"Hospitals should not release people into society after 11 days who are dangerous. We need more community resources, especially in rural areas, that can monitor and supervise kids who are disturbed. Weekly therapy sessions with competent therapists and someone to monitor medication would be helpful.
"Law enforcement should watch those kids on probation and make sure they meet their curfews, and stay involved until probation is over - not just let the kid off the hook. Operation Ceasefire in Boston targeted those kids who were troublemakers and made sure they were at home after curfew and took them into juvenile detention immediately after committing any violation of probation, and violence was greatly reduced."
These six kids are like kids in your community, kids who may be friends with your kids, kids who may be your kids. Can any of us afford to pass the responsibility down the line, or should each of us decide to make a difference?
I will be conducting a follow up interview with Dr. Smith - if you would like to contribute questions, please email them to me at dmdo1016@aol.com.
For more information please check out Dr. Helen Smith’s website. You can order the documentary Six here.
We can all take part in making our world safer from violence.
Additional internet resources:
The Unthinkable: Children Who Kill
The National Mental Health Association
Get Real About Violence - Parents/Troubled Kids: What are the warning signs?
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - cavalier
I am most impressed with you and with this article, Miss Dawn. I volunteer for an anti-school-violence organization (www.ribbonofpromise.org) and just wrote an article for the publication I edit in Washington DC about school violence. And today, in Red Lion, Pa., a child shot his school principal and shot himself. We need to reach these kids before their inner rage makes national headlines. Congratulations on an article well done!!!
2 - Eric Olsen
I agree that this is an exceptional article and interview, taking a very hard look at a problem that won't go away of its own accord. The film is excellent as well.
3 - Dawn
Well I have to thank Eric for helping me and Dr. Smith for being such a interesting and dedicated individual, this is her passion, and a passion that needs to taken seriously.
Like you said Cavalier, it's not going to stop until we decide to do something concrete about it.
Thanks for the kind words. I would be interested in your thoughts about what could be done to curb these types of crimes in the future.
4 - lisha
TargetWoman is a directory dedicated for Women with well researched articles of lasting value and a handpicked selection of websites targeted at Women.
5 - Marlene
Thank you so very much for the wonderful article.Finally someone is telling the truth.I am in full agreement with all you are saying.It has become a very sad world with so much violence and absolutely no consequence for any wrong doing.I am from Manitoba Canada and in our city of Winnipeg it has become a very dangerous place.So very sad.
I just wanted you to know that I will pass this article along to all my friends.
Keep up the wonderful work you are doing.
Sincerely
Marlene
6 - Bennett Dawson
Wonderful post. It's not fun to read about the failure of society to help our disturbed children, but it is very important to read about it, and to reach out whenever possible. You did a fantastic job of presenting this painful subject, thank you so very much.
Bennett
7 - Dawn
Thanks Bennett, it's been a while since I have read this and it brought back the disturbing images created while watching the documentary. The fact that a few wayward, troubled teens could viciously kill people, especially a child, continues to make me wonder what kind of world we live in.
8 - Judy
I don't know why you said, Karen mother made her stand on the BIBLE for hrs.That isn't true. If she wasn't a good christian woman she would sue you.
9 - Selena
You know I am in such disbelief about all the crap about how the corrupt system was responsible for these violent teenagers. I knew each of them personally, I have also been through not only sexual abuse, I am bipolar, and a recovering drug addict. I haved neither killed anyone, or plan to do anyone harm. As a matter of fact shortly after I graduated high school I joined the untied states marine corps. I think along with Dr. Helen Smith and these sick individuals, that they are all looking for someone other than theirsevles to blame.
10 - Tyler
I think you missed the point if you think Helen Smith is blaming society for those kids problems. She was saying many of people share the responsibilty of the murders. Of course when it comes down to it, it was the kids who pulled the trigger and in turn puts a majority of that responsibility on them, but I bet that drugs, abuse, mental illness, rejection, authoritative leniency ect. didn't go very far in convincing them that "hey, maybe this is a bad idea."
11 - Selena
In retalliation to your comment, I don't think you understand my personal point of view about Dr Smith nor the sick people that committed murder in Tennesse. As far as authoritative leniency, the principal at the school Natasha went to didn't overlook her or not help her he simply stated that if you are to dress that way then you are going to get negative attention from society. Basically society didn't except these poor rejects. Boo HOO! As I said in my prior comment, I knew each of them personally, and I have also faced very tough obsticals in my life, including choking Karen, because they were all going to gang up and beat me with a ball bat! Drugs, mental, and sexual abuse didn't have anything to do with it, neither did society, after all wasnt' Dennis Radar, the notorious BTK killer supposedly from a good home, what would his excuse be? I know each of them personally and I hope they all rot for what they did to that helpless family!
12 - Sean
As someone raised in non-American countries, where most types of guns have been bought back from owners and crushed, where there is easy and universal access to medical care for anyone - no expensive insurance required, no limits on medical aid and getting appropriate care, where schools do not moralistically reject people in that fashion, where an understanding tolerance is practised, where the concept of 'devil worship' is laughable in a broadly secular society, I think that the nature of society really does have something to do with it in a compounding fashion. Especially when the babysitters of these unstable kids have probably been violent Hollywood fare in films and television, another product of American society. In this country, kids wouldn't have a chance of getting easy access to guns at all. They would get appropriate medical care and treatment and monitoring. Even though the system is far from perfect, this sort of event would generally not happen elsewhere in the Western world outside of America. You should compare and contrast with other OECD countries and look for differences. The constant social rejection and American media imagery could easily feed into a romanticised world of nihilism, coupled with easy access to guns. Hilary Clinton tried to reform health care in your country, and Republican business interests in Congress shouted every change down. (And now it appears the Republicans have worked out how to rig every election.) '2nd amendment rights' gun nuts and fetishists and allied Republican voting bloc interests will continue to make sure America remains a very unsafe, volatile place where extreme violence can occur randomly and without warning. *Appropriate* forms of social control and intervention appear to be completely lacking, swinging instead between harmful economic rationalism, Christian fundamentalism, hypocrisy and intolerance and institutional laissez-faireism.
13 - sara
Uh, Sean, I have absolutely no idea what you are saying nor what point your trying to make, I don't need a bunch of 10 dollar words spoken to make yourself look more intelligent. Anywayz if you didn't grow up in America and you have such a problem with it now, why are you here? And please don't speak outloud about my president or my Republican party over the internet. Politics and religion, in America there is no right or wrong, only a matter of opinion.
14 - RampageKiller
This is especially for 'Selena':
You say you knew each of the killers personally, and you also claim that you 'choked' Karen Howell because they were 'going to gang up on you and beat you with a ball bat.' Somehow you neglected to mention WHY they were going to beat you up, but I can easily guess why. You're most likely one of the taunting, bullying bitches partly responsible for helping to create people like Natasha Cornett, and you probably deserved a ballbat to the head. Be glad it was that family those children ran into that night instead of you, or there would be one less dumb bitch in the world. You sit there and say society and upbringing have literally nothing to do with how people turn out..are you retarded? You must be, because that's the most stupid thing on this entire webpage I've read. You may hope they rot in prison, but I hope you die in a fiery car crash. Now everyone is happy!
15 - Selena
solely for my number one fan that scary Rampage Killer!! RAMPAGE KILLER!!!! OHH, gives me chills, really!! However simpleton, you are ready posts, you weren't in the situation, nor did you know any of these delightful people. Opinions are indeed not facts, please for the sake of social security!! Get a JOB and pay some taxes, then maybe you will have less time to remark on something you know absolutely nothing about and actually do something with all that time on your hands!! LOL
Bye the way is that the name on your Masters degree?
16 - Tyler
That was...uncalled for RampageKiller. If you don't have something intelligent to say then please do the world a favor and do not post. It would be one less troll for us to deal with.
"Basically society didn't except these poor rejects. Boo HOO!"
But that's exactly a factor to what provoked them to kill that family. The mentality is if society rejects them and ignores their cries for acceptence, then what reasons do they have to adhere to societies laws? They withdrawal into their own little worlds of drug and physical abuse and began to grow numb to any sense of reality or moral. And when they hit the cross roads of deciding the fate of the Lillelid family, they have given themselves little reason as to why what they are doing is horrible. I can't pretend to know what exactly life has given you Selena nor do I know those kids personally(nor wish to), however I must say that your views come with a strong personal bias against those kids. You come off as someone who disliked them before the murders and are happy that they are in jail due to your animosity of them rather then what they actually did.
Again, I'm not placing the blame only on the type of life they had or on society or anything but them. I'm just saying that it's not at all a difficult concept to say that all the personal problems they had that was caused from outside influence or otherwise, had a negative effect on their judgement capabilities.
17 - SheBytes
"Uh, Sean, I have absolutely no idea what you are saying nor what point your trying to make, I don't need a bunch of 10 dollar words spoken to make yourself look more intelligent. Anywayz if you didn't grow up in America and you have such a problem with it now, why are you here? And please don't speak outloud about my president or my Republican party over the internet. Politics and religion, in America there is no right or wrong, only a matter of opinion"
Sara, if you have no idea what Sean is saying--I think he made his point. Grow up. Get a dictionary. Don't tell others not to have opinions (after all this is exactly what America is supposed to be all about). And of course there is right and wrong in politics, religion and anything else. e.g., war, etc. You are the one who needs to educate yourself re: this great country and its ideals and its words before you go spouting off your ignorant rants, ok? Please!
18 - Selena
Look, I guess I didn't put enough information behind my comment with these people. To sum it up, I didnt get along with only a few of the kids. They indeed started a lot of trouble for me. However, I was not only great friends with Joesph Risner, but also Crystal Sturgill, I Dean Mullins. I have pictures from high school of Joe and I smoking marijuana with his parents. I also warded off bullies that picked on Crystal for the behavior she portrayed. As for Natasha, she clearly was a trouble maker and thought that she could get away with it. She wanted people to say, oh my god look at her, she strived for that attention. Joe, Crystal, nor Dean ever dressed goth before Natasha came to our High School. And they did indeed have friends. Natasha and Karen themselves chose to be outkasts. I don't think they knew what they were doing in the Colley motel, I think they tried, but they didn't exactly know how to do an occult ritual. I also read in a paper the other day that some girl was "trying to kill Natasha" in Prison. All I'm saying is if you strive for attention, positive, or negative you are going to get it, no matter the costs. And as far as them blaming society, or other people, they are the only ones to blame, they done it and now they are paying for it. I was bullied in Grade school myself, and my background is very similar to those of the Lillelid murders and I haven't chosen this path, no one has chosen it for me. they did it and yes, they should pay. It takes a very cruel person to kill someone in cold blood, especially a child. And yes, as a matter of fact I do know about this first hand, my husband has been in the army for 17 years and he is in Iraq for his third deployment there, he could tell you somethings about having to shoot someone and not knowing the consequences.
19 - ss
I think part of the problem here is the argument over 'who is to blame'.
When Dr. Smith talks about the failures to identify, help, and if need be, institutionalize kids showing obvious warning signs, she isn't absolving the kids of blame for the murders that already happened, she doesn't have the legal power to do that.
She's pointing out what could be done so it doesn't happen again.
20 - tinyme
Uh, Sean, I have absolutely no idea what you are saying nor what point your trying to make, I don't need a bunch of 10 dollar words spoken to make yourself look more intelligent. Anywayz if you didn't grow up in America and you have such a problem with it now, why are you here? And please don't speak outloud about my president or my Republican party over the internet. Politics and religion, in America there is no right or wrong, only a matter of opinion"
I completely agree with shebytes. Sara the only person here who is speaking 10 dollar words is you. By the way there is a difference between right and wrong and from the looks of it you don't know much of it because you don't know when to keep your mouth shut and all that is flowing from your mouth is ignorance. So i'll repeat it again like shebytes said grow up and get a dictionary.
21 - Roman
SELENA- Since you knew these people I will address this to you. I work with troubled youths and meet many who pose and posture in the same manner that these people did. "I'm a Satanist!" "I am the Devil's spawn!" ad infinitum. They dress and act differently and always claim they do it because they "Don't give a F**k what people think". I usually put it under the "Is everybody WATCHING me not give a F**k?!" category. Whatever. The point is that they usually grow out of it if they can avoid falling under the influence of a good sociopath(Jason)or charismatic borderline personality disorder(Natasha). Unfortunately it happened in this case.
My question to you is do you really feel that they ALL had murder running through their veins? Were they ALL evil, like a mini-Manson Family? Or did a few of them just get mixed in with a bad apple or two and freeze up when things went over the edge? I mean, weren't you just a little bit shocked? Take Karen Howell for example. If she told you that she had no idea that there would be murder, never wanted anyone killed and genuinely felt horrible that it happened, would you believe her? Divorce yourself from your personal feelings for a second here. Do you think that she and Crystal were happy watching that child screaming over her dead mother's body just before getting a bullet slammed into her brain? I really want to know your point of view.
22 - KellyB
I have to agree that society had a lot to do with the way this all played out. Since reading this my husband feels that he could have done more for Jason. When he was 15 he saw 11 year old Jason being sexually abused be a family member, when he tried to tell someone he was told he was wrong and to never say that again. He wishes that he did tell someone else. A lot of people could have stopped this years before it even started. Their is always little or big things that can shape a way a person turns out!! That is way hind sight is always 20/20.
23 - ROMAN
Guess I'm not getting an answer to my Nov. 30 post. Bummer
24 - Gurt
re: Sean. sean comes across as a typical leftist reacting against American traditions & rights.
personal responsibility is the bottom line blame for what these teenagers did. many could have done more to prevent this tragedy. i feel that ultimately the final blame falls to those who pulled the trigger.
sean's mention of Christianity is demonic propaganda. if everyone who had influence with these kids would have treated them decently, respectfully, with compassion, & with an eye to treating them as they themselves would want to be treated. then these kids may have seen the possibility of hope. doing so would have been basic Christianity 101.
as for hilary's socialized medicine. it was just that. socialism not reform. socialized medical care works so poorly in canada that canadian citizens are crossing into the US to get care faster.
the whole 2nd amendment thing is more leftist socialist propaganda. if this family had been armed with knowledge & a weapon. ie wise as serpents but innocent as doves. they may have had a fighting chance against this murderous aggression. Americans repel criminal actions everyday through lawful use of firearms & their 2nd amendment rights. disarming the law abiding & thus enabling criminals is "nuts".
still want to believe that access to firearms is a problem ?? if these kids hadn't had access to an automobile, they likely would have never met this family. we should ban automobiles ? thought not.
25 - paulee
if you take another life - real simple - you should lose YOURS. PERIOD. End of subject. If everyone KNEW AHEAD OF TIME that if they killed someone THEY WOULD BE KILLED...guess what? -- THEY'D THINK TWICE.