Boys, 8 and 9 arrested and Charged with Rape & Kidnapping.
November 20, 2007 2:25 AM   Subscribe

Boys, 8 and 9 arrested and charged with Rape & Kidnapping. Two boys aged 9 years and the other 8 are being held in a youth detention center on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl in the woods near a suburban apartment complex in Acworth, Georgia.
posted by ItsaMario (47 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: just because there are three links to news stories doesn't essentially make this not a one-off newsfilter post. -- jessamyn



 
Prosecutors had not received the case report from police on Monday, nor had they decided whether to try the suspects as adults.

Huh. Kidnapping and rape, but this is a couple of third-graders. I think the worst thing I did all year in third grade was mess up some of the radiator fins on our air conditioner.
posted by pax digita at 2:33 AM on November 20, 2007


Prosecutors had not received the case report from police on Monday, nor had they decided whether to try the suspects as adults

it's not clear from the item whether the prosecutors were even considering trying the children as adults. Why would they be tried as adults? Surely (and not excusing the children's actions) they are children, and therefore there could be no grounds to try them as adults.

Perhaps the journalist felt the need to embellish, if journalists do that sort of thing, I dunno.

"Research tell us that children as young as 8 and 9 do not have sufficient capacity to form criminal intent, in the way adults do," she said. You need research work that out?
posted by mattoxic at 2:48 AM on November 20, 2007


They should be dressed in a shemagh, painted brown, then tried as adults. We need real JUSTICE.
posted by fire&wings at 2:53 AM on November 20, 2007


You know what I blame this on the collapse of? Society, that's what.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:56 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


You know what I blame this on the collapse of? Videogames, that's what.

Fixed.
posted by slater at 3:03 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


Oh, my previous comment, please read:

.. you need research to work that out?

Don't want yers all thinking I'm some sort of ignoramus.
posted by mattoxic at 3:03 AM on November 20, 2007


I blame videogames
posted by matteo at 3:04 AM on November 20, 2007


...children as young as 8 and 9 do not have sufficient capacity to form criminal intent...
That doesn't mean that they don't (or shouldn't) know right from wrong, or that there should be no consequences for choosing the latter.
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 3:10 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


No doubt the boys' defense counsel will try to imply that she was dressing provocatively and leading them on.
posted by pax digita at 3:11 AM on November 20, 2007


You blame it on the collapse of video games? That's a bit premature, don't you think?
posted by spiderskull at 3:12 AM on November 20, 2007


I don't think anyone is suggesting there shouldn't be consequences, just that they shouldn't be tried as adults. 9-year-olds are still aliens. Somewhere around 12, many kids seem to start reasoning in ways recognizable to adults; even then, they still don't reason morally in the way adults do. It takes quite a while, and considerable development of the frontal lobe.
posted by Peach at 3:14 AM on November 20, 2007


You know what I blame this on the breakdown of? Society.

Double-fixed.


I don't usually find myself defending accused rapists, but the father's explanation that, "Word had got back to her parents what she did and she changed her story around and said she was raped," seems kind of plausible. I'd change that first she to a they, but still.

Also: "It's just hard to understand," said Chris Ware, who has lived in the complex three years.
posted by Reggie Digest at 3:16 AM on November 20, 2007


That doesn't mean that they don't (or shouldn't) know right from wrong, or that there should be no consequences for choosing the latter.

Not having sufficient capacity to form criminal intent is a longstanding legal principle regarding minors. It probably is backed up by psychological research, but it's primarily a (relatively arbitrary) legal construct, as far as I know.

Much easier to shift the blame to the real culprit, who is probably Marilyn Manson.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:16 AM on November 20, 2007


It takes quite a while, and considerable development of the frontal lobe.

Don't people only fully develop, neurologically speaking, at around 21?
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:19 AM on November 20, 2007


"They could barely see over the courtroom table, and their legs were too short to reach the floor. An 8-year-old and two 9-year-old boys, accused of raping an 11-year-old neighbor. [...] Reporters were briefly allowed in the courtroom where the young suspects sat Monday in restraints and navy-blue jumpsuits."

No need to worry here, folks. This is America, where our jails are adequately stocked with handcuffs for 9 year olds.

Somebody pour me a drink.
posted by Avenger at 3:22 AM on November 20, 2007


A recent case in Australia had high school students film an produce a DVD or their assault on a young girl.

Link

None of the "perps" (that's the word these days?) were given custodial sentences.

The girls father gave a very thoughtful radio interview where he hopes that intensive counselling and education will help the accused. Story about the interview here.

Very mature reaction to a ghastly event. I'm not sure If I would react in the same way, I'd like to think so.
posted by mattoxic at 3:25 AM on November 20, 2007


Let's see...we were living (in the late 70's) not far from where a kid my brother's age, 12 years old, raped a 10 year old and slit her throat, leaving her for dead. (Though there are potentially miles between being 12 and possibly going through puberty and 9 and probably not. Still...I guess there will always be a few truly twisted ones out there.)

While the crimes are horrific, there is nothing to be gained from trying such children as adults; maybe there is an age where that might be considered. Though that's gotta be way closer to 18 than it is to 9.

Yuck. Hope the girl is OK.
posted by maxwelton at 3:30 AM on November 20, 2007


Doesn't surprise me. 8, 9, 11 is when puberty hits for some and between raging hormones and a fucked up sense of looking at things combined w/ bullying equals this incidence. I remember being this young and a group of boys trying shit with me. Nothing like a good ol kick in the balls to set them straight. It probaby helped that I had a father with a temper that when from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds flat. Nothing like a visit to the ol school, taking the boys aside and making them piss their pants out of fear.
posted by dasheekeejones at 3:40 AM on November 20, 2007


mattoxic: wow. i missed that one.

The judge, who cannot be named, handed down no custodial sentences. Instead, six youths aged between 17 and 18 received either 12 or 18-month youth supervision orders, while two 17-year-olds were released on probation, one of whom escaped conviction [...] Three more youths who are contesting charges related to the incident are due to face court in December.

so, nine guys gang-raped a girl & put out a DVD of it, and none of them received custodial sentences? if they'd been in Sydney, and Lebanese, they would've been put away for 20-30 years. i can only imagine that there must have been some kind of extreme extenuating circumstances, like they were all incredibly, stupendously drunk, or something. that doesn't explain the DVD, though. just wow, again. kudos to the father, though, and that's from somebody who generally thinks that rapists should be flayed alive & rolled around in a mixture of salt & sulphur.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:43 AM on November 20, 2007


Wow, I think at 8/9 I understood that girls would infect me with the cooties or were slimey or something along those lines.

Even if it was just consensual sex (Well, not really, since an 11, 8 or 9 year old can't legally even give consent, yeesh) and some blame shifting (spreading?) happening, it's still really screwed up.
posted by Talanvor at 4:12 AM on November 20, 2007


Aw, hell. Put the kids on trial. If there's enough incontrovertible evidence, convict them and execute them.

The planet's too damn crowded for rapists to be walking around drinking our water and breathing our air.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:19 AM on November 20, 2007 [4 favorites]


Best of the web, thanks!
posted by Eideteker at 4:25 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


(It is worth noting I'll be spending Christmas in Acworth this year.)
posted by Eideteker at 4:47 AM on November 20, 2007


Does that mean you weren't being facetious when you called this "best of the web?" Cause then I would have to retract my favorite.
posted by grouse at 5:00 AM on November 20, 2007


More evidence that Katamari Damacy corrupts young minds.
posted by mattholomew at 5:50 AM on November 20, 2007


I don't usually find myself defending accused rapists, but the father's explanation that, "Word had got back to her parents what she did and she changed her story around and said she was raped," seems kind of plausible. I'd change that first she to a they, but still.

Ah yes, cherchez la femme. It's possible, of course, but godDAMN -- the father of one of the accused immediately goes that route. To the press. Asshole.
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:03 AM on November 20, 2007 [2 favorites]


"It's unbelievable they're starting at such a young age now," she added. You would think something like that at 14, 13; maybe a teenager, but their ages is really bothering me."
-mother of victim

this remark really bothered me. Am I naive to think this is an extreme incident? The mother seems to accept (albeit begrudgingly) that boys are raping younger now. I don't mean accept as an act but accept as a concept, as if the boys were raping all over now. Perhaps I'm reading too much into her remarks, which are almost certainly affected by trauma, though they may not appear to be.

Still, I find that comment pretty scary.
posted by es_de_bah at 6:05 AM on November 20, 2007 [2 favorites]


More common than one might think. We just hear about it nowadays. In the old days it was hushed-up.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 6:09 AM on November 20, 2007


at the end of that rather overblown story is a link to a very short and succinct story of a 6 year old who killed his sister with a pellet gun which includes the statement that it's unfortunate, but no-one can be held responsible. we have apparently reached the point where the penis is mightier than the gun.
posted by kitchenrat at 6:34 AM on November 20, 2007




Excuse me while I withhold judgment.
posted by stevis23 at 6:45 AM on November 20, 2007


That doesn't mean that they don't (or shouldn't) know right from wrong, or that there should be no consequences for choosing the latter.

Why is "knowing right from wrong" the basis of adulthood here? Shouldn't, I dunno puberty be involved in the calculation? I understand why you might charge a 17 or even 16 year old as an 'adult' because what's the difference, but you simply can't compare the thought process of an 8 year old to that of an 18 year old.

Plus, I kind of doubt this happened anyway. There was a case of a police officer making up murder charges for children, interrogating them, and getting false confessions out of 'em. A couple of years ago, maybe a decade or more ago. Searching for "false child confessions comes up with lots of stuff about people falsely confessing to molesting children. here is PDF about the potential for children falsely confessing. It sounds like the girl's story may be an example of this, too.

so, nine guys gang-raped a girl & put out a DVD of it, and none of them received custodial sentences? if they'd been in Sydney, and Lebanese, they would've been put away for 20-30 years. i can only imagine that there must have been some kind of extreme extenuating circumstances

I can't imagine we're hearing the full story here, there's no way that people could gang-rape someone, video tape it, and not go to jail. The only circumstance I could think of is that she consented, but that it's being called an assault because she's under age, or because they put out the video, or whatever.
posted by delmoi at 6:45 AM on November 20, 2007


we have apparently reached the point where the penis is mightier than the gun.
Possibly because when young kids play with toy guns, no-one dies; then they get hold of a real one and use it the same way. Rape (assuming it actually happened) is not something that can be explained similarly.
Why is "knowing right from wrong" the basis of adulthood here?
I didn't mean to imply that it is, but having accepted that these kids are below the age of criminal responsiblity does not necessarily mean that they're below the age of any responsibility.
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 6:50 AM on November 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


But the real problem with holding them responsible is that there is no way to punish a child in proportion to severity of the crime that they are accused of committing. What do you do? Put them in time out for 6 months? Ground them for 3 years?

If they did rape the girl, there doesn't seem to be any way that we could make the punishment fit the crime.
posted by oddman at 7:02 AM on November 20, 2007


This is all awful. First off all, what 11-year-old is "promiscuous"? What the fuck, Asshole Dad?

And second, are boys of that age actually capable of rape? I mean, do their willies work on command and stay on task besides the possible struggling and crying of the victim? Or were they penetrating her with something else? These are honest questions--I don't want to imply nothing happened.

Anyway, if they did do it they should be punished. Not tried as an adult, but definitely punished.

delmoi, actually it is that bad. The girl went to meet two of the guys. At the meeting twelve of them showed up and then things went downhill. The DVD was distributed underground and also featured the little darlings doing more charming activities such as harassing homeless people. So far the ones who have been convicted will just have to undergo "youth supervision" and attend a counseling program.
posted by Anonymous at 7:24 AM on November 20, 2007


I can't imagine we're hearing the full story here, there's no way that people could gang-rape someone, video tape it, and not go to jail.

there are lots of ways that can happen. the one i'm (unsuccessfully) looking for involves a drugged woman, at least 2 men, one of whom was the son of someone in law enforcement, and it happened about 2 or 3 years ago. in northern california, i believe. and i'm pretty sure it was discussed here. but i can't find the citation. i did, however, find this:



[link to full story in above link results in 404 error]

posted by msconduct at 7:30 AM on November 20, 2007


msconduct, is it this one?
Some animals are more equal than others
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:38 AM on November 20, 2007


I've been looking at the story, and I can't find any reason to believe the girl is lying. She has nothing to gain from it, as far as I can tell. Can anyone offer a devil's advocate opinion?
posted by Marquise at 7:53 AM on November 20, 2007


there's no way that people could gang-rape someone, video tape it, and not go to jail.

Why? Judges are generally part of an Old Boys' Club, cops are mostly men, women are second-class citizens, and the legal system has no official way to account for - even acknowledge - power differential between genders in the course of an investigation or trial, nor any apparent willingness to recognize the traumatic effect such trials have on victims.

Sexual assault goes unpunished all the time.
posted by poweredbybeard at 7:54 AM on November 20, 2007


As for the FPP'd incident in question, I'm wondering if this isn't some Tawana Brawley-esque case wherein the girl's story seems to grow worse with each retelling. I'm having a hard time picturing an 11-year-old as "promiscuous" -- "curious and willing to experiment" seems more believable -- but if I'm right, this sounds like responsible, mature and realistic parents could've worked out appropriate parental counseling and punishment among them without this resulting in arrest and indicment. Of course, I've learned the hard way that a lot of parents are not terribly mature themselves.
posted by pax digita at 8:00 AM on November 20, 2007


Agree with what I am about to say or disagree I don't care... This is what happens without religion in schools. For those who believe, our religion is being instilled in the minds of young children at an early age. For those about to throw things at me because they don't believe, Piss off! Nah seriously, obviously children have no respect of adults or authority other than if I get caught I'm in trouble. They need to have some kind of fear of a supreme being watching over them and if they do something bad they'll burn in hell. It's call putting the fear of God in them. It gives morals and a deterrent in children. Without it you have the if I get caught attitude. Also what is so wrong about teaching someone love thy neighbor and honor thy parents? If you ask me you put religion back in the schools and this stuff will go away. Also another point if you doubt kids will believe in God... They believe whatever you tell them at an early age. Kids believe in Santa and wow that was all my mom had to say during this time of the year and I was a saint.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 8:01 AM on November 20, 2007


Whenever I read a piece like this I wonder if our society is really spiraling downward or if tragedies like this have always occurred, only in pre-internet days they failed to make headlines outside local news sources or simply went unreported altogether.

I did find the hot links box at the featuring the most popular stories of the day interesting though. Here’s a text copy if you missed it:

Most Popular Stories
SEX SCANDAL: Archbishop Admits Sleeping With Brother's Wife
Transgender Candidate Sued For Fraud
Woman Tied Up, House Set On Fire
Boy, 6, Kills Sister With Pellet Gun
Show Your Spirit: McDonald's High School Spirit Spotlight

It didn’t answer my question but either way we are one sorry pack of ghoulish freaks.

Oh and BTW anyone who can make a hardline opinion on guilt in a case like this, at this stage and with the given information is a fool.
posted by BostonJake at 8:03 AM on November 20, 2007


Of course all boys are rapists or proto-rapists, and girls are, if not models of purity and righteousness, always honest. Sexual assault always happens. I'd be raping my (female) computer right now, but I have an Old Boys' Club meeting to attend.
posted by Raoul de Noget at 8:03 AM on November 20, 2007


This is all awful. First off all, what 11-year-old is "promiscuous"? What the fuck, Asshole Dad?

Eleven years old is 6th grade. I've worked on a summer program for truant 6th grade kids for the past several years. Believe me, some of them are sexually active, if not "promiscuous." I know nothing of the victim in this case and whether what the father said had any merit, but don't dismiss this out of hand. It happens.
posted by AstroGuy at 8:05 AM on November 20, 2007


thanks, GrammarMoses, but that's one i hadn't seen yet. i'm pretty sure i have the other incident bookmarked on my home computer, so i'll probably post it here in 7+ hours just so i'll have a ready reference.
posted by msconduct at 8:06 AM on November 20, 2007


I'm having a hard time picturing an 11-year-old as "promiscuous"

Me too. But I'm also having a hard time believing in an 8-year-old rapist.
posted by grouse at 8:14 AM on November 20, 2007


This is what happens without religion in schools.

"He [one of the suspects father] said his son is a third grader at a local Baptist school who loves the Atlanta Falcons and is a batboy for his church's softball league."

woops
posted by afu at 8:14 AM on November 20, 2007 [3 favorites]


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