Today came the announcement that the 10 yes count them; 10, people who watched a high school student being ganged raped and beaten will not face any charges. What kind of society are we living in? Have we really desensitized our children to the point that they will watch a girl face that type of violence and humiliation and do nothing?
You hear so many people make fun of groups that are trying to have the entertainment industry to understand that they do have a sense of responsibility. There are video games that very young children play that have them committing acts of violence against woman and police officers. One video game you actually get extra points for beating up a “ho”.
I am not a person who advocates censorship. But, isn’t time that we admit that censorship and responsibility are two different things? Isn’t it time that families stand up say that we are not going to allow our children to witness acts of violence on a regular basis on television? How many more girls will have to be brutalized before we realize that we have let our children down? We, as a society, are to blame for what happened to this young woman.
The school security let the parents of this girl down. They sent their daughter, dressed up in her pretty purple gown, to a school sponsored dance thinking that they would have the proper security. The parents were told that not only would school security be on site, there would be additional security from the city’s police. Why wouldn’t these parents think that their daughter would be safe for a few short hours in the school gym?
Witnesses have claimed that the kids who committed this heinous act were seen by the vice principal of the school and he did nothing. Both the security and police never questioned them either. The young girl was somehow brought to dimly lit alley and was repeatedly raped; by multiple boys. Some of these boys are as young as 14. They took turns raping her, used foreign objects to further rape her, beat her into unconsciousness, then left her under a bench; presumably to die. All the while at least 10 people (and I use that term loosely) looked on and did nothing to help her. She is 15 years old.
If we can pass legislation that makes it a crime to think a certain way, we certainly should be able to prosecute people for watching young girls get repeatedly raped and doing nothing. They are just as guilty as the people who committed the act themselves; in some ways even more so. I don’t know how these 10 people will ever be able to look in a mirror again.
I have volunteered at rape centers. I have spoken to women of all ages after this has happened to them. I have gone to the hospital to be with them while the rape kits are done. I have told them that they will feel whole again, even though I know that isn’t entirely the truth. The road that this girl will have to walk to return to any sense of normalcy is a long and steep one. She will need extensive therapy to help her deal with the trauma. She is going to have problems with intimacy, she is going to have problems with trust, and she is going to suffer from nightmares for many, many years to come. And the people who watched this need to understand this. Maybe some time in jail will give them the time to realize what their inaction has done.
Her family and friends will need to be nurturing and understanding. She can get past this to live a full life if she gets the help that she is going to need. I did.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
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6 comments:
This is chilling. So sad that nobody made a phone call to the police. They are all criminals in my book. That poor girl.
For years I have been against the death penalty because I believed that society could effectively deal with criminals. Call it youthful optimism. Now, as society has become less likely to do its job, one of the few that it actually is supposed to have, things are about to get ugly. Justice DEMANDS a punishment in this case. The parents of this girl have the absolute right to expect a penalty be paid by these monsters.
Since society has abrogated its responsibility regarding our protection it is becoming clear we must begin to exercise our Natural Law Rights to self protection. These monsters must be punished and if the law won't do it someone else will. Someone must or the lack of justice will continue to breed animals in human guise. I'm sorry if this is casting aspersions on the real animals.
My brother lived in Sicily for a number of years. A very similar thing happened to a young girl there. Fortunately, she was able to fight off her attackers. The rapists were known to the people of the village. The police did nothing.
The rapists were found in an alley with their genitalia cut off and stuffed in their mouths. My brother had been told ahead of time that this was how this would be handled.
Rape is not a common crime in the village.
It's heart breaking and gut wrenching. The families of these barbarians should stop and think what if it were their daughter? "Maybe" just maybe that would hit home. I already heard one woman screaming in the news that they arrested her son or nephew in this, because he was black. How about screaming at your kid that he would even be involved in such a vile criminal act?
Our decline in the moral fiber of this country is in a free fall, and more harsh and stricter laws do indeed need to implemented. There is NO EXCUSE for rape, EVER! And especially on kids. While there is no law against "not doing anything to stop the crime", it goes on to say "unless" one is cheering or encouraging.
Now to me... by NOT doing anything is considered ENCOURAGING. Like the young kid Derrion Albert being beaten to death in Chicago last month, I ask too...where were the police and school security? To those who video taped on their cell phone, they should be held accountable for not calling police when they had the means to.
I agree with Gazetteer. I was always against capitol punishment growing up. But not anymore. We do live in a civilized country with laws to protect human rights, but I'm not opposed to castration, branding, shipping off those who act like animals somewhere and publicly watching them every day, or something! I also believe we should show the death penalty on tv so people can see death (and especially the surving families of murder crimes "for their own justice") "SOMETHING'S" got to be done to deter these senseless acts.
The authorities and this community should do something to everyone involved. Everyone. And they should shun everyone involved for the rest of their lives to remind them of what this young girl will be thinking for the rest of hers...
man oh man this is disgusting. you can't legislate morality, but whatever happened to kids wanting to be heroes and fight crime? when i was a kid (and teen) i hoped for an occasion where i could be a hero and stop a crime. don't young people think like that anymore? this isn't a political issue, i think it's a lot deeper than politics.
Catwissa:
The death penalty for rape is a really bad idea. If they are going to face death, there is no reason to keep the victim alive, it would make more sense to kill her. I am against the death penalty in all cases anyway. But, I do know people who are for the death penalty and agree with me.
C/O
I agree. The people who stood and watched this as some sort of entertainment are just as guilty. Standing and watching is not the same thing as being afraid to get involved. I could almost understand if someone was afraid. But cops were there, they could have gone and gotten one the officers. I almost understand the dog/cock fighting thing. For some people it is a cultural thing that they honestly don't think is wrong. It is very common in the south. This young girl was not an animal and they shouldn't have behaved like she was. I am not saying that I am not outraged at the kids who did it, but I am more outraged at the people who watched.
Conservative Girl,
I want to agree with you. I am still opposed to the death penalty on moral grounds. I believe that the Catholic Church is right when in the Catechism it makes the argument that as long as there are non lethal methods to protect society, those methods should be used.
This being said, the incident that you are reporting on tends to make the case that society via government and the judicial system has decided not to protect us. The onlookers (accomplices) are not being prosecuted. The rapists themselves will be afforded every protection under the sun and, if we are going to be honest, will not be handed a just sentence. At some point they will be released again. And the chances are good that they will attack another woman.
Your argument that the death penalty would make it more likely the victim would be murdered doesn't seem to hold up in this case. There is no death penalty for rape but, as your article states, "They took turns raping her, used foreign objects to further rape her, beat her into unconsciousness, then left her under a bench; presumably to die." Death of the victim seems to have been the intended result, even without the threat of death to the rapists.
As I said, I am no great fan of the death penalty. I just know that we have tried damn near everything else and nothing seems to work. At the very least, the death penalty removes the threat to society, permanently.
Oh, and for the accomplices; since they watched and did nothing they don't seem to be using their eyes as God intended. Gouge 'em out!!
JUST JOKING!
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