fundie side blog

Referenced

First, before we get into it, I am deliberately not breaking down your ask into pieces and questioning some of your assumptions. I don't agree with some of them. But in general, I am going to speak to your point that Jana should be held accountable because she is an adult who can leave and speak out against her family.

I think there has long been a debate about how accountable the adult fundie children (who I'm going to refer to as Gen 2 from here on out- their parents being Gen 1, their kids being Gen 3) should be held for their participation in IBLP. Clearly, you feel Gen 2 can be held fully accountable. It's hard for me to feel that way given the extreme measures their parents went to to limit their access to information and to train them to think in certain ways. Deprogramming is really, really difficult, and we haven't actually seen someone in Gen 2 fully do it yet. A couple of the married members of Gen 2 are taking steps down that road, but all remain pretty deeply religious, proof that their upbringing was effective.

Now ultimately, I think you're raising an entirely different point than the first anon. That anon came in shortly after we learned about Jana's charges- it was an old one- and at the time, there was a pretty significant emotional reaction to those charges [see @duggardata's post about that here]. That is what guided my response to the referenced ask above. You, on the other hand, seem to me to be making a different point.

I wish I had a perfect answer for you about how accountable the Gen 2 adults are. I don't think it is a simple 100%; I firmly believe that these fundies are ultimately products of their intense upbringing and that impacts how I, personally, judge them. If you differ- completely fair- I get it! And I saw a lot of hope from the trial, where several Gen 2 fundies attended to hear the facts for themselves, and then condemned Josh. They're starting to question the family line- but I don't think anyone is fully "out" yet, so I tend to not feel comfortable labeling everything about Gen 2, Jana included, as "harsher" because of a mistake they made and actually received consequences for.

Karissa Collins's Instagram: January 12, 2021

Let’s All Chill, For A Minute.

Emotions and rumors are flying, so let’s make a few things clear:

Jana was charged with violating Arkansas Code § 5–27–207—Endangering the Welfare of A Minor, 3rd Degree.  Under the statute, it is a crime to—

“recklessly engage[] in conduct creating a substantial risk of serious harm to the physical or mental welfare of a … minor.

“Physical or mental welfare” is further–defined as essentially meaning harm that involves more–than–momentarily physical injury, illness, or emotional trauma.

Note the word “recklessly.”  Jana is not charged with purposely, maliciously, or intentionally putting a child in danger.  (If she was, she’d be facing a much more serious offense.)  She is essentially being charged with making a mistake, when she new better, and thereby putting a child in a dicey situation.  Note that this mistake can be an action (e.g., letting a young child play with fireworks), or failure to act (e.g., not locking up the Tide Pods, not putting your child in a car seat).  If WOCB is correct that Jana accidentally fell asleep while babysitting— thus, enabling a child to wander off—that’s an example of a failure to act.

So, yeah…  Jana is charged with making a stupid mistake, basically.  She’s charged with doing (or not doing) something, when she knew better.

I really, really want to stress:  Jana is charged with a very, very minor crime.  She’s facing 90 Days in jail, at the absolute worst.  She is unlikely to do actual jail time.  Probably, she will be sentenced to some community service, maybe probation, and possibly a fine.

Under Arkansas law, Jana’s alleged offense is a Class B Misdemeanor.  There are three ‘classes’ of misdemeanors—Classes A, B, or C—with Class A being the worst.  (Also, keep in mind, there’s also a whole slew of felony classes, all being significantly more severe).  A Class A Misdemeanor’s penalty is up to 1 Year in jail.  For Class B, it’s 90 Days.  For Class C, it’s 30 Days.

Jeremiah Duggar's Instagram: October 27, 2021