I would take him in as well; given i had the situation provided. Whether or not the boy killed; whether or not he is a sociopath; for him to be given up on.. what does that say about one's outlook on humanity if we cannot have hope for a child?
Even if the boy is a sociopath; if no one searches for a cure or gives up, then one will never be found. They have evidence in MRI's of the area of the brain that controls impulses (it is very small and not developed in some cases of sociopaths).
We find ways to treat or control cancer, diabetes and other such physical ailments. Why not can the same be said for sociopathy? It is based on physical circumstances and psychiatrists or psychologists may be doctors; yet if they aren't working hand in hand with expert physicians (lack of word too late at night), no progress will be made.
Sorry for the rant.. i just don't think this child should be written off so quickly. Either way the cookie crumbles.
It's bedtime..
I'm going to quote myself here MeoW333 because I think it may interest you:
[ Here is a snip I took from a very interesting nine page article I read recently in the New Yorker about the study of "psychopaths", (not to be confused with "psychos", or "psychotics"), also known as sociopaths or those with antisocial personality disorder, (conduct disorder in kids). This doctor conducted a study of prisoners brains to detect psychopathy. Long study. Very interesting article with examples of some really eerie, frightening people. This snip talks about psychopathy in kids, when it starts, how it can be detected and if it can be treated. The article seems to suggest there is hope for treatment if you catch them young enough:
"Although psychologists dont call minors psychopathsthey are youths with psychopathic traitsthere is considerable evidence that the condition manifests itself at ages earlier than eighteen; in a much cited 2005 paper, Evidence for Substantial Genetic Risk for Psychopathy in Seven-Year-Olds, published in the
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Essi Viding suggests that the condition can be detected in early childhood.
Fledgling psychopaths are particularly interesting to researchers, because their brains are thought to be more malleable than those of adults. In a landmark 2006 study of a specialized talk-therapy treatment program, conducted at a juvenile detention center in Wisconsin, involving a hundred and forty-one young offenders who scored high on the youth version of the checklist, Michael Caldwell, a psychologist at the treatment center and a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, reported that
the youths that were treated were much more likely to stay out of trouble, once they were paroled, than the ones in the control group. In other words, Kiehl told me, psychopathy is treatable after all, if you can catch it young enough. Of course, as he pointed out in an e-mail, even with very violent young offenders we have to accept that the only way to know if the treatment worked or not is to return the youths to the community once they have finished their sentence. . . . Perhaps you put them in a specialized community/monitoring program once they are released again.
Here's the link:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...?currentPage=8
Of course, I suppose none of this will matter to those who think: "It does not matter if he's a kid. He's evil and should never see the light of day again." I understand that feeling. Such a kid is really freaky and scary. But, I think it's good that some are not ready to give up on children yet, if there is a chance to fix them. In any event, as many here have said, I don't know what happened in this case or what the cause of the murders was. I think a child suffering horrible abuse would feel nothing if they killed their abuser so if that's the case, the kid's reaction during interview may not indicate that he is a psychopath. I just don't know. I'll wait and see and withhold judgment until I know a bit more. No matter what, this is a terrible and bizarre tragedy.]
