Kids in Prison (The Rage)

Eric Smith

Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) – a kind of mental disorder in which an individual causes an outrage towards another individual or people by means of shouting, hurting or any form of expressing anger.

I will be talking about a certain boy who grew to have IED on him that caused him to do a life-changing sin. Personally, this story woke me up to the reality of how discrimination can affect not just one but many individuals.

13-year-old Eric Smith grew up to be a loving child that often shows affection towards his family, including his grandparents. His grandparents like how he gives them hugs and kisses like an adorable kiddo. But even though, he shows affection towards his relatives, the family understood his situation of having IED. I think he might have controlled it many times as I have not seen a single article that talks about him being a trouble maker, though some reports said that he liked being a “clown” or wanted much attention.

Smith was reported to have been bullied several times due to his freckles, face and big ears. This resulted due to his mother taking an epilepsy drug during her pregnancy on him. Smith was often described as a loner and very quiet because of too much bullying.

Not until one day, the rage and fire was all over him. As he was biking in a local park during the summer day camp, he saw 4-year-old Derrick Robie, who also entered the camp and was alone at that time. He then approached him, lured him in a nearby wooded area, strangled him, dropped a large rock on him, undressed him and even sodomized him using a tree limb.

August 8, 1993, Smith confessed his crime to Robie’s mother, Doreen, six days after Robie’s body was found. The crime went into national headlines as two little boys were involved in the crime. Prosecutor John Tunney even said that if he was not caught, he could have killed another individual again.

Both of the children’s parents were depressed due to what happened. Smith’s parents were certain that their child was sick. Robie’s parents on the other hand were in their tears and were furious to what Smith did to their son. “People need to know what this kid did.”, Doreen said. Smith was convicted of a second-degree murder on August 16, 1994 and was sentenced for nine years behind bars. He was denied parole nine times, first one happened in August, 2002, turned out ending up to be imprisoned for twenty four years.

As I read through out every article in the internet, one thing is for sure, Smith was sure of his crime and his actions. However, it was not his fault alone. He’s the result of the on-going bullying that happens in school. Personally, I kind of know how he feels inside. He has a disorder, which many reports say that was cured every now and then by his family during his younger years and it shows how he struggled with it and at the same time in being the center of bullying.