JonBenét Ramsey's Parents Bear Some Responsibility for Murder

There has been a big media blitz about John Mark Karr, who was arrested in Thailand August 16 and, according to media reports, has confessed to the murder of JonBenét Ramsey (some reports indicate that his confession may be false, but police say he has supplied convincing details of the crime.)

I think it is really important that JonBenét's parents have been vindicated.  It is very sad to see that many people still believe they committed the murder, even after this recent development.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to lose your daughter, and see the police botch the investigation, and watch them blame you for the murder and defame you in the media, and know that the real killer is still out there.  It has doubtless been a painful decade for the Ramseys.

While for several years now I have not believed that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter, I did and still do believe that they were somewhat responsible for her death.  They sexualized JonBenét from an early age, with her participation in beauty pageants.  She wore copious amounts of makeup and was taught to move like an adult woman.  This sexualization is most evident in the publicly released videos: with all the makeup, she looks like an adult, not like a child.  She is dressed like an adult, not like a child.

According to media reports, Thai authorities quote John Mark Karr as saying that he was in love with her and she was a beauty queen.  Although any child could have caught Karr's eye, the Ramseys put JonBenét in a position that made her a target.  The pageant circuit is rife with storied of girls encouraged to flirt with judges.  A very small child is too young to discriminate judges as a separate set from all adults, so this encouragement to flirt further sexualizes children and puts them in dangerous situations.