What do you think the punishment should be for the mother who drowned her 5 childen?

Question

I saw this on the news last night. I'm a 22 yr old mother of 3 and I believe that this mother should live up to the terrible thing she did to those 5 innocent children.

Serious answers only please, I don't believe that this is something to joke about and that is what a lot of you seem like you are doing. I don't believe that this is a laughing matter.

My opinion is that she should get the death penalty. If she loved her children at all than she should be in torment every day and night. If she had post partum sycosis or whatever they said than she wouldn't necessarily be "insane" she should still know what she was doing. And a real mother would know that it isn't right. After I had my son in December of 2005 I had post partum depression and I got help!

I'm a mother of 3, a 3rd year medical student and a Christian!

What about the mother? I don't think she should get off. What do you think the kids were going through while they knew the others were getting killed by their own mother. The fear that was going through their heads is something I could never understand. If the father wasn't helping and she couldn't handle it than there is something called adoption. It is a very loving decision and those kids still might be alive today.

One last thing, she knew that what she did was wrong that is why she called 911 right afterwards. She knew that they were dead, and who knows maybe she felt bad for what she had just done. I have heard so much about mother's killing their own children. What is our country coming to? Its awful, and heartbreaking. Just hearing about it made me cry.

An Eye for an Eye! Makes the whole world blind.

I heard that somewhere!

Answer 1

Not knowing all of the conditions (mental, spiritual, or intellectual) It is difficult to answer. However, I do not think she should ever be freed form prison. I do not know if I can justify the death penalty for anyone, as I believe everyone is redeemable.

Answer 2

She should get help for her mental condition WHILE she serves life in prison. She planned what she was going to do before and then called the police afterward. It's hard to say she has no personal responsibility because she KNEW she was ill (hearing voices/demons or whatever) and never said anything to anyone about it. She continued on and killed her kids. She was not judged to be "insane" so it seems to me that if she was getting some sort of "message" from somewhere and thought she was saving her kids by murdering them, she would have warned her husband in advance that she, in fact, was going to kill them. But apparently she didn't warn him - which is indicative that she knew she would be stopped - in turn indicating that she knew that murdering her children is something that would not be acceptable in our society, i.e. wrong/criminal. So in fact, she was SANE, although mentally ill - and did nothing about her condition. She didn't even go to any church (being that they were so religious) to discuss with any clergy member these thoughts/feelings. Additionally, doesn't it take some time and effort to kill 5 kids? Funny how she waited until her husband was out of the house (meaning it was deliberate) and then knew she had to call the police when it was all over (meaning sanity). This makes her responsible for what she did.

Answer 3

Hmm this is another good question...

well think of the mothers perspective.

did she drown them out of joy for killing. in that case she should get the death penalty for sure or prison for life. Or did she drown them out of need, maybe she couldn't support the children and would have to live out on the streets where her children would eventually die of starvationa and suffering.

In both cases what she did is one of the most evil things someone can do but if there is an actually purpose with good intentions then maybe the judge could consider something with a little more laxity. Perhaps 20 years in prison would do it. Anyway this question is one of the most challenging ones ive had to answer all day.

Answer 4

What bothered me the most was that one of her children realized what she was about to do and tried to run from her, yet she caught him and drowned him anyway. Regardless of the defense's mental illness plea, life in prison for Andrea would be too easy as a punishment. The Death Penalty should be the only choice--she didn't give those children a choice at life, so why should she continue to live?

Answer 5

This poor woman will never be free. When she has her lucid moments all she does is remember what she did and cry. Of course her affect was way off when she was first imprisoned, but then she was medicated and started to remember. What could be worse than that. When a person loses it they may know what they are doing, in a watching television kind of way, but they are not really in control until their episode is over. At the time of her actions she thought she was saving her children from the devil. I'm in favor of punishing the creep or creeps who convinced her that this was a possibility! Im not too pleased with the "help" she got from her husband and family when she told them of the troubles she was having. Remember that part of her story? And her duller than dull husband who just thought all she needed was more time??? She is being punished, she will always be punished, and she and her family are all in my prayers.

Answer 6

With all honesty, I'm a mother of two and life has not been easy from any point of view. I might "joke" about stupid comments like knocking them out or putting them through a wall when they do some really stupid stuff (teenagers), but actually doing so, it's unbelievable that someone would actually carry it out. I believe you do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So therefore, if she saw that hurting her own flesh and blood was necessary, then it needs to be done back to her. I know we are not God, but she, and others like her, need to answer for what has happened. There is no excuse to hurt any child in any matter even close or exact to what she did to her own babies. My kids could be 50+ years old, and they're still going to drive my bonkers. It's life. She chose to bring them into the world and take care of them, not destroy their innocence. She not only destroyed them, but all of those who loved them.

Answer 7

she was living in a bus, she was being driven insane by a husband who would not work. I feel sorry for the poor lady in all honesty. I think the idea that she has to live with one of the worst crimes that you could committ is just punishment. She will kill herself every day knowing that she murdered her children. I don't think however that the death penalty is justified in this case. Life without the chance of ever being free again is enough.

Answer 8

Her name was Andrea Yates...Life in prison as she would have to suffer every minute of her life and probably be beat up quite a bit, let her suffer in there for what she did with her kids, I hope they mess her up in there. Them poor little kids!!! a lot of them inmates are going to make her pay for what she did. They do not like a person who hurts kids espically their own mother. Life in prison is what i am rooting for rather than just to be put to death...prison all the way for that woman. She was not crazy, plain and simple...she knew exactly what she was doing and choose to do it. she is to blame and needs to pay big time. I have 2 kids...an 8 year old daughter and an almost 5 month old son and even though it can be diffucult at times, i manage and never thought once of drowing them. she is a sick woman and i hope she rots in hell. The judge, I hope forsees pictures of her kids in her jail cell so she will never ever try to forget what she did, not for a minute. The before and after death pictures. God, I hope she suffers

Answer 9

I don't believe the death penalty would be as effective in this case. Certainly life in prison would be a better punishment. This woman and those like her should spend the rest of their lives behind bars where thay can can be reminded daily of what they've done. Also, child abusers and murderers are NOT popular in prison, and there are no doubt many nasty and unsympathetic persons in a female prison.

Answer 10

As a mother of two I feel that she should come to her death the same way her children did, but that would be too good for her. She need to suffer some kind of way, and death is not suffering, it's actually ending her pain. Staying in prison is too good also because she plead insanity, so she doesn't feel remorse.

Answer 11

Are you talking about Andrea Yates?

Someone on another website had an interesting idea. They said that whenever she saw photographs of her children in court she wept. So the idea would be to stick her in a prison cell for the rest of her life and fill the walls with pictures pre and post-mortem of her children and a VCR playing an endless loop of home movies of her kids.