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| Joseph Pilkington |
In 2014, Brittany's life took a turn. Her infant son, Niall was found dead. Then in April 2015, 4 year old Gavin died and 4 months later, 3 month old Noah was found dead. The day Noah died, Brittany confessed to killing all 3 of her sons. Previous investigations never gathered enough evidence for murder, however, the reason for the killings was shocking. Brittany stated that she was jealous over the attention her husband was giving their sons and felt that he wasn't paying enough attention to her or their daughter, Hailey.
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| Brittany Pilkington |
This case is fairly similar to Andrea Yates'. Both women seem to have problems with their mental health, though Yates' stemmed from postpartum depression and Pilkington's from years of abuse. However, the sentencing is much different. Yates was found not guilty due to insanity and is now receiving help in special facilities. Pilkington has obviously been struggling most of her life and wasn't in the right mental state when she committed the crimes, with prosecutors agreeing that she does have "mental defects." While the nature of this case is extremely grim, I do believe that Pilkington should have been offered help instead of or alongside a jail sentence.
https://nypost.com/2019/11/19/jealous-ohio-mom-gets-37-years-in-prison-for-killing-her-3-sons/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ohio-mom-suffocated-her-3-180519187.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=2_04
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brittany-pilkington-ohio_n_55d482dee4b07addcb44b99b?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL3RvcGljL2JyaXR0YW55LXBpbGtpbmd0b24&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAM7OW5Y-2HOVV-E-8FLZfe44SBBGqKEldG2zPPE4Nl4bSY19frc4n-LzD-nX-oVRg3NuxFJNS8mFonYOwYqNO4DYbaFUqMYZgRMRpIvLDjdEXZcgbDZ6bPwbnJv7JirRfg3kXuaDf03D6Ogct31gSLk9fOXtV552BzEV_6DVUa7Q
I agree that Pilkington's mental defects as a result of her traumatic childhood should have been a mitigating factor in her case. She should have been treated more like Yates, but they were in two different states with state laws applying different standards. Pilkington seemed incapable of judging the situation in the same way that a mentally well person would. Still, she also committed a very horrible crime and her explanation showed a lack of humanity (jealousy of the husband giving more attention to the sons, so she kills them?). That's beyond damaged, and maybe she is beyond repair. I can also see a slippery slope, where we could say that everyone who murders someone has a mental defect or is mentally ill. They all need mental help on some level. Many people in prison were abused as children or had very traumatic childhoods. As a society, do we want to put more resources in mental health services to rehabilitate people, or just punish them by putting them in jails. With help, maybe some people could contribute to society again. However, some criminals might be too damaged to return to health, and other people are just evil; all the help in the world won't change them. If we just lock all criminals up as if there are no differences between them, then prisons become overcrowded and very costly to society. In the Yates case, I thought it was interesting that she had to be released too soon from her last mental health stay in the hospital because her Blue Cross insurance only covered 10 days. Another problem with our system is bad health insurance coverage and high medical costs. Most people can't afford the help they need. These horrible tragedies are sometimes the result.
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