Dad who bashed girls with bed slat walks free. WHAT!!!!?

reply to post by getreadyalready


In the 17, 18, and 1900's we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Smacking your kids with a board to get their attention was an accepted and even recommended form of parenting. The only thing that anyone else would have said was hit 'em again to make sure they understand.

Shoot, for that matter it was accepted in the 1940's and '50s!

I agree that the justice system is flawed. There is no doubt that juries make decisions I consider stupid, shortsighted, or just plain wrong but that's true of any system designed by or incorporating humans in any way shape or fashion. Still, all things considered, I prefer it to living in a shooting gallery!

reply to post by Montana


I don't know if it was ever acceptable to smack a young girl across the face with a slat and black both of her eyes? I am all for an occasional paddling, but I can't see any "tough love" in smacking a child across the face with a board, and I don't think that was ever socially acceptable?

Originally posted by getreadyalready
I don't know if it was ever acceptable to smack a young girl across the face with a slat and black both of her eyes? I am all for an occasional paddling, but I can't see any "tough love" in smacking a child across the face with a board, and I don't think that was ever socially acceptable?

My Dad smacked me once when I was a teenager and gave me a pretty good black eye (after I said something very cruel to my Mother), before that he'd not so much as swatted my butt... while I was pretty pissed off at the time the idea of him going to prison for it seems pretty absurd to me.

So yeah, 100 years ago I really don't think it would cause that much of an uproar (people tended to let parents parent as they saw fit).

If you messed your kid up or pissed them off too bad there'd be no one to feed you in your golden years... so there was your payback.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Hmmmm, I'm not sure the so-called father intentionally smacked his daughter in the head.

I'm not saying he is a fine upstanding individual, I feel he should do a little time repairing roads in the summer sun. I'm saying that your solution to the problem is not what I would consider to be the preferred method. An eye for and eye leaves everyone blind.

Then who's going to adjust the focus?

Originally posted by getreadyalready
Ironically, I am not a fan of the death penalty, because I don't think it should be administered by the state, by a stranger, in a clinical setting, 20 years after the fact. I believe in retribution, but not by the state.

How do you know this guy didn't smack his daughter because she smacked someone... (?). Maybe the older daughter was beating the crap out of the younger daughter... "The younger girl suffered bruising, swelling, two black eyes and an inch-long scar to her forehead..." that sounds more like a sustained beating than one hit with a bed slat.

reply to post by Montana


reply to post by SevenBeans


All good points, and I'm not advocating cold-blooded murder here. What I'm saying is that rather than involve police, someone close to the family goes over there and gets to the bottom of this. If the guy is a known abuser for the last 15 years, and if he attacked a helpless young girl with a weapon, then he needs a strong ultimatum that he will believe and remember, and if that doesn't work, he needs to disappear from their lives forever. That disappearance can be voluntary or involuntary, his choice.

Now, hypothetically, if he was defending one girl by attacking the other, or if this was all made up to protect someone else, or if this was a first offense and the situation had just escalated out of control and everyone is sorry and it won't repeat, then a cursory investigation by a someone close to the family will reveal that, and no harm is done by asking a few questions.

The actions I suggested earlier were assuming he has been abusing family members for 15 years, assuming the police have not done anything to correct the situation, and assuming the girls were not guilty of some egregious offense that would justify a board to the head. I think in this case those are all safe assumptions.