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I, for one, am in favor of appropriate punishment in this case. The first reason is that Carlee needs to be made to understand the seriousness of her actions here. It is quite clear that she will not have a snowball's chance in hell of learning this unless someone outside her family takes this on. They are incapable at this point. Her punishment should fit her crime, though. That will be determined by someone far more knowledgeable of the laws of the state of Alabama than I.
It should serve two purposes : 1) if there is any chance that she can learn from this and expand her ability to care about others and the consequences our actions cause for others as well as herself, it should be attempted for her sake as well as others. There is a chance that nothing you could do to her would ever help her to make that happen since, as a poster upthread has pointed out that children develop their ability to empathize with others by around age 6. But if there is a chance, you must try. If nothing else, maybe she won't escalate her attention-seeking behavior. If it does not, then 2) You make it a crime to do what she did to deter others from doing the same. You make her an example for all the other attention-seeking, self absorbed people out there who want to try the same shenanigans thinking it would be a fun ride to terrorize an entire community and cause people to agonize over the possibilities of what a kidnap victim might be enduring. You make someone think twice before orchestrating a charade that puts the lives of first-responders, innocent bystanders and searchers at risk. I'm also not forgetting every parent of every murdered and kidnapped young woman out there who lived in agony reliving their own horrific experience because of this girl's selfish and reckless action. Yes, it should have consequences, if not to keep her from repeating it, to deter others from repeating this reckless pattern of behavior.