Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier: two delusional pre-teen girls that attempted to murder their friend in 2014 after discovering the fictional horror character Slender Man. The character gained some popularity on the internet being portrayed in creepy pastas (chain letter type horror stories) and video games. As they learned more about him Geyser and Weier became self-proclaimed minions of Slender Man. Their obsession with him had grown so deep that they believed he existed. Left unchecked, their delusional thinking made them believe that Slender Man wanted them to kill their friend lest he kill their families. Their friend and unfortunate victim, Payton Leutner had no idea what was to come. Initially, Geyser and Weier were going to duct tape …show more content…
What does this mean for Geyser and Weier? Should they be treated more gently just because of their apparent deteriorating mental state? Most of the time serial killers are either assumed to be or ultimately diagnosed with mental illnesses but they are still held accountable for the crimes they commit. The only difference is that they uphold those consequences for adults. These girls should not be treated any differently just because they happened to be pre-teen girls at the time. Even with a fragile mental state they should still have an inkling of what is and is not socially …show more content…
Undoubtedly, their illness should be treated, but they should not be shown mercy for a crime that they did not feel remorse for committing solely because of their age and mental state. Mental instability or not, Morgan Geyser, especially, showed many signs of being mentally stable enough to manipulate Leutner to be her lackey in all of this. Whether or not they truly shared these delusions or if Weier was coerced or made to believe she shared these delusions with Geyser, they should be punished accordingly. Children learn early on what is and isn’t acceptable to do. They learn by being punished and receiving just consequences for their actions. They learn that they shouldn’t want to do certain things, not even because of the discipline that may follow, but because they’ve learned to empathize with people and know they wouldn’t feel good about what they’ve