15-year-old gets 60 years for sex attack of girl, 6

The Associated Press

CLAYTON, Mo. | A boy was sentenced to 60 years in prison today for beating and sexually assaulting a St. Louis County neighbor girl when he was 13 and she was 6.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on its Web site, STLtoday.com, that St. Louis County Circuit Judge Melvyn Wiesman rejected sending Sherman Burnett Jr. to a juvenile offender program, where he could have had a chance for probation at 21.

Burnett, now 15, is the youngest inmate ever housed in the St. Louis County jail.

Burnett pleaded guilty Aug. 10 to sodomy, attempted rape, child kidnapping and assault. According to testimony, he recently blamed the 6-year-old, in part, for his misfortune and had denied committing sexual assault in an interview with a state employee.

Brent Buerck, a senior program administrator for the Missouri Division of Youth Services, said Burnett tried to suggest that the victim had caused the Nov. 11, 2005, attack by throwing a rock at him, and denied he tried to rape the child.

more . . . http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/362599.html

that "kid" would not have been in good enough condition to stand trial.

This is a child, not an adult. He should be treated as a child and not an adult, but due to our backwardness this childs life is ruined as well as his victim.

Our backwardness??? Huh? A 13 year old that did something like that, (at that age they know FULL well between right and wrong), is not capable nor worthy of rehabilitation. His life was ruined by HIS own actions.. not society.

"The child who was attacked crawled through a hole in a fence but could go no further. She tried to blanket herself with leaves as night fell.

A police officer found her the next morning after a massive neighborhood search. The Post-Dispatch reported she had a skull fracture, a torn ear, a lascerated liver and severe bruising."

Sorry.

sorry if that sounds harsh.

Sorry if that's not knee jerk enough.

If a 13 year old is a child then by definition an 11 year old is as well. Should we give birth control to children?

I don't think kids should have kids.

You?

I just have a hard time accepting that an 11 year old is mature enough to be given birth control and informed about ALL of the hazards and responsibilities of being sexually active, but a 13 year old is not old enough to understand that there are consequences for things like that. I do feel that 60 years in an adult prison is way out of line in this case, but detention until 21 is probably not enough either.

Do you know of any 13 year old girls that can consent to sex, or are they still considered children?

an evil child who deserves the punishment that he has been sentenced to.

So you're saying he'll be rehabilitated when they let him out when he's 75, but not when he's 74?

Interesting.

I doubt that there is any chance that he will be in jail. Sadly, I would suspect that a mental health institution wouldn't have much luck, either. I suspect that a child that could do this to a much younger child like that has some serious psychological problems. He'll probably never get the help he needs.

I just can't be sad about it. Perhaps I could have been if he sought help before he committed such an atrocious attack. The best he can hope for now is some sort of advocate who will follow his life and try to fight for him to get psychological (and perhaps spiritual, if he feels he'd like it) counselling while in prison.

He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Did you even read the OP?

and I believe he deserves to be punished for his actions. They were vile, depraved, and horrific. Did YOU read the OP and what he did to the SIX year old girl?

(And I said he deserved his sentence... meaning his punishment! I never mention rehabiilitation.)

:eyes:

and then blathered on about how he probably won't go to jail.

I guess it's hard to read when you're busy jerking your knee.

My first line: I never said anything about rehabilitation. My second line: There isn't much chance that he will be in jail.

What I meant was there isn't much chance that he will be REHABILITATED in jail. It was clear in my mind.

But, rather than taking a moment and realizing what I meant in context, it's much easier to write an insulting message with loaded words... which you'd be doing no matter what point I make at this point. So, who's jerking their knees now?

:eyes:


And I said he deserved his punishment. Because he's a vile and depraved asshole. I never once mentioned that I thought he would be rehabilitated in jail... whether it was 10 years, 30 years or 60 years. It isn't my place to worry about that. And as I said above, hopefully he will have an advocate or a parent who makes sure he gets the psychological counselling he needs. That's the best chance that this kid will have to make anything of his life because he IS being punished for his crimes.

Which is why some kind of psychiatric hospital where he stands a good chance at rehabilitation would be much better.

"And I said he deserved his punishment. Because he's a vile and depraved asshole. I never once mentioned that I thought he would be rehabilitated in jail... whether it was 10 years, 30 years or 60 years. It isn't my place to worry about that. And as I said above, hopefully he will have an advocate or a parent who makes sure he gets the psychological counselling he needs. That's the best chance that this kid will have to make anything of his life because he IS being punished for his crimes."

So in other words, you're being vindictive against a child.

That's vile and depraved, any way you slice it.

I've not acted in any way in the matter. I don't intend to write a letter to the kid, telling him how depraved I think he is, nor do I plan any actual vengeance in any way. Just telling what my gut reaction is. That I care about the little girl who was severely injured at his hands more than him is just the way I work. I'll let the law work out the details of his punishment and rehabilitation.

Oh, look! They already did!

They're a child who's done something very wicked indeed, but still just a child.

but what do you do? I don't know what a reasonable response to this is. I just don't. :(

assault at age 8, he committed his first rape at 11, his first rape with a weapon at 14, he abducted a 6 year old girl at 17 and raped her,

this was in the mid 80's.. i am sure the diagnosis has changed, the boy was so manipulative .. the certified him as an adult, gave him the max for every charge they could scrounge up hoping they could put him away for life.

i did some reading on it, it seems people with this disorder usually end up in prison by choice latter in life, life in prison is just easier for them.

dont just have a knee jerk reaction about his being a 'Child', some of these kids will beat you half to death for fun then rape you at knife point and eat your liver for breakfast. i have worked in juvenile prisons..

As long as there is even a remote possibility of that, we should try.

I'm not sure where in my short post I gave you the impression that I thought a child couldn't be capable of heinous acts. Nonetheless, children are treated differently by the court, and I believe it is with good reason.

My question, which you must have missed in your leap to conclusions, was given that a child can commit such a crime, what do we do? I don't know the answer, and I'm not proposing one. My guess would be that this is a mentally disturbed child and I agree the public needs to be protected from him. But I still don't think sentencing child offenders as adults is the answer.

I commend you for having performed such a tough job. It's not one I could do.

I know where you're coming from. But this 15 year old needs LOTS of reconditioning. Years worth. People who commit crimes like this are very likely to continue commiting them. Society deserves to have him where he can't act on his sick impulses.

It also doesn't mean he's getting out any sooner.

How many doctors want to run the risk of calling a guy who can do this "sane", only to have him do something else once he's released?

In practice, committment gets to be just as long as the prison sentence would be.

State mental hospitals are, just like prison, full of unfriendly staff and violent individuals. The difference is that your fellow "inmates" are absolute bat shit nuts. An entire facility full of people who would be in mental health wards in prisons. These are not pleasant places that most inmates in prison want to go.

Prison is, well, prison. State mental hospitals are prison with mostly crazy people.

It's also a fallacy that people get out of commitment when they are "better." They don't. If there was a crime and a conviction, the person is going to be serving pretty close to what the sentence was.

If there was an indefinite committment, that doesn't mean "until you're better." That means until the doctors feel comfortable releasing you. In the case of a very violent sex offender, the doctors are going to be extremely over cautious about when you are "safe" to let out.

Whose ass is on the line if the guy does something after you release him?

kids and she says there are some things that just cannot be fixed.

This "kid" needs round the clock supervision. I don't think he should go to an adult prison as he is slated to though, at least not until he's 18. From what I've been told the juvenile system at least tries to work at rehabilitating the kids, he'll get very little opportunity at rehabilitation in an adult prison.

Just recently in St Louis a 16 year old hid in a woman's closet and as she was getting ready for bed he raped and sodomized her. He is currently in jail awaiting determination on whether he should be charged as an adult.

In fact if I didn't have hope for these kids, I couldn't continue in my profession. It saddens me that some of my professional colleagues feel as your friend does.

the school district wanted to give her...these kids had tortured and killed animals "just for the fun of it." She said she'd accept any referral unless the kid had been cruel to animals.

Yes, even the ones who torture and kill animals. Most are not born like this. They have lived in horrific and violent homes, many with parents who are drug addicted and/or very violent. Many of these kids have been sexually abused. I have had far too much success with "bad" kids to believe that they don't deserve our best efforts to help them. And what we know about brain development and maturity shows us that we can indeed save many of these children with the right kind of therapy.

and has a greater chance of the treatment being successful.

just saying.

I'm sorry that I can't cry for our bacwardness on this issue. His cruelty deserves the harsh punishment he is getting.

"I'm sorry that I can't cry for our bacwardness on this issue."

And admitting it's backward? Huh?

What the hell do you say to a story like that?

I don't like the idea of kids in prison, but if there's a 13-year-old who really did try to rape a 6-year-old, he's got some SERIOUS life-long issues and may not be curable.

Man I hate cases like this. No real solution, and most likely more crime and violence in the works for him.

I imagine that he will be the victim of rape for several decades. That's the results of young boys and prison.

Might as well just put him to death.

Not that I'm defending the boy. Totally heinous crime.

Screw him.

"The child who was attacked crawled through a hole in a fence but could go no further. She tried to blanket herself with leaves as night fell.

A police officer found her the next morning after a massive neighborhood search. The Post-Dispatch reported she had a skull fracture, a torn ear, a lascerated liver and severe bruising."

as an adult doesn't seem correct.

There is no shortage of 12 and 13 year-old monsters out there.

I know people who attempt to work with them. And they tell stories that disturb me to no end.

These are not "kids" such as the ones that you and I know.

Or... ...something, maybe the judge. That's over the top. The juvenile system would have given him counseling and MAYBE gotten him out earlier.

the crime is heinous, but he was a child at the time of the crime- hell, he's still a child. I'm not saying he should be released at 21 neccessarily, but 60 years? Surely there had to something in between.

This kid needs to do time and get some serious counseling but come on.

If a 13 year-old is a hardened criminal with no hope of rehabilitation, we may as well just kill any adult convicted of a crime and stop wasting time, eh?

:puke:

And you all know what that means.

What disturbs me most about this sentence is the presupposition that there is absolutely nothing else that can be done with him, and that locking him up with adults is the best society can do.

Sorry, but the word "oubliette" comes to mind.

year old to jail where he will be beaten, and sexually assaulted, for 60 YEARS. We do to him what he did to the girl, but we do it as adults.

That's fucked up.

Do you know of a solution that can cure a 13-year-old who is already trying to kill and rape a 6-year-old? Can you declare him safe to be released back in society?

Would you want him living next door to you and your kids? I know I wouldn't.

Maybe he does need to be locked away...but putting a kid in an adult prison? That's fucking sick, no matter what he's done.

I'm as optimistic as the next guy but I have serious doubts about the rehabilitative hope for a 13-year-old who would do such a thing. But i see your point on mental hospital versus prison. I would agree with that.

This is very sad for all .

Yeah... that's kinda where I am on the issue.

What a sorry, pathetic "justice" system.

Why do you think they target teens for the military? Maybe it has something to do with our "caveman" days, but young people think they can do anything and nothing will happen to them. My concern would be what is the history of this now 15 year old boy. Did he have a history of cruelty? Was this his first offense? What if this 6 year old had thrown a rock at him, and he reacted violently because he was always picked on at school and this was the last straw? We don't know all of the facts. Is this kid black and the girl white? Could this be the reason for 60 years? There are some murderers who haven't gotten a 60 year sentence.

I agree there are some bad people out there, but there are also kids who have made bad decisions. I would want to know all the facts before I condemn this kid.

zalinda

So teens not only need rehab rather than punishment but they are definitely good candidates for it.

Something went wrong with this guy, but I can't see an argument for wanting him on the street.

Redstone

I remember trapping a kid in a laundry room in an apartment building where I lived ... just to taunt her and scare her...she looked a lot like me..and I felt she deserved to be 'punished' like me. well someone came to her rescue and I got punished by my folks (not sent to prison)

I loved a puppy who ran away from home and in order to punish him I sat on a swing with his leash in hand and he was tossed from front to back...I really loved that puppy and the next night I was told I was seen abusing the dog and he was hit by a car and killed....I cried for weeks...both because I abused the dog and because he died.

I grew up to be a very compassionate person...one who until I was about 40 tried to be empathic..and tried to imagine what others feel...till my sister got cancer and that empathy scared the crap out of me, compassion yes, empathy no longer.

KIDS CAN BE CRUEL AND GROW UP TO BE PERFECTLY HUMANE ADULTS...I am proof!

I worked with a social worker several years ago whose dad murdered his mother and his older brother (his only sibling) went to prison for rape a short time after his father. He was 12 years old and bounced from foster home to foster home until he was 16 and ran away. He lived on the streets for almost 5 years and was a heroin addict when he was taken in by a cop who had known his family. The cop helped him go through drug rehab, then earn his GED and eventually a masters degree in social work. By the time this guy was 30, his life was literally just starting.

He was an absolutely excellent social worker and one of the most compassionate people I have ever known. We worked together with troubled kids and this guy had the highest expectations and strictest rules I had ever seen anyone dare impose on kids who dared you to penalize them. And it never ceased to amaze me how he connected with kids who had shut out everyone else who had ever tried to help them.

So obviously I completely agree with you. Yes we CAN save our kids and yes we DO need to try to save very single one of them.

I recon we have 'outsourced' our future generation too?

You didn't share too much... you added a desperately needed perspective that may not have otherwise been available to us.

:hug:

As heinous as this is, he is a kid.
Lock him in an mental institution...but to condemn this kid to a lifetime of being Bubba's squeeze box...as an avid death penalty supporter, I would almost make an exception to spare him that. It is more humane.

this is a death sentence anyway, why bother keeping him alive? he'll never live to 75 spending his entire life in jail, why freaking bother? kill him. it would be much more merciful.

He'll be 66 years old.

she hid under some leaves all night long.

i'd say he has some rage issues.

a horrific up bringing full of sexual abuse and poor parental role models.

What about the 22 year old who does this to a 6 year old? Probably acting out some abuse that happened to them at a early age...rehab?

What about a politician who goes on to be president or vice president and somehow thinks that horrific acts of torture and wars against other nations are ok? I mean, after all, his parents were probably abusive and he had a drug problem and who knows how badly Cheney was sodomized when he was a little hunter in the woods...does that excuse his behaviour now?

:shrug:

Bush enjoyed torturing animals and (as his frat boy days reveal) people. Look what happened to him. :eyes:

What's the socio-economic status of this kid? If he's poor he'll more than likely be incarcerated. Rich, they'll let him off with a smack on the hand and he might grow up to be President someday. You know that little girl should never have "led him on." :sarcasm:

He's old enough to know what he did was wrong. Let him pay the consequences.

not sure what I would do...

Sounds like he will pay a price for his deeds.

Peace.

In most cases, kids don't just "have" a mean streak. It was PUT THERE through repeated abuse and exposure to depraved behavior on the part of adults.

The little girl will probably bear emotional and perhaps physical scars for life, but the boy is probably acting out in response to abuse that was done to him.

Whether he can be rehabilitated or not, I can't say, but they won't even attempt rehabilitation in an adult prison.

As for rushing to judgement, how do you know he was abused? Maybe he was just bored and wanted to beat up something smaller than he was. Maybe he was pissed because his Mommy told him he couldn't have an IPOD for Christmas. YOU DON'T KNOW WHY HE DID IT.
The point is he's old enough to know right from wrong. If he can get into a juvenile program where he can get help, that's great. But he shouldn't be allowed to run free just because some people are boo hooing that he's 13 and "probably" just acting out of abuse. You don't know.

Nobody is saying that he should "be allowed to run free to do it again".

What's fucked up is that they are throwing him in AN ADULT PRISON....for, *drum roll please*... 60 FUCKING YEARS. There are killers who don't get that many years.

This kid could have beat the shit out of a boy, causing just as much physical injury and mental trauma, and this would be just another case in juvie court. Make it a girl, add sexual contact, and suddenly 60 years in adult prison is "reasonable" and "what the evil little bastard deserves".

But we are outside observers. We don't know anyone in this case. We must remain calm and rational about matters such as these, and giving a 13 or 15 year old kid 60 years in an adult institution is crazy. Advocating that he is getting his just desserts in fucking sick.

Geez, read what I actually said, not what you THINK I said.

I'm seeing people on here that say this kid should be locked away forever, and I am seeing people say that this was a kid who needs help and some mercy. Frankly, I am not sure I really know what "justice" is in a case like this one.

The little girl he was convicted of attacking was not only sexually assaulted but brutally beaten. Not only was this about domination it was rage. I don't honestly know how you rehabilitate for that in an early teen, but I have to say that truthfully, I would not sleep well if that kid lived anyplace near me or my family. It isn't as much that he made a "mistake", it is that he was so horribly violent when he did it.

What bothers me a lot in it all, is my own visceral reaction to this--to the point that I am wondering if maybe the kid should be locked away forever to protect us all--like maybe he is some rabid animal that we must all be protected from. I honestly don't know what is "just" for this. A lifetime of sadness awaits all involved, but yet the fear of what might happen clouds my opinions about the subject. How can anyone "heal" from this? How can anyone feel that there is any hope for any sort of positive outcome with so much anger and misery involved? I question if our society is able to come to any closure in a case like this one.

There is an element of savagery here that I just can't get my head around--both on the part of the kid and with those of us who are sitting here in judgment.



Laura

60 years is harsh for a crime committed at age 13, but it sounds like this crime was particularly brutal. It's unfortunate no one got hold of this kid and got him mental health treatment when he was 9 or 10 and was starting down his path of violence.

But I do have a questions for participants in this thread:

At what age or under what circumstances is an attempt at rehabilitation not an option? Should an attempt at rehabilitation be made if the person is young enough to make that a realistic possibility? Or are some crimes so depraved that we automatically move past the consideration of rehabilitation and move right to punitive sanctions no matter what the age of the assailant.

In this country, we are branding criminals at a younger and younger age with sanctions that will follow them the rest of their lives. But we are also seeing an increase of younger kids doing some pretty despicable things.

Based on what happened to that six-year-old, that kid needs to go away. Permanently.

He was 13. I would think there would be the ability to rehabilitate.