The most evil of them all

[deleted]

Troll harder!

"I don't deduce, I observe."

I definitely see where you're coming from. I had the EXACT same thoughts while reading the court transcripts. The attitude she had while answering the questions just seemed so….impersonal. Like she was recounting a TV show she had seen or something.

Now I understand she was afraid, but at what point do you just stop caring for your sister like that? I couldn't watch ANYONE suffer at the hands of others like that, let alone my own sister! I know I would be scared too but I would do SOMETHING!

But I wasn't there so I can't say anything for sure. People argue that she was a child, just doing what the adult said, but really, she was old enough to know that was wrong!

I have followed your link and a dozen others that followed on the way.
I want to share one with you.
http://sylviamarielikensxco.ipage.com/home/11601.html

This person followed the case long way.
If Jenny and her siblings were beaten by their father, as this person says (and I am going to take their word for it. They researched for years and did speak to the people concerned by this) it is likely that she did not interfere when Sylvia was "punished" by the Banizewskis. But that does not make her evil at all.
It just shows that she already was broken. Just as Sylvia who, apparently, did nothing "much" to prevent this events from happening.

You may also be interested in this interview with the man who was present at the trial and wrote a book about the events.
http://borf_books.tripod.com/skelter.htm

I am a signature. Call me George.

It's quite likely that Jenny was completely dissociative. This often happens when one is subjected to trauma, especially at a young age. Its a total disconnect from reality that can exhibit in different ways from a lack of emotions to delusions or even multiple personalities. It's the mind's way to protect itself.

Please consider the circumstances these children were brought up in, and also consider the fact that not all kids and people are raised and brought up the same in mental, social, emotional, and physical development. The simplest answer to your set of questions would simply be because she was broken, or nearly, by the time of this court hearing. None of us were there so it wouldn't be all right to confidently assume everything, but the least we can all do is just try, try to imagine being put in their shoes. Many of the people who carry your view of Jenny should have considered her background and the set of events prior to the abuse. Jenny and her sister were brought up poor. With parents who were constantly away and working, these kids didn't get to see their parents as often as the average middle-class child did. So you could probably infer that part of the parenting or upbringing Jenny received was from Gertrude and her past boarders. This is not the average child, so you should have thought about that before making your judgement on Jenny. In fact, Jenny and her sister were below-average kids as they were brought up poor. So you should have also considered the fact that they weren't raised as lavishly as the average child before judgement.

So imagine being in Jenny's shoes: 15 year old girl brought up poor and didn't get to see your parents much, antagonized by Gertrude and all of her children and the neighborhood kids, living in constant fear of being abused, doing anything to avoid abuse, sacrificing all feelings to avoid possibility of being abused and at least enjoying your freedom knowing that it could've been you and not your sister, desperate to survive and avoid torture at any cost, hoping that someday that this would end, hoping that someday you could find someone good in a community full of ignorant and primal people to get you and your sister out of there, eventually becoming numb to hoping and wishing for a way out, eventually accepting your fate and wisp on by your sister's agonizing pain on a daily basis. I'm just listing the possibilities of what could've been going through her mind and circumstance, and a thousand more possibilities and factors that none of us could know about, that she went through. Could you, after considering some of those factors or other possibilities, still assume and say that Jenny could've been evil? Maybe you've never seen a day being poor before to be able to even slightly relate with Jenny? Perhaps that might be why you made that inconsiderate judgment of her? If that's true then it's totally understandable. Not everyone was raised middle-class or what-not with the upbringing and consistent presence of their parents to be able to understand something such as this.

So with all that, I absolutely disagree with the notion that Jenny was evil. She was just an average girl, brought up under terrible circumstances. NO one could understand what she went through, so there is absolutely no reason to judge her as evil or anything else negative. Personally, I don't like to judge anyone's character without the most extensive research of circumstance and background. That would be ignorance, and in this case that wouldn't be doing Jenny ANY justice.

I think you've got to be extremely careful when judging people in these kinds of situations.

If you're just judging from court transcripts, it's hardly a 'real' situation. People become detached, and I can fully understand that. You're going back through the traumatic events and it almost is as if it is being watched on TV and being described.

She would also have suffered tremendous psychological trauma during the events and we cannot judge how her reaction to that in reality compared to how we would like to be.

To me, judging that situation is similar to judging 'Upham' in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Unless somebody has been in that situation, you had better be careful calling them out on it.





SpiltPersonality

@Fleurus Your perception of Jenny from the transcripts may be too harsh, if not outright unfair. According to some who have studied this case, many believe that Sylvia took on the brunt of the abuse in defense of her younger disabled sister.

Before the "truTV Crime Library" website was shut down, the story it told about the Likens case pointed out how many people came and went at the Baniszewski home, were disturbed by the condition of Sylvia and her eventual disappearance (when Sylvia, in a moribund condition, was then banished to the basement) but never called police or contacted any family service agency that may have existed at the time!

Jenny was described as terrified for herself and Sylvia but helpless to do anything in defense of herself or her sister because of her partial paralysis. Finally, Jenny was quoted as telling a police officer on the day that Sylvia was found dead "Get me out of here! I'll tell you everything!"

Before that day, there had never been any real opportunity for either of the girls to ask for help.

In my opinion, Sylvia ultimately saved Jenny's life.

Gertrude Baniszewski (paroled in 1985) changed her name to Nadine van Fossan, her middle and maiden names, and moved to Laurel, Iowa, where she died of lung cancer on June 16th, 1990. When Jenny Likens, who was then married and living in Beech Grove, Indiana, saw her obituary in the newspaper, she clipped and mailed it to her mother with the note: "Some good news. Damn old Gertrude died. Ha ha ha! I am happy about that."