13 year old charged with murder of 2 year old brother

[Calliegirl]

This story is sad all the way around. There were so many times someone could have stepped in and prevented this from happening.
I think the entire thing could have been avoided if the boy's father had been sent to prison after raping his mother when she was only 11 or 12 years old, and the pregnant girl had been given real help. Now, the one who started it all isn't serving any jail time, and his two victims may be spending most, if not all, of their lives in prison.

I don't know what you can do with someone like Christian. His actions deserve jail time, but his age and circumstances really make it hard to completely blame him for it. But, after everything he's been through and done, is it possible to rehabilitate him and to make it safe for others if he were walking around free?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A decade before he was charged with murder, a 2-year-old Cristian Fernandez was found naked and dirty, wandering a South Florida street. The grandmother taking care of him had holed up with cocaine in a messy motel room, while his 14-year-old mother was nowhere to be found.
His life had been punctuated with violence since he was conceived, an act that resulted in a sexual assault conviction against his father. Fernandez' life got worse from there: He was sexually assaulted by a cousin and beaten by his stepfather, who committed suicide before police investigating the beating arrived.
The boy learned to squelch his feelings, once telling a counselor: "You got to suck up feelings and get over it."
Now 13, Fernandez is accused of two heinous crimes himself: first-degree murder in the 2011 beating death of his 2-year-old half-brother and the sexual abuse of his 5-year-old half-brother. He's been charged as an adult and is the youngest inmate awaiting trial in Duval County...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...case_n_1888692.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

 

[K-II]

Deserve is a strange concept. I don't think I really see the point in it.

Ideally I think he should be sent to a mental health institution, to receive treatment until it is safe for him and society to let him out again. If that time never comes, fine, but I don't think it stands any chance of happening at all in a prison.

 

[mlp]

I agree with K-II. Chances are, this kid has been totally ruined. But to try a child as an adult is terrible, reprehensible.

 

[Skylark]

Seems like his whole life was a set-up for something like this to happen. Doesn't make it right for him to do it, but it's hard to say he surely knew right from wrong.

 

[Freesia]

Sounds like the boy was brought up in such a state of neglect that he never developed attachment and morals. Very sad for all involved.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Ideally I think he should be sent to a mental health institution, to receive treatment until it is safe for him and society to let him out again. If that time never comes, fine, but I don't think it stands any chance of happening at all in a prison.

+1.