Stabbing a Newborn?

A woman was accused of stabbing a newborn child in Clarke County, GA. The investigators did not find the motive in the baby’s death yet, but they know that the baby was only lived for couple hours. They don’t know when the baby was born, but Cassandra Elyse Norwood was accused of stabbing her own child to death. She was placed under guard at an Athens hospital, and is going to be released to go to the Clarke County jail later in the week. The police determined that there was foul play. Although she lived at home with her parents and relatives, the police did not find any real motive behind the stabbing.

This news is pretty shocking. Like, when I see these kind of news, bunch of questions arise in my head. Why would somebody do such a dumb ridiculous thing? I guess the reason behind this would be on the news again sometime later, but I really can care less. She was probably mentally incompetent, but is that enough justification for her wrongdoing? This question was discussed in our class because of the summer reading book. Is it okay for somebody that had miserable childhood, or have any mental illness, to commit a crime and be excused just because of it? I mean, I guess there aren’t many things you can do about it, but this also reminds me of Dorothea Dix. She was a advocate of a prison reform movements in the eighteen hundreds. She argued that the mentally ill should be placed in a proper environments, separate from murderers and other criminals, to cure their illness. However, some argued against this with the reason being why the incompetent deserve better treatment than the rest, such as healthcare. Well, because she is mentally ill but also a murderer now, she shouldn’t be any different from other criminals. But still, if she actually was mentally incompetent, would it be enough to excuse (or change) her from whatever sentence she is going to receive?

 

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/cops-newborn-stabbed-to-death-hours-after-birth/nStkp/