it has begun

[trouble]

As predicted, the "Tracy Latimer's murderer was just doing the right thing" brigade is out in full force.

The Globe & Mail: Give Latimer more latitude in his day parole
"The board needs to accept that he has paid his debt to society. He killed from compassion, according to a jury and a judge, who knew all the details of Tracy’s life and death, and was punished as a deterrent to others." Well, maybe if the media stopped talking about Tracy's murderer like he was a hero who just did the right thing, we'd see some of the deterrent working, rather than adding more people to our list of the murdered.

I tried to leave a comment, but my browser doesn't like their site, and whatever. I probably shouldn't even waste my time, unless I feel like writing a carefully nuanced letter. What I really want to write is fuck you. Fucking hell, are we really going to do this again? Are we really? Can we not just ignore him? Or maybe we can do this fun thing where there's some news reports that talk about the overall trends in how parents who murder their disabled children are treated in both the media and in the court system.

Just, arg. I'm sure this weekend and into next week will be full of these shit-tastic stories, and I'm going to spend the whole damned week in a state of rage, and people will tell me to calm down because, you know, it's okay, it's just some 12 year old girl whose been dead since 1993.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

I know it sucks to be full of rage at the stupidity and thoughtlessness of other people, but I'm glad you care.

Disclaimer: I hadn't heard about Tracy Latimer until you posted the other day.

[trouble]

It's a relatively old case, all things considered - Tracy was murdered in 1993. It drifts in and out of the news media a lot, so it's easy to miss if you're not looking for it, so that's totally understandable.

It's also something it's really hard to talk about. I try to blog about it calmly and rationally and then I remember that these people think that Tracy should be a footnote in her own murder, and I lose it.

[ironed_orchid]

From 1990-1993 I didn't have a tv (well, we did, but we had to turn on the generator to use it) so there are large swathes of news and pop culture I missed out on. Not music though, we were pretty good at caring about music at that age.

[kaz]

I also hadn't heard about this case before, but now... aaaaagh. Rage. So much rage. I swear I hear about these stories everyfuckingwhere.

[allies_person]

Grrr. Murdering disabled people is apparently "compassionate"? How many other murders will this noxious idea spawn?

[jesse_the_k]

Ahh, if only Tracy Latimer was an unusual case.

I share your inability to feign any sort of rationality in this face of this grotesque case.

If you're interested in the sordid history of "compassionate care via murder," you might wish to browse a group philosophers' blog called What Sort of People Should There Be.

[trouble]

I've added that to a list of blogs I'll check out when I'm a bit more up to dealing. But it looked interesting, if nothing else. <3

[firynze.livejournal.com]

"Killed from compassion" MY SEMICRIPPLED FUCKING ASS.

/rages

Then and now

[(Anonymous)]

I was in law school when the case came to my attention. Since it was not the first time I'd heard of that phenomenon, I did a research project on prosecution and sentencing of people who kill their disabled children. To absolutely no one's surprise -- no one in the disability community, that is -- I found that parents who kill disabled children are less likely to be investigated, prosecuted, tried or sentenced for their crimes. When they are sentenced, their punishments are symbolic (suspended sentences or probation) or minimal (one or two years). I have continued to follow this kind of case when I hear about them, and the trend has not changed.

When I try to write about it, I often find myself too enraged to think straight, not a good thing for an activist. It also burns me that other people just don't feel it the way I do.