Posted on 08/28/2006 11:41:03 AM PDT by kenn5
The parents of 17-year-old Liam Ashley, who was beaten to death en route to prison, say they were the ones who charged him with theft.
Ashley was found badly beaten in the back of a Chubb Security van on Thursday night. Although he was revived by paramedics at the scene, he died on Friday.
Ashley's family say his parents wanted to teach him a lesson about the consequences of breaking the law. He had taken his mother's car without permission so they had him charged him with theft.
On Thursday Ashley appeared at the North Shore District Court. The judge offered him bail but his parents chose to send him to prison as a deterrent.
But on the trip to Auckland Central Remand prison, he was believed to have been strangled and assaulted by two others in the van.
Ashley's family have issued a statement listing 10 questions they want answered, such as why was a 17-year-old with no history of serious crime or violence was transported unattended with more serious offenders?
Head of Public Prisons Harry Hawthorne says that "best practice would be that young prisoners should be separated from older prisoners. That may not always be possible."
Chubb Security says it is investigating the incident but will not comment further.
Police, the Department of Corrections and Chubb Security are all running separate investigations but no arrests have yet been made.
Just a thought.
He took his PARENT'S car without permission. For pete's sake, what teenager hasn't done that once or twice? Does that make it right? No, but you don't send your child to prison over something like that. You ground them, tell them they can't go to the prom, etc. In other words, you deal with it yourself and don't use the "nanny state" by sending them to jail on our tax dollars.
So what if the kid was a screw-up? It stills seems ridiculous to send your child to jail over using the car without permission. It seems quite liberal to me to rely on the government to punish your child by sending them to prison.
"In other words, you deal with it yourself and don't use the "nanny state" by sending them to jail on our tax dollars."
Exactly!
Pot, meet kettle. (MrEdd)
That's an awefully broad brush you're painting with there...
"That's an awefully broad brush you're painting with there.."
I quoted the people I was refering to.
That was totally uncalled for. No reason to bring a flame war to this thread.
"Jail is not a joke and it is not a game and it is not a place to send kids to "teach them a lesson".
Agreed, agreed, agreed.
I know.
And that is not just morally wrong; it's bad policy.
If I know that being sent to jail is a rape/death/slavery/maiming sentence, then the normal things that any human being is entitled to do to escape rape/death/slavery and maiming (i.e: to KILL the person trying to rape, kill, enslave or maim him) becomes morally justifiable.
That's a fatal flaw with having a prison system based on torture perpetrated by other prisoners. If the guards don't stop it, those tortures are really being perpetrated by the state itself, as a result of its (intentional) policy choices.
I think yours is the worst post I have ever read on FR. Your comments are disgusting.
I agree. The parents should have known better than to trust their son to the police or to the legal system. As I get older, more and more do I distrust the motives of law enforcement. When I was a kid, I believed the police to be honest and true and to be trusted completely. As I've grown older, I've seen so much that contradicts that childhood faith that I can never again give them the benefit of the doubt.
Duh. I see you have no experience with the penal system. Controlling them is not the point. There are even special prisons for prisoners who kill other prisoners. I guess you can't grasp the full meaning of imprisonment till you have seen it up close. The justice system is not a babysitter to get your kid under control.
Taking mom's car on a joy ride = death penalty. Sound reasonable to you?
His parents made a wrong decision, no doubt, but they aren't the main reason for his death.
He was put in with a caged animal by Law Enforcement. They are the guys closest to the murder who could have prevented, or at least stopped it.
The animal who killed him should be executed (What society that considers itself civilized would allow him to remain alive?), and the LE responsible for placing the kid in that lfe threatening situation should be prosecuted for negligent homocide.
Your analogy would be almost as silly as if parents threw their kid into a zoo cage with a lion. When the lion eats the kid you'd be able to chime in and point out that the lion actually ate the kid, not the parents. I think the point you are missing is that there are certain realities to face in the world. Sending a 17 year old to jail can be a risky proposition. I'm sure in your perfect world in a vacuum this doesn't make much sense.
But you forget...it would be the alligator's fault, not the parents.
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