rip about any of these babies so why don’t you take you and your agenda over to YOUR blog. You don’t want to be part of this community anyway. We ain’t pro Black man enough.
Congratulations you got to attempt to be smug and smart today, to bad you did your tap dance over the limp and fractured body of an 8 Day old baby.
how clever you are.
Mod 2,
I feel the same way about a black so-called mother who kills her child as I do this monster.
clnmike,
At least you are consistent. Personally, I don’t put to much stock into insanity defenses.
And for the record no one should be using Texas as an example of ANYTHING law related.
That’s nonsense. Texas as a whole has quality law enforcement. One can easily go to little hick towns and find some unscrupulous behavior, but that doesn’t represent the larger cities. And there is nothing wrong with NOT pampering criminals.
Folks just ignore Mod 2. he came here for the specific purpose of taking the attention off of the 8 Day old baby and placing it on Black men. A little Black girl can’t even get a blog post for folks to morn her without folks trying to snatch that away. What’s even more sick is that he used another horrific killing of a child to carry out his trolling.
When I first started this blog before anyone really knew about it, they tried to destroy it by out right lies threats and intimidation. Then that didn’t work and they tried other tactics. This latest wave of comments thread is their latest tactic when they come in, hijack a thread and then send us all off on a completely different tangent and take the focus off the thread to their agenda.
It’s a sad world. I have no words. I don’t know what the answer for punishment is on Earth, but I know God will take care of those who are so extremely cruel.
Lormarie
“Personally, I don’t put to much stock into insanity defenses.”
Well I dont put much stocks in the death penalty when I know the guys pulling the switch could care less who is in the chair as long as some one is frying.
Rich
46 blacks framed? At one time? In one ghick town? Doesnt matter if it doesnt represent the cities it represents Texas.
And pampering criminals and unjustly jailing innocent blacks are two different things.
@ALL
The problem with any death penalty discussion is that people combine two discussion into one. Or maybe four or five debates into on.
First is whether you think it is moral for the state to take the life of anyone
Second is whether you think that the state can carry our a moral act while applying it in an immoral manner. IE killing some guilty people but not others.
I may not have a problem with the death penalty in theory, but have a problem with its application.
Honestly clnmike if we outlawed the death penalty here, it would still be carried out except it would be “extra- judicial” ie vigilante justice. So your choices are a flawed state system or individuals carrying out “justice”
I actually had to take a break from WAOD for awhile. Love the site and what Gina’s worked so hard to do, but need a sabbatical from the bad news in the world. Haven’t really looked at the site in about a month or two, but came back today. Unfortunately, this story about the 8-day old baby is the first thing I see.
I think I’m taking another 2-month news vacation. Crazy.
“Honestly clnmike if we outlawed the death penalty here, it would still be carried out except it would be “extra- judicial” ie vigilante justice. So your choices are a flawed state system or individuals carrying out “justice””
??
That is a straight up cop out there has not been increase or finding that suggest that if a state has the death penalty than vigilante justice will increase.
How can vigilante justice happen if you have the criminals in prison?
Are they going to break down the jail cells to get to the prisoner?
Have the done that so far?
What has been proven though is that despite the fact that you have the death penalty you still have murders, rapes, and assaults.
@clnmike. I don’t need a cop out. I am unappologetically in favor of the death penalty. I am just saying that one of the reason TEXAS will never get rid of it is this idea of being a law and order state and how we “take things into our own hands”
I don’t need a cop out. I don’t think it should be abolished, but I understand why you feel the way you feel. The death penalty isn’t about deterrence, it is about vengeance, carried out by the state instead of individuals.
@lena
I am right there with you. I have tried to cut down on the crime storys or at least bundle them all together, but I completely understand. You know you can actually develop a form of vicarious form of PTSD from just reading about this stuff.
Take care of your mental health and come back around November some things will be changing about then.
“Cop out is an idiom meaning to avoid taking responsibility for an action or to avoid fulfilling a duty.”
Knowing that the death penalty is about state sponsored vengeance, as well the fact that law enforcement and the judicial system as put mean and women knowingly and unknowingly in jail for crimes they did not commit and still not believing the death penalty should be abolish is copping out.
You can flip it any way you want, but the bottom line is that no goverment on the planet that has a division between the haves and the have nots should be sponosring the death penalty.
Regardless if some one needs a good killing.
@cln mike Okay, we disagree. You can call it whatever you want. We can go round and round in a circle and you will not change my mind and I won’t change yours. You can call it whatever you want to, but my mind is not changing. I at least don’t hurl insults at people who disagree with me on issues like this and abortion and religion. I just respect their right to disagree knowing I am unlikely to change their minds.
We agree to disgree than.
Um okay. I have always agreed to disagree with you, but um if you want the last word on the matter okay clnmike, I agree to disagree with you. Everybody is all so agreeable now.
WELL I CANT HAVE THE LAST WORD IF YOU KEEP RESPONDING!!!
Lol.
I found this website:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state/
Compared to other states, Texas DOES use the death penalty the most, but there are states that I saw with higher murder rates that do not use it at all (like Michigan) – and I find that puzzling. Also, I found it interesting that in 2007, Louisiana murder rate was 14.2 (and had the highest murder rate than any other state for years) and Texas was 5.9. BUT, Louisiana only had 27 execution since 1976 while Texas had 413.
While we were talking about examples, I sure as hell wish my state (LA) did look to Texas. Maybe not so much for the unfair part of putting the wrong people on death penalty, but for putting people on death penalty period and rightfully so based on the murder rate.
“Compared to other states, Texas DOES use the death penalty the most, but there are states that I saw with higher murder rates that do not use it at all (like Michigan) – and I find that puzzling.”
And New York has no death penalty and a murder rate of 4.8.
Lower than Texas as do several other states.
And on the other side California has it, and a murder rate of 6.8.
Higher than Texas yet it doesnt seem to be stopping anyone over there either.
It’s no puzzle to me, better economy, more restrictive gun laws, better police work, after school programs, tighter community.
There are a number of ways you can keep people from killing them selves with out actually killing them.
I’m actually not a fan of the death penalty, but cases like these certainly help you understand why it has fans.
In my mind, prison ought to to be a place that you never want to go and yet in every state every prison is a revolving door. Perhaps for some men & women, finding jobs is more difficult when they get out, but I’m beginning to wonder.
My husband teaches 7-9th grade and already some of his kids (some of the young black males) are convinced they’re going to prison. Not going to college – in their mind that’s not possible, not going to the military – in their minds the military is no place for a black man (my eyes are rolling on this one). They “ain’t gone flip no burgers for nobody.”
Is it just me, or are some planning for prison as an option? I mean, if the military is no place for a black man, when did prison become an acceptable alternative or did I miss that one? Now, I’m starting to wonder if their parents know they have this attitude.
The young men ALL have a father, brother, uncle, etc. already in prison. I doubt if these men are ENCOURAGING them to come and yet it’s almost as if a few of them are committing crimes to see how soon they can get in.
I can’t recommend the death penalty. But, apparently our prison system isn’t much of a…penalty for some.
Doesnt matter if it doesnt represent the cities it represents Texas
No, it represents that one town. With the Rampart scandal in California and the many scandals in NY, Chicago, etc., why does one scandal in one town represent Texas?
It’s no puzzle to me, better economy, more restrictive gun laws, better police work, after school programs, tighter community.
Fewer illegal aliens. The only thing you named that Texas lacks are more restrictive gun laws. And precisely why is DC’s murder rate so high with its restrictive gun laws?
@ Cln, California is not the best example. Because if you look again, you will see that California – although more executions are not carried out, there are more people sitting on the death row than Texas. A lot more, I’ll say. Cali has 667 currently on death row and Texas has 373. Cali also has more women on death row than Texas. Not only that, Texas is more likely to grant clemencies than Cali and also free more innocent people from the death penalty.
So yea, Cali isn’t really a good example. They probably don’t have as many executions as Texas, but looking at the number of people sitting on death row…it’s not a pretty picture. Also, according to crime stats, Cali is def not safer than Texas.
As for New York, doesn’t New York has like the largest police department in the country? And also isn’t it one of the best? That’s probably the reason for the low murder rate.
There are ways to keep people in order without killing them, but in my opinion, if you kill someone without being able to justify it, you should be put to death too. (given ample evidence of course). Seems like Texas the only state that carry out the death penalty like it should.
Another interesting tidbit: Texas has more blacks than whites sitting on death row, BUT has executed more whites than blacks since 1976. Something to think about. I have the stats here if you want them. These are stats from Jan 2008.
Current death row pop by race:
Texas: Blk – 153, Wht -111
Execution by race since 1976:
Texas: Blk – 144, Wht – 195
Source: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-death-row-inmates-executed-1976#deathrowpop
@Deidra
I didn’t know these stats. That’s really interesting.
Rich
“No, it represents that one town. With the Rampart scandal in California and the many scandals in NY, Chicago, etc., why does one scandal in one town represent Texas?”
“Fewer illegal aliens. The only thing you named that Texas lacks are more restrictive gun laws. And precisely why is DC’s murder rate so high with its restrictive gun laws?”
You seem to be under the impression that I am about bashing your beloved Texas, trust me I could care less about the state. Texas was put up as an example of success with the death penalty, and I pointed out over and over and over again that it is not that.
MY FOCUS was on those who were calling for some one’s death as if that would solve all the problems.
Texas was an unforseen casualty.
@Deidra
“California is not the best example”
None of those examples were the best examples, the death penalty does not prevent murder.
“As for New York, doesn’t New York has like the largest police department in the country?”
I made that point already, what would you rather have?
More exectuions with no change in the murder rate or better (and I stretch that word with NYPD) police work to prevent murders in the first place.
MY point was that there are alternatives to killing some one to prevent them from killing.
“if you kill someone without being able to justify it, you should be put to death too. (given ample evidence of course). ”
“Ample evidence” is given in numerous cases in this country, and still men and women are later found innocent after serving time for crimes they did not commit.
That alone says the state has no business killing any one.
“Current death row pop by race:
Texas: Blk – 153, Wht -111
Execution by race since 1976:
Texas: Blk – 144, Wht – 195″
??
Im supposed to feel better because they kill more whites than blacks?
There have been whites that have been guilty of crimes they did not commit as well, they are entiled to their freedom and more importantly their lives as well.
Well I dont put much stocks in the death penalty when I know the guys pulling the switch could care less who is in the chair as long as some one is frying.–CLNMike
The guy pulling the switch is the least of society’s worries. Criminals do more damage. I care more about victims of crime than those committing crimes. Someone falsely accused is a separate issue, IMO.
Mod2 and Rich are just fronting. They know that Black males have become the oppressors in the Black community and feel so guilty about it, that they throw up comments equivalent to “smoke and mirrors” in hope to hide this fact from the world.
Rape, murder, incest, drug wars, gang wars, home invasions, assaults, drive-by’s, etc in the Black community are almost exclusively the bane of Black males – are there some females involved? Definitely , but not even close to the extent of male involvement. Is every Black male oppressing the community? Obviously not, but then again every white person wasn’t lynching Black folks either. But we still recognized that the white community overall had a problem with racism and the oppression of Blacks. And we recognize that the Black community has a problem of Black male pathology and the subsequent oppression of Black women and Black people in general.
99% of all the horrible crimes committed against Black females (and in the Black community in general) are committed by – you guessed it – other Black men! Until the male half of the Black community admits to the level of pathology that they have created in the Black community, the community will never be successful. Until they admit that the main problem is with their gender and try to rectify this problem instead of making half-assed excuses, the issues that plague us will never cease to exist.
The white community eventually developed abolitionists who admitted to and worked against the wrongs of slavery and white supremacy. Where are the Black males willing to act as abolitionists in our community to end the wrongs being committed in droves against Black children, women, girls?
“They know that Black males have become the oppressors in the Black community and feel so guilty about it, that they throw up comments equivalent to “smoke and mirrors” in hope to hide this fact from the world. ”
I feel no guilt at all for the actions of other evil people just because they look like me. I feel scorn and contempt for them, and celebrate their capture.
When I hear about an evil BM’s deeds, it does not shame me in any way, because I didnt do it. White men are not ashamed of Jeffrey Dahmer, the Hillside Strangler, or Son of Sam, and I am not my brother’s keeper (I don’t even consider BM who harm others my brother).
When a BM rapes/murders, black men are raping/murdering. When a white man rapes, “that individual raped/murdered”.
Regarding the abolitionist analogy, there were laws making slavery legal. It is not legal to harm black women. Fortunately, these BM being reported on the blog who are harming BW and B-babies are being captured and thrown under the jail. They aren’t getting acquitted.
Sadly, there will always be deviants in all societies.
very simple kill that bastard
I agree, I think he should be put to death, regardless if he is mentally ill or not. He is no use to society and even more dangerous. There is no way he can be rehabilitated.
Hello, I am a 24 year old mother of 1 and from the momment my daughter was born I fell in love with her, I don’t know how these mothers are taking their babies and putting them in garbage cans and leave them there to die. This man that raped his own daughter should be castrated and then f**** up his own ass!!!
I can’t judge this 18 year old. Clearly he has issues. The entire event is just truly heartbreaking and I agree with Dr. Kym, all of these people are not mentally ill. We say they are mentally ill because people who know this is an unspeakable act feel like you’d have to be crazy to do this to an 8 day old child. As a pastor, this let’s me know people really need God in their lives. I can only pray for everyone who is involved in this.
Couldn’t say it any better Taharkah X. No one has to degrade us anymore. We are a self-debasing people. Any you can not merely blame slavery and jim crow and segregation alone. Because during and after those things we had self-respect, morals and strong family values (often stronger than those of or oppressors). We fell for the trick. Just as the doors to opportunity were openning we turned from what made us strong and now too many of us are not only too weak to walk through them but we have become the thing that is crippling and killing the next generation. We were swayed by the new easy morality, drug culture, the falling away from spiritual values and the lure of greed by any means.