If you can recall the events from a few weeks ago, the "accused shooter" professed her love for the victim before and even after the shooting. There are sanity issues to be sure, and this is part of the dilemma as the court faces the problem of what to do. What needs to be stated straightforwardly (I think) is that the alleged shooter does still have rights as an American citizen. Whether she is guilty or not, these rights still exist. Specifically, though, what should the court do? Should the court honor her wishes by transferring the teenager to a mental health facility or should she remain in county jail (where she is receiving psychological treatment to some degree)? What are your comments and concerns?
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Obviously the girl is a nut case and needs help. Her mother was never around therefore she probably seeks out the love of a woman which is what made her fall in love with her best friend. I think she is too young to be in jail and needs medical attention. She commited the crime in public during school hours so she wasnt worried about getting caught. Any sane person would of thought of the consequences and tried to commit the crime in a private setting where they could get away with the crime.
ReplyDeleteIm With Tara. This girl is obviously crazy. She has psychological issues. Her Mother Left her and her father is in jail. She is being raised by her grandparents. In my opinion she killed this girl in the public eye because she thinks it is ok to kill. Her father raised her till 2006 and then he was arrested and charged with attempted murder. I feel that after a couple of psychologist evaluate her they will be able to make the right decision on where this girl will go.
ReplyDelete-Daniel Rob Hernandez
Although being left by your mother at a young age can cause subconscious harm and emotional scarring, it does not technically cause insanity. First let's define "insanity". Below I list the ten most common symptoms of insanity...
ReplyDelete1. Previous history of mental illness
2. Previous history of alcohol or drug abuse
3. Aggression
4. Emotional lability
5. Increased energy
6. Elevated mood
7. Suspicious mood
8. Thoughts of conspiracy
9. Hallucination
10. Delusions
It seems like this girl might have one ( maybe two if you consider suspicious mood) of these symptoms. Is this enough to classify her insane?
Seems more to me like she is a child who does not know how to deal with her problems and disappointments.
She is obsessively co-dependent, but then again so are most latino girlfriends. It's not insanity.
Sending her to a hospital is only reducing her punishment to mere medical treatment.
I see no need to send this murderer to anywhere but jail.
I mean, do you know how many children are abandoned on a yearly bases around the world?
Seriously though, if any parentless teenager could just shrug off murder with an insanity plea do you know how many insane convicted murderers would be walking around china?
1 to 3 million, thats how many!!
This girl is a horrible person with issues, yes, but all she needs is a shrink, some Xanax and 25 to life.
Luiza
I think she should be moved to the hospital. The amount of psychological help she will receive in jail is not enough to help her with her problem. She definitely did not have enough attention from her guardians. I think the reason she committed the crime is because she developed relationship with her friend that she probably never had with someone else. This might have caused her to fall in “love” with Amanda. This unreciprocated love turned into anger on her part which, added to her already deteriorated mental state and emotional distress, caused her to completely lose her mind. Sure, she deserves punishment for her crime but it should also be taken into account that coming from where she comes from she doesn’t know how to express what she is feeling. The only way she knew how to express her feeling was, just like she said, showing Amanda what pain was also.
ReplyDeleteTo an extent, I agree with Luiza. This girl is obviously under psychological stress but her actions most definitely deserve punishment. Murder of innocents is unacceptable in the eyes of most citizens and in the eyes of the law. Although I believe that she may require treatment outside of what prison may provide her, I also believe that she does not deserve to have a less strict prison sentence just because she seems "insane". There are numerous examples of children just like her who grow up abandoned and abused but still make themselves acceptable and even successful world citizens (for one example, take Oprah Winfrey). Because of what this girl has done, an entire community has been negatively affected. And for what? A selfish plan to make someone (the victim, Amanda) feel the same way she did? It looks to me as if this girl is going to have a LOT of fighting to do if she wants to be found legally insane.
ReplyDelete- Stephanie Sims
to me, it is quite obvious that this girl needs some help. i dont know when it became possibly 'normal" or 'not too crazy' to shoot your best friend so that they can feel your pain. yes, i believe she should be in jail or what not, but the girl needs help, and i dont think throwing her into a prison cell is really gonna help. as the article said, she was abandoned by her mother at a young age and her father was sent to prison. if she gets put into prison, she'll probably feel like the world is abandoning her instead of actually trying to help her and she may end up doing something worse, be it herself or to others.
ReplyDelete-Camille Gonzalez
I agree with several of the above posts. I think it is quite obvious that the girl is insane, or at least mentally disturbed. I think that the court should grant he request of being moved to a hospital. I am sure that help is being provided for her at the jail, but in my opinion she needs a lot more than is probably being provided. I also think that something of this nature could have been prevented or at least detected. The girls suicidal rendencies were quite obvious (the texting and cutting) and something should have been done to get her help before she went crazy on everyone.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt regarding Teah being a tad bit psychotic, killing her best friend in order to make her feel what she felt. Let's just face it she had a troubled life. Her mother abandoned her, her father was not really someone who you would look up to, so basically what I am saying is that she had no sort of guidance in her life. I am sure there are a lot of kids with troubled childhoods who still manage to make it in their life, but then everyone needs a little bit of support, which I assume she never got. How smart does someone have to be in order to commit suicide? I mean she could've easily just jumped in front of a speeding car on the highway instead of failing at taking her own life and killing her best friend over a boy. This comment might seem a bit harsh but why not just ruin one life instead of two and more? In the end it is very easy for us to decide on her fate as outsiders without no clue on her life and what she had to go through. I do believe she needs medical attention so that she does not end up becoming a burden of the state in the long run and can stand up on her feet and pay for her own life. To keep it short she must be punished one way or another.
ReplyDeleteIf the prosecutor and Wimberly's lawyer both agreed that further psychological testing was needed for Teah, then in my opinion she should be transferred to a mental facility instead of being kept in county jail. The reason for this is that, lets face it in the jail the behavior and psychological state of Wimberly wont be watched as accurately. It probably wont help her mental stability to stay there either. If the judge left the door open for a possibility of a transfer and didn't shut it down when it was presented then that shows the judge shares my point of view in some way or another. The judge just needs more proof. I believe there is proof that the transfer should be made because a teenage just doesn't kill her friend because she was bored. There is obviously some psychological issues that should be treated and they would be treated best at the mental institution. To further prove the point that her case is too severe to be treated din jail is are the suicidal text message and her cutting herself.
ReplyDeleteI believe that every person does deserve their rights as a US citizen but at the same time it is obvious she has some serious problems. No matter what i think she needs psychological help and if the jail is not offering the help she needs to should be transferred. No matter what at least she will not be on the streets. She will still be secured in a facility. I think a teen at 15 knows what is right and wrong and should be in jail but i also agree that if she can get the help they should provide it to her so eventually she can get better then be sentenced to time.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that this article was brought up. Today in sociology we actually discussed the topic of modern crime and it's association with mental illness. My teacher made a point that it's becoming a much more general concensus that most crimes committed have a tie with some sort of mental illness, though this could not be farther from the trouth. Of course, this doesn't keep a growing number of jail sentences from being avoided on the count of "mental illness". The reason why we symbolically place the label of mental illness to the cause of most crime is rooted to a much broader idea in the subject in sociology, but for now let's not get into that.
ReplyDeleteTeah Wimberly is obvioisly sick. If people who dont really have any problems can be let off easy on the count of mental illness, granted that the lawyer knows what he's doing, why can't she? A few years ago a man killed his mother in his sleep. He didn't go to jail. Why should Teah? Before passing this on, it should definitely be noted that the help this young girl needs is not offered in the jail where she is currently situated. Keeping her there isn't helping anyone.
I am very confused on what punishment Teah should receive. There are many things to consider here. Teah is a 15 year-old girl, who committed a murderous act in the middle of a high school. What was she thinking? Right there shows some crazy person symptoms. However, I do completely agree with Luiza. I don’t think this girl is actually insane, she was just frustrated that she couldn’t get what she wanted and resorted to violence. A lot of people have similar family problems like she does but they don’t go killing people to make themselves feel better. Her father, a man who has been arrested for attempted murder, might have possibly taught Teah that using guns on people is ok. That wouldn’t make Teah crazy, it would have just taught her the wrong values, and any normal human being would know that shooting people is wrong. I do agree she needs psychological counseling but she also deserves to be punished severely. Even if the tests show she is mentally insane, I still think a lot of jail time is needed and she can just receive her therapy within the facility. - hannah jazayri
ReplyDeleteAs disturbing as the crime committed was, it seems to be rather obvious that this girl has serious psychological problems. If they were to keep her in the prison, with only limited psychological help, she could be a danger, not only to other, but to herself as well. A psychological institution can act just as well as a prison. They're still just four walls holding her in, only the institution is better equipped to handle her situation and maybe even reform her.
ReplyDeleteWell I think the first thing that needs to be figured out is why she shot the guy in the first place. She obviously has some psycological problems, but then again how many times do murderers use the insanity plea. How long would she stay in prision verses staying in a place where she would get physchological help. For example, if they were to give her 10 years in a prison, or howeverlong it takes for her to finish treatment in a hospital which would she choose. A place where people are afraid to drop the soap, or a hostpital. Overall it's a pretty sketchy situation that has a lot of questions that need to be answered before they can officially sentance her.
ReplyDeleteI think that Teah Wimberly, the shooter, has some psychological problems that go far beyond the treatment she will receive in jail. She was cutting herself and was suffering with problems from not having anyone there for her. Her mother abandoned her at a young age, and her father went to jail for attempted murder in 2006. Her father’s parents were the ones looking after her; they should have noticed that she was suffering from mental problems. She should have been given help before it was too late. Then Wimberly finally found someone that she could call a friend. She probably fell in love with the idea of having someone close to her, but once again she was let down and hurt by the feeling of someone not returning her “love.” This probably caused her to have a mental breakdown and finally made her want the person who made her feel this way, to feel her pain. This is not a sane way of thinking. She had no one there to tell her otherwise. She is an American citizen who also deserves a fair trial just like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I believe that although she is somewhat demented, she knew what she was doing. A cry for attention seems to be at hand. The only reason she is claiming insanity is because she would rather be there than in prison. However, shouldn’t insanity be out of the spur of the moment? She was planning and brought the gun to school. She knew what she was doing. She does not want to be consider an adult or a murderer. This is what is wrong with the system. You get a good actor and you are considered insane. I am not one for harsh punishment but killing someone because she did not have feelings for you is downright wrong. A mental hospital will just treat symptoms that may or may not be there. The boy who stab his best friend in the bathroom 90 something times pleaded the same and still got time.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn Cordoba
Okay, OBVIOUSLY, this girl's got some serious issues. Unfortunately, your experiences growing up can make you or break you, in which case, they've broken her. So, her insanity is not her fault. BUT, she should still be held fully responsible for her actions whether or not she's a loony. If the court has found substantial proof that she needs psychological help, which they have, then, they should do the obvious and send her to a mental institute. This way, they'll be able to keep a closer eye on her for her diagnosis stated. If they've decided after monitoring her that she is in fact insane, then she should stay there until she's emotionally stable. After her recovery, she needs to go to jail, no questions asked. She's still a murderer. Which is ironic because after recovering from insanity, she'll probably become insane again in jail. Unless they still treat her like a mental patient.
ReplyDeleteThis is a sad case because not only was a life lost but another was ruined forever. It’s somewhat hard to come up with a punishment for Teah. After all she has been through, it’s not surprising that something like this would happen. However, this does not mean that she shouldn’t go to jail because she might have psychological problems. Plenty of people in jail have gone through worse and have still been sentenced to spend most of their lives behind bars. Her age is what makes it difficult to decide her punishment. At 15 a child is not completely developed mentally, even though times are changing and it might not seem like this true. I think they should definitely give her jail time but at the same time put her in some kind of program to treat her psychological problems. This girl also needs plenty of therapy to reduce the chances that, if one day she is let out free, that she’ll do this again. This was a case of frustrated love and immaturity brought up by the many problems this girl had, and unfortunately, she wasn’t able to think rationally at the moment and is now going to pay the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for someone like Teah Wimberly. Her mother leaving at an early age and father being sent to jail is not compensation for such a senseless murder. At all. The article states that she was sending alarming text messages a few days before the shooting so it's not like she snapped all of a sudden. She decided to bring a gun TO SCHOOL. It sounds more like she felt as if she had nothing to live for than insanity. But then again, I don't know her. However I would not like to see an individual such as Wimberly integrated with society in any way, ever. As long as she is locked up, I'm satisfied.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the court should honor Teah Wimberly's wishes of being moved to a mental facility. Although the crime itself appears to be an act of insanity, it really isn't. I think Teah knew exactly what she was doing. She fell in love with her "best friend", but because her friend didn't feel the same way, she kills her? She had to know what she was doing, it even seems premeditated by all the messages she was sending. I think she knew someone was going to hurt, either herself, or her friend. It was an act of obsession, and that doesn't mean insanity.
ReplyDeleteSteffi Guba
Pardon my french, but "this bitch is crazy." Any person that would actually kill another person would have done the complete opposite of what Teah Wimberly did. My feelings over convicting a murderer are very straight foward; if you are guilty, you need to do time. In the case of Wimberly and Amanda Collette, it was murder of someone over romantic issues which is doiwn right wrong, no matter what age. So in that regard, I feel that she should remain in jail for life. I do agree, although, that she needs mental help. At her age, she's just starting to develop and mature, and she will not be able to do so if she does not get any treatment, especially in jail. This truly is a sad story and I feel bad for people who involves in the incident.
ReplyDeleteI think it is apparent that this young girl has severe psychological issues. I think that the court should give her the opportunity to undergo testing and if it can be proven that she has issues she should be allowed to transfer to a mental hospital.
ReplyDeleteThough she may be able to get the medical attention she may need at a prison, a prison environment is not conducive to helping her regain her sanity. I think it is important that she be placed in an environment that will serve the purpose of giving her somewhere to spend her time while imprisoned but at the same time a place that will allow her to be psychologically rehabilitated so that she can face the world as a mentally functional citizen when she is finally released.
It’s obvious that the girl has some problems. Her mother wasn’t around for her at all, and she was raised by her father who is now in jail for murder. There is no question that she has some issues to work out, but it’s no excuse to commit murder. I believe anyone who kills another should go to jail. I think that the court should not honor the teenager’s wishes to be transferred to a mental health facility and that she should remain in county jail. She is still receiving some help in the county jail, which is good, but she did commit murder, and for that I believe jail is the right place for her.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the court should honor the girls wishes by transferring her to a mental health facility. I think that being abandoned by her mother at a young age and having her dad in jail for attempted murder could have caused subconscious harm. The amount of professional help she needs could only be given to her in a mental health facility. By moving her to a hospital the court isn’t necessarily setting her free, they are just having her pay for what she did in a different location under medical supervision.
ReplyDeleteI think that something like this could have been prevented. In the article it is mentioned how she had sent suicidal and violent text messages to her friends. Her friends should of done something to help her out or they could have talked to a counselor and have a professional person help her. Instead they did nothing about it and an innocent girl was murdered.
I believe that even if her actions ruined the life of her friend's family, it is obvious that there is a mental problem. i don't think that someone her age can commit a crime like this just for the heck of it, when she called and said that she didn't want to kill her friend, that shows that she was confused and that she didn't know how to react to what she had done. it is amazing how someone with so many problems in her life hadn't been noticed and helped by no one,this girl was living a really hard life and it was just a matter of time until she went completelly out of it.
ReplyDeleteshe did kill the girl, but i dare to say that this wasn't her foult, she needs help, she needs a better life than the life that she would have in jail.
If she is left in jail there should be proof that there is enough psychological help provided as if she were staying at a mental institution. If she goes to a mental institution they have to make sure she is well supervised so a similar incident does not happen again. Wimberly is another example of how lawyers can defend their client by reasoning they are insane. There must be sufficient evidence for either side, in order to avoid rash decisions. The same claim was tried for Michael Hernandez; he was also responsible for a friend's death. In that case he was tried as an adult, so avoiding bias, it is only fair that she receive the same treatment.
ReplyDeleteThis is another case in which forewarnings exist for a possible tragedy. Of course everyone notes the signs they suspected, but only after such incidents occur. Schools should be more willing and able to provide therapy for troubled students. The friends receiving the suicidal messages are also to blame for not having spoken up.
I also agree with the majority of the class in saying that this girl might be an exception to the standard law. Because she is mentally unstable she cannot be held accountable for her actions in the same way that a sane person can. It’s like comparing a driver with 20/20 vision and a driver that is blindfolded. There is simply no comparison. She belongs in an institution!
ReplyDelete-Yvette Jordan
Any 15 year old that commits a crime to the extent of murder is defiantly mentally unstable. i think that she should be allowed to transfer if the doctors, after evaluating her, find an institution more suitable for her. she should be evaluated by multiple psychologists to ensure that shes not lying to take the "easy way out", jails tough- an mental facility looks like heaven for anyone in jail.If she is loony then by all means transfer. but i dont agree ith the above mentioned comment that she cannot be held accountable for her actions. everyone is to be held accountable for their actions. she did the crime, no one put a gun to her head and said to kill her friend, she did it on her own free will and should serve time for it.the insanity plea is loop hole in the system that has to be monitored closely. some slip through an did hope she doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI think we can all agree that this girl has some issues. Is she INSANE, however? That is up for debate. I believe the term insane is one of those words that become such a staple in everyday dialogue that its true meaning is somewhat forgotten. We all know what insane means, but what I'm trying to say is that the term is mostly used sarcastically which makes the word lose efficiency. If she was ACTUALLY INSANE, wouldn't anyone have noticed? Did she ever behave in a way that would lead people to believe she was mentally deranged? If the answer is no, then she should receive her treatment in jail.
ReplyDeleteI think that she is a way is mentally deranged. Meanwhile sometimes people do fake the entire psychotic scheme in order to not have to serve jail time, this girl seems young and highly unstable. Her past proves rocky and her future proved uncertain. Rather than asking should we put her in a mental institution, we should be asking why was there no one to help this fifteen year old when she needed help. On top of that, why did her friends not confess to her suicidal text messages.
ReplyDeleteI think it's insane that people are getting away with murder. I thin the court should keep her where she is. She can receive treatment incarcerated perfectly fine. Maybe being locked up will smack her out of it. An article that I found relating to this was a canadian beheading that occured on a bus. I cannot believe this man has been found not guilty by means of insanity. How can going n a rampage and beheadng people be a mere slight effect of insanity. These people should be locked up until they are seen fit to be entered back into our world.
ReplyDeletehttp://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090305/national/crime_bus_beheading
I think it's insane that people are getting away with murder. I thin the court should keep her where she is. She can receive treatment incarcerated perfectly fine. Maybe being locked up will smack her out of it. An article that I found relating to this was a canadian beheading that occured on a bus. I cannot believe this man has been found not guilty by means of insanity. How can going n a rampage and beheadng people be a mere slight effect of insanity. These people should be locked up until they are seen fit to be entered back into our world. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090305/national/crime_bus_beheading
ReplyDeleteI thought I had replied to this already but apparently it never went through. Anyways, here's my "two cents" again:
ReplyDeleteThe girl obviously has psychological problems. She cut herself the night before the incident, and after sent out suicidal messages to her friends from her cell phone. When she called 9-1-1, she said: "I didn't want to kill her. I just wanted to make her feel the pain that she gave me." These are clearly not the actions of a sane person.
Now, I don't know how much mental treatment prisoners receive in jail. When it comes to the insanity defense, she has clearly not shown that she was insane (at least to the judge), but at the same time she hasn't shown that she was acting of sound mind (since the judge has not ruled out the possibility of such a ruling with the results of future psychological examinations).
Regardless of whether or not she manages to plead insanity, pending psychological reviews, her case might contain mitigating factors that could reduce her sentence at a worse-case scenario for the girl. Personally, I feel like if you committed unlawful murder without proper cause that you should be locked up or put to death (depending on the circumstances of the crime) for what you did. Like with every case, however, the criminal has rights, and questioning those rights would be questioning the legal system as a whole which could lead to an endless debate of which I don't want to get involved in.
After reviewing some of the statements made by the "accused shooter", there is no doubt in my mind that her sanity is at question. In addition, certain details in the article, such as the absence of her mother, along with her father being convicted of attempted murder, sheds light to a disturbed upbringing. I think it's more than feasible that combination of these two tramatic events rendered her ill-equipped to accept and channel rejection. However, the transition from possible childhood induced emotional stability, to murdering your best friend is one I have trouble understanding. This is a connection I have difficulty making regardless of the supposed "mental state." First of all, I think you can safely assume that ANYONE who commits murder is a mentally maladjusted to some degree. Thus, it becomes essential to examine the tenets specifically regarding "insanity." The most common definition of insanity in criminal cases describes the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Also considered is the "irresistable impulse", which involves the recognition of right versus wrong, but the inability to control actions because of a mental illness. My question is, how can someone's moral conscience and impulse be analyzed and determined as present; my inquiry is more directed at those individuals who are not flamboyantly delusional. There just seems to be a great deal of ambiguity in such seemingly subjective assessment. Then again, I do not have an extensive background in psychology. The one thing I can assert is that her age should not be the lone factor in determining this awareness. If it is considered, it should implicate her as cognizant. I believe that by age 15 we are aware of the consequences of our actions, as well as the severity of taking a life.
ReplyDeleteSlightly unrelated from the topic is a question that arose when I began answering the initial prompt. What exactly is the goal of providing convicted criminals with psychiatric treatment? When I say goal, I don't mean value, as in questioning whether they have a right to receive treatment, or whether it is effective. I just would like to know what is usually the projected end result. Is treatment pursued until "sanity" is established? Does assimilation back into normal society ensue this regained "sanity"? Now that is a scary thought...
The shooting at Dillard high school has questioned me that we are not even safe on school grounds. It is very frightening to see your child killed at school. You expected that place to be safe but i do not think so. Is this the place that we assume our child can be safe at really safe? I have to think about that everyday when i go to school. anything could be possible when entering on school grounds. Even though we have security, they suck at their job. All they do is kill time. Those are not the type of things we want that to happen to schools. do we really wan thtis in a normal society? It's a scary thought
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe language and speech is the means by which you translate your thoughts into tangible objects that can be received. While I do not believe that you should be defined by the capacity to do so effectively or eloquently, I do believe that how you express your thoughts ultimately determines others' perception of you. The manner in which you communicate dicates the impression you leave on your audience, even in an informal setting. Any and every interaction, whether it be in a classroom or through a casual email, is an opportunity to express yourself. Thus, I believe that all of these realms help influence and develop different modes of communication, each of which are equally important. In terms of a "window of opportunity" to progress your communicative skills, I fine that there is some merit to that concept. Especially, considering the fact that children have an easier time learning new languages compared to adults, it is more than likely that there exists a "window of opportunity" in which one is more receptive to building a linguistic basis. Likewise, as you get older and the "window" becomes more narrow, it is quite probable that the process of language acquisition becomes more cumbersome if a foundation has not been established.
ReplyDeleteIt takes someone to be mentally insane in some way for them to commit a murder. This murderer needs both psychiatric treatment and severe punishment. Without knowning that she did something extremely wrong, it would be known to her that her only punishment will be help mentally. Although she is only 15 years old, and has a father with a past of being a murderer, there really is no excuse for her to do that and ruin someone elses family. But you also have to think because most people try to play the 'crazy card' just to try and get out of severe punishment.
ReplyDelete