Steubenville OH case, anyone hear of this?

[Robinrs]

I have been following the story since the beginning. I just had not posted yet in here. I was just reading a followup story after the verdict and I am really troubled. Not about the rape. I am not saying that I am not bothered by the rape. This was a heinous act of course. However, that is a clear and evident aspect of the story.

What really bothered me is the background behind the story. The reality of the weak ethics of the teen population. The idea that the youth just didnt understand the difference between right and wrong. (Not that this excuses behavior). The idea that this event is probably not a single isolated incident, but a reflection of a culture that just doesnt get it. That these youth dont understand what rape is. How can you not understand what rape is??

My boys are 6 and 3, but as a parent I just fear the culture they are growing up in sometimes.

No need for fear, just continue to do what you do to make SURE your boys KNOW the difference. My son is 20, he is a part of this so called culture. He KNOWS because like mothers of daughters teach their girls how NOT to be raped, I took the time to teach my SON what rape is and how to NOT do it.

We need to teach our male children the same morals we teach our female children. This is not new, it's been a part of the double standard forEVER.

Holding them up to a sports culture, one that has superstars that have been tried for rape then turned into deities on the field or court, has a huge part in this.

Considering a sexual conquest as a badge of honor, that's not new, it's inbred in the minds of young males. We discuss this regularly, it cannot be something that your son's "friends" educate him on. It's our jobs, as parents, to let them know very young and then keep the conversation going, even if it's highly embarrassing, as they grow because that's when it's important.

 

[nd5056]

I have been following the story since the beginning. I just had not posted yet in here. I was just reading a followup story after the verdict and I am really troubled. Not about the rape. I am not saying that I am not bothered by the rape. This was a heinous act of course. However, that is a clear and evident aspect of the story.

What really bothered me is the background behind the story. The reality of the weak ethics of the teen population. The idea that the youth just didnt understand the difference between right and wrong. (Not that this excuses behavior). The idea that this event is probably not a single isolated incident, but a reflection of a culture that just doesnt get it. That these youth dont understand what rape is. How can you not understand what rape is??
...

So did I follow the story as much as I could, thanks to this thread.


But what bothers me the most that they not only didn't consider this a rape, they still don't. Even after they were found guilty. Like this comment:

One of the young men, Ma'lik Richmond, when that sentence came down, he collapsed. He collapsed in the arms of his attorney, Walter Madison. He said to me, "My life is over. No one is going to want me now."

Someone mentioned a good article on Yahoo, I agree. It put new light on things I haven't heard of, like the accused texting to the victim:

...
Mays knew enough to grow concerned. The girl was never sure whether to press charges, but once her parents found out, there would be no doubt. They culled social media for clues and walked into the Steubenville Police Department with a flash drive of evidence.

Just prior to that, Mays became panicked and texted the girl.

"I'm about to get kicked off my football team," Mays wrote.

"The more you bring up football, the more pissed I get," the girl wrote back. "Because that's like all you care about."

Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond were soon arrested after that text exchange. Legendary coach Reno Saccoccia couldn't help them now. The power of Big Red, their families' good names, their otherwise clean pasts and strong futures, meant nothing.
...

And I hope more will be charged. Not for looking the other way, but for this:

Earlier in the night, the girl sat in the middle of the street in front of one of the player's homes, leaning over slightly and puking. She was a mess, in need of significant help. One of the boys – no one recalls who exactly – took her shirt off so she wouldn't stain it, but then left her sitting there in just shorts and a bra.

Soon, a group of the teenagers were laughing at the girl and her sorry state. One kid, Patrick Pizzoferrato, pulled out $3 and said he'd give it to anyone who urinated on her...


...


...Yes, this was extreme arrogance. The arrogance to not just joke and brag like the teenage boys they were, but to commit those jokes to text messages, to snap a photo of the girl being carried out like she was a casualty coming off a battle field. Even guys who weren't there sat around a basement laughing about how "the dead girl" was "so raped."

The arrogance to assume everyone else would think like them, to take outlandish jokes told in private and put them on YouTube for everyone to see. It's one thing to say something stupid. It's another to promote it to the world.

Only, they later found out – harshly – that the rest of the world didn't find it such a laughing matter.

Read the whole thing http://sports.yahoo.com/news/highsc...lty-of-raping-16-year-old-girl-164129528.html

Very disturbing.

.

 

[LisaR]

I have been following the story since the beginning. I just had not posted yet in here. I was just reading a followup story after the verdict and I am really troubled. Not about the rape. I am not saying that I am not bothered by the rape. This was a heinous act of course. However, that is a clear and evident aspect of the story.

What really bothered me is the background behind the story. The reality of the weak ethics of the teen population. The idea that the youth just didnt understand the difference between right and wrong. (Not that this excuses behavior). The idea that this event is probably not a single isolated incident, but a reflection of a culture that just doesnt get it. That these youth dont understand what rape is. How can you not understand what rape is??

My boys are 6 and 3, but as a parent I just fear the culture they are growing up in sometimes.

I think the bold sentence needs to read, "The reality of the weak ethics of the STEUBENVILLE, OH teen population.

It isn't fair to make this sound like these are the common ethics of all teens. Most teens I know would react in a very different manner.

There is something incredibly off with that town. Adults were the ones supporting this behavior, providing the booze, allowing all of this to take place under their roof. This town sounds like they need to have a mandatory seminar on ethics, values, morals, and parenting 101.

 

[gwynne]

I think the bold sentence needs to read, "The reality of the weak ethics of the STEUBENVILLE, OH teen population.

It isn't fair to make this sound like these are the common ethics of all teens. Most teens I know would react in a very different manner.

There is something incredibly off with that town. Adults were the ones supporting this behavior, providing the booze, allowing all of this to take place under their roof. This town sounds like they need to have a mandatory seminar on ethics, values, morals, and parenting 101.

Sadly, there probably are plenty of Steubenvilles in the US. My experience- I was a new resident in a southern state, I won't say where. I was shocked to find out that they had a "tradition" of allowing their high schoolers to go ca-brewing. Yup...canoeing with six packs of beer. I couldn't believe it. And ummm..those parents were buying the beer.

I can't speak to what else was going on, but the parents acted like ca-brewing was as normal as going to McDonalds.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Here in canada these two kids would have gotten 3 hours in jail followed by a finger wagging. And that would be it. We have the most pathetic justice system in the universe. Glad to hear the US takes things seriously.

 

[NotUrsula]

Here is another good editorial on the subject, from a column in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook...al-how-jock-culture-morphs-into-rape-culture/

It's worth following the link to one of his previous columns where he discusses sex-related hazing by members of athletic teams; that one backs this one up in a very chilling way.

I grew up in a town like this, where athletes were treated like gods and allowed to run wild, because due to poverty and economic depression, athletic dominance was the only point of civic pride that the town really had left to them. Adults enabled the behavior and went to great lengths to cover if anyone got hurt, because keeping the talented kids on the team was priority one.

I'm betting that the kids who were not athletes but knew what was happening didn't bother to call authorities or try to intervene because they knew it would be useless. If these neanderthals had not posted their own crime-scene photos they would almost surely have gotten away with it no matter how many people reported it. I believe that they were only convicted because it was impossible to quash that photographic proof.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I can't figure out why they were not tried as adults. All they get is a year or two in juvie? That's it?

 

[goofyintoronto]

I can't figure out why they were not tried as adults. All they get is a year or two in juvie? That's it?

I read that theyre going to remain in juvie til theyre 21. Is that not the case?

 

[LisaR]

Did anyone read some of the comments made by CNN corespondents? Holy cow! I guess they are receiving flack for their coverage and rightfully so after reading some of their statements. Nothing like sympathizing with the rapists.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/cnn-steubenville-rape-poppy-harlow-144458279.html

 

[thedonduck]

And the hits just keep coming... this poor girl is now being threaten via Twitter.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/justice/ohio-steubenville-case/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I read that theyre going to remain in juvie til theyre 21. Is that not the case?

No. One was sentenced to one year, and the other to two years, I believe. The judge has the option to hold them until they are 21 based on behavior, their attendance in therapy, etc.

 

[happygirl]

And the hits just keep coming... this poor girl is now being threaten via Twitter.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/justice/ohio-steubenville-case/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The only good thing is this girl doesn't remember that horrible night. I pray at some point that people stop blaming this girl. For the action of those boys

 

[goofyintoronto]

No. One was sentenced to one year, and the other to two years, I believe. The judge has the option to hold them until they are 21 based on behavior, their attendance in therapy, etc.

Jeez. Only 1 & 2 years? The way they reacted (collapsed & crying) theyre acting as if they just got 10 yrs in prison? Wow.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Jeez. Only 1 & 2 years? The way they reacted (collapsed & crying) theyre acting as if they just got 10 yrs in prison? Wow.

Here it is officially:
Steubenville High School students Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmond were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile jail, capping a case that came to light via a barrage of morning-after text messages, social media posts and online photos and video. Mays was sentenced to an additional year in jail on a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, to be served after his rape sentence is completed.

 

[thedonduck]

Jeez. Only 1 & 2 years? The way they reacted (collapsed & crying) theyre acting as if they just got 10 yrs in prison? Wow.

The judge will not be making this decision. There is a process involved into how long they will stay in jail. They can only be held until 21 though.

They will be registered as Adult Sex Offenders for life.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I read that theyre going to remain in juvie til theyre 21. Is that not the case?

They are what, 17 and 17 now or 16 and 17/18, that is NOT long enough. Just a few years and that is it.

They should have been tried as adults.


Isn't the state they are in one of the ones that make it so that at the age of 21, you get checked out to see if you HAVE to have the sex offender for life tagged to yourself? They may not even get that.

This is disgusting. That poor girl. I wonder what we can do to support her in this awful mess?

 

[happygirl]

The judge will not be making this decision. There is a process involved into how long they will stay in jail. They can only be held until 21 though.

They will be registered as Adult Sex Offenders for life.

I asked someone about this early in this thread, usually once you turn 21 your record is wiped clean.

The person that answered me posted some interesting info on it

 

[thedonduck]

Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in the juvenile detention center for the rape charge. Mays was sentenced to a minimum two years in a juvenile detention center for the rape charge. Both boys were also forbidden from having contact with the victim until they are at least 21 years old. Lipps recommended the Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek as a facility, and further decisions on the exact lengths of their stays in juvenile prison will be up to the juvenile system. But Mays is looking at around eight years in that system, and Lipps said, pending their behavior and future decisions, that both could be on a juvenile sexual offenders list "for the rest of their lives."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/03/steubenville-verdict-guilty/63194/

 

[Handbag Lady]

Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in the juvenile detention center for the rape charge. Mays was sentenced to a minimum two years in a juvenile detention center for the rape charge. Both boys were also forbidden from having contact with the victim until they are at least 21 years old. Lipps recommended the Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek as a facility, and further decisions on the exact lengths of their stays in juvenile prison will be up to the juvenile system. But Mays is looking at around eight years in that system, and Lipps said, pending their behavior and future decisions, that both could be on a juvenile sexual offenders list "for the rest of their lives."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/03/steubenville-verdict-guilty/63194/

Great article, thank you. Notice how the one loser "apologized" by saying that he was sorry that pictures were taken? Yeah, that's NOT saying sorry nor showing any remorse.

 

[Shutterbug]

two girls have been arrested concerning death threats

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/16-year-old-victim-in-steubenville-rape-trial-receives-death-threats-sheriffs-office-says