Relationship Violence: Analysis of a Case of Juan Canales-hernandez

The issue in the article relates to the class discussion because we spoke about violence and what it entails. During class we covered violence, and physical abuse which are two topics that can have different levels of severity depending on who one is speaking to. Referring to this case, there is a difference between discipline and physical abuse. One can try to ensure discipline at all levels without having to resort to abuse. One has to question their parenting approach when it comes to if it is appropriate to hit a child when they are misbehaving. Some believe it is appropriate however, there are limits as to how much and how hard one hits them.

In this article, it focuses on Juan Canales-Hernandez, Alexia Coria and the death of 11-month old Rae Lynn Martinez. Before reading the whole article, one would automatically assume that the victim is the mother in the incident due to the title. The article states only how a man is on parole for child abuse, as well as how he killed the infant after growing frustrated. However, once one finishes reading the article it is clear that the victim in the whole situation is the child and her father. I honestly feel that the media does headlines like these to catch one’s attention not to tell the whole story. Victims are not spoken about as much as the perpetrators, in the majority of the stories in the media. The victims in the story are an11-month old baby, and the father of the baby. It is hard to say how the father is portrayed in the article because they speak so little about him, which is frustrating for the reader after seeing the title. Which is a reoccurring pattern from seeing cases similar to this, more often than not the father isn’t spoken on unless he is the perpetrator. It is clear that he is taking action by trying to gather money from the online community by creating a GoFundMe page to help pay for legal fees to allow him to get custody of his other children that he had with Coria. For the baby, it is the same thing, there is not much about her. The article focused more on her injuries than how she was as a child. The father has two other children but now he won’t be able to see his baby grow up and develop as he should.

The death of RaeLynn Martinez is a tragedy because her life was in the hands of her mother’s boyfriend. The couple gave multiple explanations to explain how RaeLynn received her injuries. The mother, Coria told detectives that RaeLynn fell while trying to climb her high chair while she was in the bathroom. Canales-Hernandez told detectives that he was elsewhere when RaeLynn was hurt. None of the explanations made sense. Until Canales-Hernandez finally confessed to what actually happened. He was playing with the baby, she fell, hit her head and began crying. Instead of trying to comfort her, he sits her on her high chair trying to feed her. He becomes frustrated with the baby that he picks up a chair and swung it at her, resulting her falling off the high chair. The child went into cardiac arrest and had a severe brain injury which led to her death two days later. The perpetrator, Canales-Hernandez, was not being attacked through the article although he was the main person spoken about. Nowhere in the article did it talk about who he was as a person but only on what he did. The mother, Coria, was not heavily mentioned like Canales-Hernandez. She surfaced when she had to give her explanation as to what happened to her daughter. Instead of telling the truth, she sided with her boyfriend. He told Coria to tell the police that she accidently fell off the chair so he wouldn’t go back to prison. Canales-Hernandez was afraid to go back to prison yet still decided to tell the truth about the death of RaeLynn Martinez. The perpetrator Canales-Hernandez is a repeated offender. It is not the first time he is accused of harming a child. According to court records, three years before that, he was accused of beating a previous girlfriend’s son. The child who was found with more than 100 bruises and bite marks all over his body. The boy’s pancreas was torn in half and the liver was bruised. Canales-Hernandez justified his act by telling detectives that he and the boy were wrestling and didn’t mean to hurt him intentionally. Luckily, the young boy survived and Canales-Hernandez pleaded guilty to child abuse which led him to four years in prison. He was later placed on parole.

It goes to show that Canales-Hernandez is not well with taking care of children because of the results that occur. It is upsetting that he had a previous history of hurting children and went from hurting a child to eventually killing one. Satisfied that he was arrested and ended up getting charged with first-degree murder, it is sad knowing that RaeLynn Martinez will not be able to grow up and live her life. My anger is targeted towards the mother more than the boyfriend. She should have known who was getting herself into. I understand the concept of giving people the benefit of the doubt, but there are times where once someone does something they are likely to do it again. Especially when it comes to dealing with children. She has other children and went to go pick them up. It doesn’t justify as to why she would lie. Why would she cover for her boyfriend? She neglected the safety of her child and worried more about her boyfriend going back to prison. It is her obligation as a mother to put her children before anyone else. With both children, Canales-Hernandez had no right to touch them.

I believe that the people who create a baby have the right to touch a baby and discipline them to a certain extent. It makes me wonder if she even knew about his previous arrest. Did she know? Did she look past? If she did then why let him even near her child? Now, she has one less child and I hope that she doesn’t stay with Canales-Hernandez. RaeLynn was a victim of violence, an unwelcomed incident that ended her life short. Condolences to the father and those that are affected by this incident. It is so troubling that people like this get even the smallest chance to hurt a young innocent child.