i don't understand how this is the girls fault. i know she tried to kill someone,but she is obviously deeply troubled. she needs to be put on meds or something. how is juvy going to stop her from continuing these attempts to hurt people as soon as she gets out?

Its really sad that the media is blaming the teen. Why not look at the underlying cause of all this?? Read the last part of the article...I am very unhappy at home. Hmmmm, sounds like there is more to it than meets the eye. My daughter would have been getting help already....not thrown in jail. My daughter would receive my support and be told its gonna be alright, because I love you. Geez, Mom, you obviously have a daughter who needs you and is lashing out because you are not there. Wake up and smell the truth!!!! Get your daughter some help.

Rhonda I agree w/ you completely, I am a counselor and most children who commit wrong acts such being cruel to an animal/human being. That is a definate sign that this child needs psychological services.

She needs to be heard and not talked at, her problems I am sure have started way before she became 16; this family perhaps needs counseling for the whole family. Especially for the 11 year old minor that is in the home who was too afraid to tell her mom what her older sibling committed. Mom has some thinking to do in regards of her self and family.

Vina

Our society isn't always set up to "lock up" a person. In fact since the "least restrictive enviornment laws" were passed many yrs ago... many that desperately need "in hospital" or "locking up" can't be.

I agree she desperately needs help... The article doesn't say what has been tried so far... BUT what ever was done obviously didn't work.

I'd say in her case...YEP...she does need to be locked up ... (for a period of time) While she gets treatment.... then earn her way back out slowly... making sure she is ready and able to live in the enviornment others do.

Anyone who has made threats and followed thru.... and who threatens to "beat her younger sister until she is dead" is dangerous to others. The younger child has the right to be protected...from her... the mother too...

and

hopefully someone can help her to where she is able to return to society and live like others

Unhappy at home BECAUSE she has to "do chores" and Mom took her cell phone away!!

The girl is obviously a deranged spoiled brat who needs help before she actually succeeds in killing someone!!

You people that are saying this girl needs to be punished or "thrown off a cliff" are more sick than she is. There is obviously something seriously wrong with this child but what is your excuse?!

I have one child who has been diagnosed as being emotionally disturbed (not caused by anyone or by any abuse) and one child with food allergies that cause him to act irrationally. Either problem could be the case with this 16 year old. She is sent to jail. Typical. Her problems did not start when her mother gave her chores or took her cell phone away. The child's mother/family has been ignoring her daughters pleas for help until she was at the breaking point. How heartless and unfeeling is our society that we blame a child for desparately acting out when we have ignored their pleas for help for years, possibly their whole lives.

It feels better to blame and punish a child that to acknowledge that we have continually failed them. I've seen this pattern my whole life and most recently with the way that children are being so quickly pushed out of classrooms, made to be ostricized by their peers in clear view of lazy, heartless teachers, and being labeled "problems" not to be dealt with by public schools and jelly-spined parents alike.

Saying that God should show vengence on this child shows you do not know God at all. He knows her pains and will undoubtedly show his great mercy on her.

When it was said that in the last days "men's hearts shall fail them" it is no doubt that it is cases like this and the cold, vengeful, unfeeling comments that make it clear that now is that time.

May God bless this family and help them feel.

what is wrong is all the liberal nuts out there that say,"poor girl,she was trumatized by not having a cell phone or some other stupid reason.get a life,we all don't get what we want but if we work hard we can get what we need...LM

that little bitch should fry thats white people for u if people would start putting their kids over their knees every once in awhile kids wouldnt do things like this because they got their phone taken away

So-called "psychological help" or "counseling" is a fraud that doesn't do anything but hold out false hope to desperate parents while taking their money.

Read the book "The Bad Seed". There really is such a thing.

"i don't understand how this is the girls fault... she needs to be put on meds or something."

That's the problem today, medicate the child and everything will be just fine. Of course it's her fault, she poisoned her mother because her mom makes her do chores and took away her cell phone. She sounds like a brat. I don't know this girl and there probably is more to the story but NEVER NEVER NEVER is there a reason to try to kill someone. Get her in therapy, it did a world of good for me, and yeah, punish her. She tried to kill someone, not just someone HER MOTHER. She needs to realize that her mom probably needs her help and is asking her to "do chores and stuff" because she can't do everything her self and she's not there to be her daughters slave. Yes this is the daughters fault and she needs to take responsibility for her stupid actions. Maybe after she's seen real punishment she'll realize that her mom's requests aren't all that un-reasonable

All because her mother made her do . . . CHORES!!!

I find it very interesting that most people are saying "its not the teens fault". Actually it is her fault. Fault by definition means "responsibility for wrongdoing or failure". In this case, the mother didn't put the salt in the food herself, the teen did. Therefore, she is at fault. Where her motives may stem from is a different story all together. In any case, if someone kills your only child, murders them in cold blood, is it still "not there fault"?? They may be upset, they may be mentally ill, but does that remove them from fault and guilt??? Different situation yes, same question?? Yes. If you can answer that question truthfully and honestly then you should agree that the "fault" is so the teens. We all must take responsibility for our own actions, and negative upbringings breed negative actions from children. It starts from the home yes, but in this particular article, that is not what is being questioned now is it??

umm i dissagree im an eighteen year old girl and i think that she was wrong completely if she was unhappy she should have told someone at her school or a family member there is no justification for what she did she seemed lucid enough to make a threat to her sister so asking for help isnt that much harder i hope she does get help but making excuses isnt going to help her she needs to know she was wrong and be given help for whatever problem she may have but right and wrong clearly need to be established and a list of alternet behaviors given maybe a journal or art book?

yes she does need help but does she have no guilt over what she did? i would give my life for my mother. i think that she was rightly tried for her crimes. i mean we all have gotten angry at our parents but never have i ever even considerd that.

Never mind the rehab or the therapy, this girl needs to be put to death just like they would a male who does the same thing.

sounds like the kid is a spoiled brat! She is angry her cell phone was taken away? She's quite lucky she has one. Now her rights are taken away. LOL! Good. She deserves that and a serious glute woopin'!

Lets all stop feeling sorry for this poor "child" in juvy and arranging for her therapy. Instead lets feel sorry for the sister she threatened to kill and who just witnessed an attempted murder of her mother. Lets get the little sister and her mother some counseling. Then lets take this "child" out of juvy and put her in jail so we can send a message that says "If you do this, you will go to jail!" instead of "If you do this, we will feel sorry for you and persecute your parents for taking away your cell phone" What if this child was a male? Would we then consider attempted murder charges?

Josie, Janet, and anyone else that said it is not the teen's fault:

I, too, have a 16 year old and she put peppercorns in my coffee grinder and salt in my sugar bowl. At that time, she had been getting counseling -- but refused to speak to the counselor. She also had the audacity to slap me across the face when I asked her to go to bed because she wasn't listening to a request I made. That was two years ago when she was about 14. She was punished severely and I called the cops and I was contemplating having her taken away -- but didn't want to give her a record for that. I have thought about bringing a PINS petition -- Persons In Need of Supervision. My other two younger children were afraid of her. Don't be so quick to not blame the teen. My daughter kept telling me how terrible her life was, how she hated mom and dad.
Every professional I spoke to said I'm handling her and the situation correctly, saying the right things, but this anger she has, did not come from her upbringing. It comes from her being the eldest and her insecurities and the attention her youngest sibling received as a toddler due to constant illness.
A year and a a few months later, she started dating a guy and I can tell you this, while I may not be thrilled about him, my daughter is more in control of herself. She realizes how "psycho" his family is and how lucky she is.
There are two sides to every story, but even my daughter now realizes how terrible she was to me and our relationship has gotten better, not perfect, but better.