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This travesty of justice sets my blood to boil!

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Sir Brian:
With such a preponderance of evidence assuring those scumbag’s guilt – hence the plea agreement, I would rather see them castrate the vermin. Oh to have more draconian punishments to suit the crimes!  >:(

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/savannah-dietrich-twitter-sexual-assault-louisville-174732753.html

Sir Edward:

Yeah, i really hope they let her go, as a freedom of speech issue. It's just stupid that the law would treat the victim more harshly.

Sir James A:
The link you posted went to a blank page for me, so I had to google. I found a story with slightly different details. (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/24/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-blotter-idUS72090766820120724). I didn't see anything about what the ruling was, only that it was private since they are juveniles tried as juveniles. I'm assuming not enough, based on her outrage.

I'm a little torn on this one. I'm vehemently opposed to the rape and photographing it too, obviously. At the same time, the victim was 17 and passed out drunk at a party? That's well under age from the legal limit of 21 years old, and it's a *really* tough life lesson to learn that you shouldn't pass out drunk among sleazy people of ill repute - and that goes for any age and situation. That also presents the question of, the boys were 17, were they drunk too? Probably can thank Snooki and general Hollywood image of "OMG I'm drunk and horny, I won't remember anything, that's so hot, PARTY WOOO!!!" for the ridiculous mentality that seems a large part of today's idiot-idol-worshippers generation.

If that's the case, I can't help but place some of the blame her way. It's like coming to an intersection in the road, one path is brightly lit, freshly painted and a sign that says 'Welcome to Happy Street' .. and the other way is dimly lit, the buildings are crumbling, and there's a sign that says 'Trespassers will be shot. Repeatedly.', yet choosing to walk down the dimly lit path. It's a great way to find yourself in a bad situation quickly due to the environment and bad choices. I'm not sure if I'm wording things well - people have the right to pass out drunk and expect to not be raped - but at the same time, should understand when doing so, other people don't always respect that right. Especially hormone fueled, potentially drunken teenagers.

A teenage female passed out drunk amongst intoxicated teenage males is slightly less risky than throwing a bear, a lion, a turkey, a shark, a wolf and a velociraptor in a cage and telling them to play nice.

Now, the original article posted didn't mention her drinking/drunk, just passed out. I haven't (and don't want to) seen pictures. Did she pass out on a couch in 'public'? Did she pass out in a bedroom in 'private'? Did she do anything to encourage or entice or approve sexual activity before losing consciousness? Did she have any previous sexual encounters with the boy(s)? Or maybe it was a late night and she fell asleep at 5am sitting on the couch, completely sober. If that's the case, everything I said above in regards to her sharing the blame, is completely invalid, and hellfire to the perpetrators at full force.

It's extremely hard to make a proper judgement on anything from the media because the details between sources are often blurry, unspoken, or contradictory. It's like the college student in MD who killed a robber with a sword - some stories say the intruder was killed in the garage, others say he chased the man across the yard and killed him while he was running away. The underage drinking and unknown previous interaction(s), if any, with the perpetrators, is a wildcard for me on her complete innocence, or contributing in an unknown quantity to the end result. A lot of circumstantial info is missing.

If she tweeted their names and other information publicly that she is legally required to withhold, she is in the wrong (legally), rape victim or not. She may not agree with the law, but if the courts don't and can't release names or details of juvenile cases for legal reasons, the victim has no right to do so (legally) either.

The article I linked to said the charges against her were dropped, and her twitter account was closed. At least *one* step in the rusty 'wheel of justice' is working. Maybe the others will be fixed in the future.

That said ... I'd be truly overjoyed to find out that the perpetrators have been not only castrated, but also sentenced a few hundred hours of community service work at a rape victims counseling / shelter. And have some long term garnishments from their eventual paychecks (one can hope) that go towards funding the same victim support services. I'd probably make them paint signs that say 'We raped an unconscious girl and posted photos online. Honk if you hate us.' ... and I'd make them go stand in the median of a busy highway, all day, for a week or two. Maybe that will change their mentality, and maybe that will affect their circle of (likely similar) friends.

Then I'd turn my attention to parents - of the victim, of the perpetrators, and of the homeowners (if it wasn't the victims/perpetrators), and we'd have a discussion or two.

I *highly* doubt that's the ruling, and I suspect my thoughts on differences of 'Justice vs Law' and appropriate penalties are the #1 reason I'd never make it as a judge or politician....

Sir Edward:

--- Quote from: James Anderson III on 2012-07-26, 15:31:23 ---The link you posted went to a blank page for me, so I had to google.

--- End quote ---

Do you have NoScript running on firefox? It looks like it's one of those annoying pages that uses javascript to load the actual content.

Sir William:
It is quite simple for me, really.  Unless this girl gave approval for any sort of sexual congress, those boys had no right to lay a hand on her, drunk and passed out or not.  That she was underage, they were underage, it was a party, there was alcohol present, everyone was doing it - all of that is irrelevant.

I also would not call the parents to task too much- I'm inclined to believe that they would not have been aware that their sons would do such a thing; a spur of the moment action that was totally repugnant, not to mention stupid on their part, but I don't see this as something to blame on the parents.  17 year old boys rarely call their parents up before they do something stupid, especially when they know they shouldn't be doing it- but that is hardly the fault of the parent; at 17 I was fully cognizant of my actions, all of them, and the consequences that would ensue should I continue doing stupid things.  That they were drunk too does not exonerate them.

As a father of two young women, this is something that strikes home; as far as I'm concerned, that those two aren't hanging by their ankles being bludgeoned with various blunt-force items is disappointing to me, to say the least.  I know its wrong to go after them, especially after the court has ruled in their favor for the most part, but I am a father, and it is my duty to protect my family.  I find the court's decision to be woefully inadequate.

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