GUILTY CO - Charles, 50, & Marilyn Long, 51, murdered, Burlington, 1 March 2011

[Soulmagent]

BBM

I would disagree with you there. Most children want to please their parents. ALL children should be raised to please their parents to some extent and it's a basic need of children to want to or they'd never learn anything! I would bet in this family it's actually a very important part of the family dynamic. It's a biblical teaching they take very seriously. Servants heart, obeying and respecting others is HUGE.

I can tell you without a doubt many children ARE polite ALL the time. Unfortunately, mine isn't, but I will say, outside of my home he is ALWAYS polite and respectful. But IMO it is in the way children are raised, how high the parents set the bar, and what parents are willing to put up with.

The younger the child the bigger the desire to please the parent with the strongest desire being at age 3. Pleasing other adults besides the parents is somewhat on a per kid per person bases. I certainly want my kid respectful but I do not want them out there trying to please every adult they meet. I stated in my post he may have been conditioned to please adults ,if the means was family dynamic or biblical teaching it is still conditioning.IMO

I have yet to met a child that I was arround often that is polite all of the time. Mine are polite mostly but not all the time. Respectful yes. Being rude is normal for children,and it has different stages of development. As does the trying to please the parents. IMO the bar being set high isnt going to override that childs maturity or developmental stages. IMO

 

[peeples]

3 of my 5 children are pleasers. Polite 99% of the time would do anything for a friend or their siblings. My other 2... HMMMM not so much. They mostly don't give a hoot have an extremely hard time following rules, talk back more than they don't and I so far have not found a reward or a discipline system that works for them. They scoff at an allowance, if i threaten to take a toy away (and i always follow through) they throw it out the door and say here take it, I DON"T CARE then proceed to hand me pretty much everything they own with no reaction....
All of my children have been raised the same way. i think a lot of it has to do with personality.

 

[belimom]

3 of my 5 children are pleasers. Polite 99% of the time would do anything for a friend or their siblings. My other 2... HMMMM not so much. They mostly don't give a hoot have an extremely hard time following rules, talk back more than they don't and I so far have not found a reward or a discipline system that works for them. They scoff at an allowance, if i threaten to take a toy away (and i always follow through) they throw it out the door and say here take it, I DON"T CARE then proceed to hand me pretty much everything they own with no reaction....
All of my children have been raised the same way. i think a lot of it has to do with personality.

I agree, peeps. I have two but they are vastly different... You just described each of my two to a tee.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

3 of my 5 children are pleasers. Polite 99% of the time would do anything for a friend or their siblings. My other 2... HMMMM not so much. They mostly don't give a hoot have an extremely hard time following rules, talk back more than they don't and I so far have not found a reward or a discipline system that works for them. They scoff at an allowance, if i threaten to take a toy away (and i always follow through) they throw it out the door and say here take it, I DON"T CARE then proceed to hand me pretty much everything they own with no reaction....
All of my children have been raised the same way. i think a lot of it has to do with personality.

I do agree with you to an extent.

In THIS case I most certainly do think it is due to the individual personality of this child. This case has nothing to do with abuse, imo, and everything to do with the mindset of this particular child, imo.

It really is mystifying sometimes how one or two can be so totally different than the others but I have seen it happen and sometimes because they are so different they become estranged from their families when they are grown.

imo

 

[maima]

Just a quick update on this case:

"Burlington boy who killed parents will not face adult court"

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18763779

 

[SunnieRN]

Just a quick update on this case:

"Burlington boy who killed parents will not face adult court"

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18763779

*snip*
BURLINGTON — A 12-year-old boy accused of killing his parents and gravely wounding two siblings will spend seven years in juvenile detention, but will avoid adult charges in the case.

The announcement was made during a news conference this morning by 13th District Attorney Bob Watson and Daniel King, the chief trial deputy for the Colorado Public Defender's Office.

"There has to be some type of middle ground in this case," Watson said. "In making this decision I told my office I would not make the deal until I have all the information. "

At the same time, Watson acknowledged that a majority of the boy's family wanted to see him face adult sanctions, including the possibility of life in prison.

In considering a transfer to adult court, Watson was required to consider several factors including the seriousness of the crime, the mental health and maturity level of the juvenile the best interest of the juvenile and the safety of the community.

The boy, who was 12 years old at the time of the crime, is being held on a juvenile-delinquency petition alleging two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and three counts of first-degree assault.

On March 1, Charles Long, 50 and his wife Marilyn, 51, were found shot to death inside their Burlington home. The two youngest children, Ethan and Sarah, were stabbed and assaulted with a knife.

The boy, whose name is being withheld by The Denver Post because he is being treated as a juvenile, was taken into custody that night and transferred to juvenile detention the next day.

The two younger siblings have since recovered from their injuries and are living with their uncle in Missouri.

The boy's disposition hearing is set for Sept. 28.

Charles Long's sister Deborah Long is among those family members unhappy with the decision.

"He killed my brother and he should spend the rest of his life in prison," Long said.

 

[SunnieRN]

This means this boy will be out of confinement at 19. I am not sure that I agree with this sentence. He killed his parents and attempted to kill his younger brother and sister.

What will happen to him during his 7 years in a juvenile detention facility? Nothing good I am afraid. What will his experiences here, lead him to do in the future. What kind of anger will be inside him when he is let out, into society?

I have no idea what the answer should be, but am fearful that when he is free, there will be other people harmed by this young man.

 

[Lovejac]

I am fearful of him being released......ever.

I'm scared for the safety of his siblings.

We will hear about him again, on one of these threads, no doubt in my mind.

 

[joe jones]

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2011...hot?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

sentenced today

 

[Trino]

So, now a legal defense for murder is immaturity?

Court documents allege the boy also stabbed and shot his 9-year-old brother and injured his 5-year-old sister with a knife. Both recovered from their wounds.

Seven years for killing your parents, shooting your younger brother and stabbing your 5 yr old sister?

 

[Soulmagent]

If they thought this boy would ever be a threat to the public again ,they would not have missed the chance to lock him away for longer. IMO.

I still think their are many issues within the family that might have lead to this. I notice none of the local relatives retained the children . They went to an uncle in MO. Didnt they have adult siblings?

 

[Celeste]

Hi! Veteran lurker here. I just wanted to share this link, which is virtually identical to a link provided above, except for a few interesting sentences at the end, which are in bold.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/28/colorado-boy-pleads-guilty-to-killing-parents/

*snip*
In court, the boy stood about 5 feet tall and appeared slight in his teal prison uniform. He declined a chance to speak and cried as a defense lawyer read a statement from his maternal grandmother, Dolores Richardson.
She noted that he was a helpful boy and hinted that the slayings had resulted from "helplessness, a cry for help for a situation, that (he) felt he had no control over."
After the hearing, Wally Long and the boy's 25-year-old brother said they didn't know to what she was referring. "He's dead to me," the brother said.
Before the sentencing, public defender Tom Ward said in court that the boy had made progress while in juvenile detention. He grew two inches, gained 16 pounds, and formed relationships with attorneys, staff and other juveniles, Ward said.
Ward also said the boy has shown "incredible remorse" for the crimes.
"Life in prison is not the proper place for a 12-year-old boy, especially this one," he added.


My own opinion is that this kid is probably not like the rest of us, kwim, and needs to be kept far, far away from society and his younger siblings in particular. But I have to admit that when I read the grandma's comments and learned that they moved him to tears, my heart softened for him. Maybe he really was being abused? Perhaps this is finally a true case of temporary insanity?
Ugh. I dunno. Maybe he is a total psycho and I'm just a lot easier to sucker than I thought.

 

[Celeste]

If they thought this boy would ever be a threat to the public again ,they would not have missed the chance to lock him away for longer. IMO.

I still think their are many issues within the family that might have lead to this. I notice none of the local relatives retained the children . They went to an uncle in MO. Didnt they have adult siblings?

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17578882?source=pkg

According to this article, the adult children were very involved in caring for the youngest two while they were hospitalized. The oldest sibling is 25 and has two kids of his own, IIRC. So maybe they are not in a position to take in two traumatized babies. Not sure if they had any other family in town. Also, it's possible that the family thought it would be best to provide the little ones with a new environment after having gone through such a horrific ordeal.