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[kaijyuu]

He's too young to be fully responsible for his actions, really (an abusive upbringing which taught him it was ok to kill doesn't help).  What he needs is serious psychological help.

This I will agree with fully. 'Cause damn.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

My questions are:

Did he have any other recourse available to him, and if so, why didn't he take them?

Victim blaming, are we?

I don't know extensively about this case since it isn't described, but from what we know so far the Nazi had it coming.

[Sheb]

MSH: Given that the Nazi was murdered, that kid is not only a victim.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The Nazi instigated this entire ten-year horror show. In my eyes he is the cause of and is responsible for the kid opting to murder him. I certainly can't place any blame on the kid, since while I cannot know for certain what my mental state would be in his situation, I think I probably would have taken the same actions.

[Nadaka]

Yes it is a real thing. And it exists for cases where for instance a child has been beaten and tortured his entire life, knowing nothing but violence and suffering, and then shoots his NAZI father in order to end his agony.

This kind of thing doesn't end without someone being killed or nearly so. The violence only escalates. Typically the abuser goes to far and kills his kid/wife or does enough damage that even the victims denials are ignored by the authorities. Or the victim kills themselves through suicide or reckless action. And sometimes you are not the only victim, and killing yourself would be a selfish act that would leave the rest of your family to suffer.

As a kid who grew up in that kind of environment, there are no good options. None. I do know what the mental state would be in this case, because the first 6 years of my life were very similar if you file off the word "nazi" and replace it with "fundamentalist christian cult". To this day, my older brother who lived through it 10 years longer than I did will sometimes say that his greatest regret was that he never had the strength to kill our father and protect the rest of us from him.

[kaijyuu]

Victim blaming, are we?

Please point out where I said or even implied that the kid deserved any of the things that happened to him.


Also: Irony. Bringing up victim blaming and glorifying vengeance in the same sentence?

[Nadaka]

Victim blaming, are we?

Please point out where I said or even implied that the kid deserved any of the things that happened to him.


Also: Irony. Bringing up victim blaming and glorifying vengeance in the same sentence?

Not vengeance. defense against a persistent threat of violence and death.

[kaijyuu]

MSH's comment read to me as glorification of it, not self defense. Apologies if I misinterpreted.

Anyway, my original question was whether there were any options available to the kid that would result in his safety without someone dying. I'd ask similar questions for, say, someone shooting a home invader. It's possible it's the best decision available; possibly not.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Victim blaming, are we?

Please point out where I said or even implied that the kid deserved any of the things that happened to him.

Did he have any other recourse available to him, and if so, why didn't he take them?

Your question implies such skepticism at the boy's situation. You placed the emphasis of proactive action upon him for being abused by a Nazi. In my book, that counts as victim blaming.

Also: Irony. Bringing up victim blaming and glorifying vengeance in the same sentence?

The kid was protecting his life in killing the guy, but you're probably asking for too much if you're wanting to see an abuse victim defend themselves against their abuser without enjoying it. Maybe the kid is happy he killed his father and maybe he is not, but it does not change anything.

[GlyphGryph]

Generally, in cases like this?

There's plenty, and the abuser is going to make sure the victim doesn't know about, believe in, or trust the likelihood of any of them.

There were dozens of other possibilities, all of which I'm sure the kid knew about, but only one I can see that actually had a good chance of success, with success being "stop this man from hurting me anymore".

And that's me, with the benefit of years of wisdom, a good upbringing, good socialization and a good education. I've seen stuff like this happen, and this? Sadly, the way our society is structured, this is honestly the best course course of action for someone in this kids situation, as best I can tell.

Also, where the hell did he glorify vengeance?

[Twi]

If we want to argue about who's at fault... Well, as people have pointed out, victim blaming is a bad habit to get into, but they're both victims at the hand of the other: the father abused the son, the son shoots the father.

That said, I think I can safely say that the father's abusive behavior definitely didn't help, and in that situation, I don't know if the kid would be rational, responsible, and/or informed enough to seek safer options. Assuming he hadn't already done so and failed or simply not found any at all.

Long story short: two wrongs don't make anyone right, but if you wrong someone enough, it seems a tad unreasonable to blame them for wronging you back.

[Leafsnail]

MSH's comment read to me as glorification of it, not self defense. Apologies if I misinterpreted.

Anyway, my original question was whether there were any options available to the kid that would result in his safety without someone dying. I'd ask similar questions for, say, someone shooting a home invader. It's possible it's the best decision available; possibly not.

I might say something similar for an adult with a decent upbringing and a sound mind, but this is a 10 year old with a horrific upbringing and likely a whole host of issues.  He really can't have been expected to make the better decision even if there were one.

[SalmonGod]

There were things I could have done to change the abuses I experienced at school.  Even simple alterations to my own behavior would have gone a long way.  Too bad I didn't know about these things until I was well into adulthood.  Kids just don't understand enough of the world to pull a wide range of options from it.

[Sheb]

Yeah, actually, what the law regarding minors there in the state? Are they considered responsible of their acts?

[lorb]

btw, are we discussing the morality or the legality of the boys actions?

for the second: you can either argue that he acted out of self defence or was not capable of mentally grasping the consequences of his actions