When are we going to stop letting monsters like Andrea Yates off?

Question

When are we going to stop letting monsters like Andrea Yates off? If a man did that he'd spend many many years in prison. Laws that only prosecute men are sexist and we shouldn't allow that now..... The vast majority of *serious* child abuse, and worse, is carried out by women; when are we going to put the scum away?

Answer 1

I was so pissed when I saw that in the news! She should be put to death the SAME way her poor kids were!!

Answer 2

I am from Texas. I was releived to see that we corrected our mistake. The true guilty party in the Andrea Yates case was the HMO who took her of her psychotropic drugs to save money.
The jury heard from the nurses who saw her 2 days before she killed her children and testified about her psychotic condition.
The reality of the situation is that you cannot take people of Haladol cold turkey and not expect some kind of psychotic reaction.
HMO's all over the country make decisions to save themselves money at the expense of the patients quality of health care. There are volumes of stories about cancer patients dying over being denied care because an HMO determined they didn't need the Expensive medication.

Previously Nasa had Blue Cross/Blue Shield. When this family lost the insurance provider that covered the treatment she was on they were told they would have to
either pay for it out of their pocket or use the HMO doctors/therapist.
At the original trial it was established the the HMO doctor refused to prescribe Haladol and told her to go home and deal with it.
THAT IS THE TRUE GUILTY PARTY.
Stop despising the person and despise the system that let this happen.
Why???? Because it is inevetible (sp) that this will happen again.
Alot of mental patients are walking the streets without medication and people are killed all the time.
If th HMO didn't want to pay for the expensive drugs, they should have detoxicated her like any other addict.
You cannot stop taking this drug cold turkey.
That is the true story that got lost in the horror of this mother killing her children.
Texans were outraged at a mother doing this. Now hopefully someone will deal with what really happened so this won't happen again.

Answer 3

To think that Andrea Yates is 'getting off easy' because of her insanity plea is far from the truth.

Andrea Yates was found innocent by reason of insanity. This doesn't mean, "You're innocent and free to go." Rather, it means, "You aren't to blame for what happened, your mental illness is. Therefore, you are going to a mental hospital to have this mental illness treated."

The process varies from state to state but the basic proceedure is this. Every so often (half year, year, depending), the doctors and staff of the mental hospital prepare a report for the judge who oversaw the case recommending further treatment or issuing a statement of recovery. The statement of recovery (or whatever it's called in legal speak) is only a recommendation.

The judge then takes into account all the information he/she has been provided about the person's mental health. If the judge doesn't think that the person is safe to release, the person isn't released. In this manner, it's literally possible to be in an institution for the rest of your life.

If you are ever arrested for a heinous crime that doesn't carry life sentence or death penalty, I personally would recommend that you don't plead insanity, because it could become a life sentence.

(I am not a lawyer and therefore this is not meant as legal advice, yadda yadda yadda. I do, however, hold a degree in psychology and this was a topic of discussion a number of times in the courses leading up to that degree.)

Answer 4

Your question is somewhat loaded. Allow me to suggest you are looking at "too big of a picture." You have argued from one case and generalized about the justice system as a whole, as well as advanced an unsupportable premise: a man would have been convicted.

In the context of a single trial, the justice system is not about large societal issues. It is not about "men," "child abuse," or "child killers." It is only about the defendant on trial: Andrea Yates. In addition, only people in the courtroom were privy to all of the evidence; reading every newspaper and listening to every talking guru on TV will not tell you everything that happened. In addition, your own pre-conceived notions demonstrate you would not have been fit to be a juror. While I might disagree with the verdict from afar, I have to respect the collective wisdom of 12 citizens who listened to the evidence about this case and made a decision about this case. If you aren't willing to to do this, then the system will never satisfy you.

Answer 5

Actually, historically, I think you will find that women usually got harsher sentences than men for crimes. Laws don't only prosecute men. You seem rather sexist yourself. And as for insanity as a plea, as long as the law is ambiguous about this people like Andrea and others, men included, are going to "get off".

Answer 6

She is serously mentally ill. Do you have any idea what happens in the mind of a person who is mentally ill? It's a place you never want to go.
The jury foreman stated the reason for their decision was based on the reports of the Harris County jail's psychiatrists who ACTUALLY dealt with her when she was initially brought in, who said YES she was not sane at the time.
The prosecution for the case brought in a psychiatrist from NY who will be paid $200,000 for his professional opinion years after the acts were done.
The jury foreman also stated their findings were Yes, she knew what she did was legally wrong, but her moral justification for killing her children was psychotic.

Source: local TV and http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4073570.html

Keep in mind that it is nearly impossible in Texas and especially in Harris county to walk free on an insanity plea. It is an extreme rarity to even have the jury agree that the person is insane at the time of the event.

The thing about Mrs. Yates is that she thought she would be saving her children from Hell because she thought they would grow up to be damned to Hell for whatever reason. She "reasoned" that it would be best to send them to Heaven now, so that they would not suffer eternal damnation. She really loved her kids very much, but her mind was sickly twisted and she is still being treated for her mental illness, and will probably be treated for a long indefinite time, possibly the rest of her life. If you think life in a mental institution is an easy out, you don't know state run mental hospitals in the state of Texas.

God bless Andrea's children. It was a horrible crime. But the woman was criminally insane. You don't put insane people in jail with the general population.

Wasn't Abraham going to kill his only son, because God asked him to, but God stopped him once Abraham was committed to doing it. No one stopped Andrea. There was never any accusations that she abused her children. There has been lots of home video shown on TV of her being very tender to her children.

She had been treated for mental illness before the murders also, so this was not just an out of the sky, hope we get this woman off defensive play. She has a long history of problems especially after giving births.

Answer 7

I think she should have been drowned just like her babies. I think it is terrible what she did to her kids, and the punishment should fit the crime. The same goes for Susan Smith, they get to live the rest of their lives in prison with a bed to sleep in, and food to eat, even friends. I think life in prison is a slap on the wrist for the women who murdered their kids. I feel if you commit a crime against a child you should be severely punished even if it means a death sentence, that goes for men and women. Our legal system really needs to be much harsher for these criminals. Maybe that would stop them from commiting the crimes in the first place. I mean people that sell drugs 3 times will go up the river for 20 years, in most areas you kill your kid and you just go for life. I say an eye for an eye.

Answer 8

Probably when society stops trying to normalize bad behavior. Every day the courts are replete with shrinks that try to convince a judge that their client is the victum of a mental disorder due to how they were raised etc etc. that made them do horrible things, thus excusing the behavior. You hear not guilty by reason of insanity, I say if a person is that insane to commit such heinous murders they should be imprisoned because they are capable of doing such things. Society needs to be protected from those that cannot control themselves, sane or insane

Answer 9

It is our system in this country to use juries to determine guilt or to determing if a person is sane at the time of the crime. It is not the best system in the world but from what I see it is better than anyone else has.

Answer 10

I agree. The government is not going to start caring until kids pay taxes. The government only seems to care about those that put money into their pockets, and they really don't give a **** then.

Answer 11

When are we going to stop letting out child molesters from prison?