O Canada! > Canadian > Canadian Chat > [Serious] Statists, be proud! re: Ashley Smith

People will go on and on and on about a girl who offs themselves after some melodramatic video on Youtube because they can't turn off Facebook, but god forbid we give a damn when a girl that same age has the same thing happen by the people who are supposed to help her. The system failed for Ashley, and the way she was allowed to be treated is nothing short of criminal.

If you know nothing about the situation or who this Ashley Girl is, urbanruot, here's a tip: »lmgtfy.com/?q=Ashley+Smith

Oh, okay, so you can't actually relay a summary of the issue, only engage in what seems to be a gross exaggeration of something that bothers you.

My response is purely emotional. It is not my job to relay summaries of an issues you have no knowledge of. That's your own job to figure out. I owe you nothing.

Are you trying to tell us that you are not outraged with the context of these videos and the apparent way that this young woman was mistreated?

Well I get that you're emotional about every thread but it's becoming tiresome and disruptive.

If she's guilty of a heinous act, it most certainly affects where this lands on my care meter. If she's an innocent person then I'd obviously care more.

Smith was first charged with a criminal offence in March 2002, when she was 14 years old. In the following year, she faced charges of causing a public disturbance, trespassing and assault, according to a report from the New Brunswick Office of the Ombudsman & Child and Youth Advocate.

Smith was first incarcerated at the age of 15 after an incident where she threw crab apples at a postal worker. She was convicted of multiple charges of breach of probation, common assault, trespassing and causing a disturbance.

She racked up six years worth of additional time behind bars for infractions while in youth custody — so many that she eventually ended up serving time in the federal adult prison system.

You compared this woman's suicide with the suicide of a young girl that was bullied, yet the quotes above suggest this woman is an inmate who will be injected with anti-psychotic drugs.

The bolded words illustrate how I can't immediately agree with such a comparison, as this woman was guilty of something... psychotic? Did she murder a family? Murder children?

If she's guilty of a heinous act, it most certainly affects where this lands on my care meter. If she's an innocent person then I'd obviously care more.

In summary, innocence is contextual to how I feel about this woman's treatment and as far as I'm concerned, all criminals are not equal. (I'm sure DKS and I do not agree on that topic)

She threw crabapples at a mailman and trespassed.

So no, she isn't an axe murderer nor an angel sent from heaven...

Can we really blame the guard as I doubt they receive training in how to cope with people like Ashley. Prison guards should be contending with criminals and not people like Ashley. She belonged in an hospital.

What if you could trace the behaviour of a 'criminal' (as you say) back to their upbringing? Are they still as guilty?

While I see where you're going with this, at the same time I also think that basic human decency should prevent anyone - including prison guards - from allowing a young woman to sit in her own shit on a plane despite that woman *begging* to use the washroom.

I hope something good comes of this very bad incident and future incidents like this are minimized or hopefully never happen again...