Did Society Fail Cristian Fernandez or Is He A Bad Seed?

[Cricket]

When I first heard the story of Cristian Fernandez, I believed that perhaps this child was a monster in the making, the type of child that would grow up to lead a life of crime and violence. It was his age that made me stop and take pause and made me want to know more. Were we as a society seriously going to lock up a 12 year old child (at the time of his crime) for life without parole?

Take a moment to read his story...
http://justice4juveniles.wordpress.c...ian-fernandez/

Now tell me your thoughts. Is Cristian Fernandez a bad seed or did society fail this child horribly?

[ScriptMan]

I would like to say that there is no such thing as a bad seed; but, I really don't believe that.

The child might and that is a big might have been saved if he had been placed in foster care at the age of two when the first event occurred. In that respect society failed him. We protect dogs and cats better than we protect children in this country. And we do it in the name of compassion.

I really can't give you a 'final answer' because I did not walk in this child's shoes.

At this point in time society is better off to lock him up for life.

[Haley]

I believe that society failed this kid before he was even born. Society failed his mother, which in turn, failed him.
Why wasn't he put it counseling or therapy after the first time? The second time? How about the third? The records show he should have had counseling from a very early age.
How does society expect a kid to act when exposed to all the things this child was exposed to, without any help? They know he was physically, sexually, and mentally abused, and no one thinks this kid needs counseling?
Prison will do him no good.
He needs to be put into a psychiatric hospital and helped, not thrown away.

[Haley]

I also believe that it is more-so the mother's fault that the toddler died.
The toddler had been hurt before when left in Christian's care, yet she negligently left them together again. When Christian told his mother that his brother was hurt, she decided to wait and see if he regained consciousness instead of getting him medical help. Yet she gets off with manslaughter, while Christian is facing life without parole?
Something is wrong here.

[Breeze Wood]

Though it is unclear as to the extent law enforcement investigated the toddler’s death, a few details have been circulated concerning the event. First, Cristian told police that he pushed his brother into a bookcase twice out of anger. He indicated that his brother lost consciousness. Second, Cristian contacted him mother to inform her that the young child was hurt. Third, she returned home and spent the better part of an entire day failing to appropriately respond to her son’s fatal injuries until driving her son to the hospital in the evening.

This information was later contradicted by the release of court reports showing the mother waited nearly eight hours to seek treatment, spending time online listening to music, checking her bank records, and researching head injuries.

Had Cristian’s mother obtained treatment for her young son as soon as she learned of his injuries he might have survived.

... or did society fail this child horribly?

the actions of Cristian could conceivably have been a simple accident in regards to his brothers death ... it really appears Angela Corey and the legal system are who have " fail this child horribly"


Cristian contacted him(s) mother to inform her that the young child was hurt.

putting his faith in his mother seems a natural response ... at face value not what one would expect from a bad seed.


was the act premeditated ??? - the charges with life without parole as an adult seem unfounded.

[Dreamrage]

I don't believe in bad seeds. (there, I said it). He is still really young and I only had to read half of his history to see that it was just that, his past, what he's seen and lived through that made him do what he did. His mother and grandmother were both unfit to be any kind of guardian for him, regardless of the mother's age. There are so many different kinds of people in this world, some are good parents and some are not. It does not matter how old they are.

I have not led half the life he has, and for that I am grateful because I still struggle to understand the life I have lived most days, but he and I do have one thing in common. Our parents didn't care about us. Unlike him, that had to still live with everything and have more go wrong in his life, I was taken away when I was two, before anything that happened to me could make any negative impact on my life, and even with that, it took me a long time to accept it all, let alone make peace with it. (I am 36 now)

Did the people fail him? yes. I believe this rather strongly. Had I lived any longer with my mother, what she did would have made me believe that what she does is normal and the way life is meant to be, and I would have never allowed myself to have children, because I would have grown up exactly like her. Children learn about life by what they see their parents doing, saying, reacting. This much I know is true, because for years I thought that what happened to me, happened to everyone, they just didn't have the same scars I did, and I only really started asking questions when I accidentally saw my own adoption papers.

If he was raised the way he was supposed to, I don't think he would be in the situation he is today.

*retreats back to her dark corner for now *

[txshellie]

I think that it is egregious that Christian wasn't placed with an appropriate foster family as a child ... at this time:


At the age of two, Cristian and his mother were placed in the same foster home after the “authorities found the toddler walking around dirty and naked outside a South Florida motel while his grandmother, who would have been about 34 at the time, nursed a drug habit inside.”

It is not compassion to allow a child to stay with a biological mother in this type of situation.

This trend to almost force children to be raised by their biological parents at all costs is a travesty. Christian would have been better off in an orphanage in the care of responsible adults than in this abusive hell in which he was raised.

I have to agree with Scriptman that we treat animals better than our children.

In a related vein, but not necessarily applicable as far as I can see in this situation, I personally believe that if a child is born with drugs in their system that parental right should be immediately terminated.

The child comes first.

This young man needs protection and therapy. Not incarceration with grown men.

[ScriptMan]

Statistically speaking the recidivism rate among sexual predators is very high. The chances for success using therapy after the behavior is formed is extremely low.

While I admire your compassion and even feel some myself, the hand was dealt and must be played for the protection of the innocent.

[txshellie]

Originally Posted by ScriptMan

Statistically speaking the recidivism rate among sexual predators is very high. The chances for success using therapy after the behavior is formed is extremely low.

While I admire your compassion and even feel some myself, the hand was dealt and must be played for the protection of the innocent.

I agree - I also don't think that he needs to be walking around free.

I just had to move from a home because 3 RSO's who targeted boys in the past were living across the street.

So. I get that your point Scriptman. Not willing to take that risk with my little guys. Probably paid too much for the place we moved to but was worth it to be in a place where I don't have to keep an eye on them 100% of the time. (When I saw that the victim in one of the situations across the street was a 5 year old boy, wow, did I move fast to get out of there.)

When a child is sexually abused it's a murder of their innocence, a murder of their personality ... the way it would have been. It is a stealing of something sweet and precious that can never be returned. It should be treated as such.

There has to be a solution to this problem that recognizes the poor plight of Christian in this story but honors the victims and prevents it from happening again.

[Zap]

Originally Posted by txshellie

When a child is sexually abused it's a murder of their innocence, a murder of their personality ... the way it would have been. It is a stealing of something sweet and precious that can never be returned. It should be treated as such.

Never quite heard it put into those exact words but describes the situation perfectly!
No matter how much stellar counselling the child receives, the damage is already done and can not be undone, even when the child goes on to lead a perfectly "normal" life.