DA: 5 boys won't face adult charges in sex assault of Englewood (CO) girl
Source: Denver Post
By Jesse Paul
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/24/2015 02:05:05 PM MDT | Updated: about 5 hours ago
Five boys charged in a January sexual assault on a freshman girl who attends Englewood High School will not be charged as adults, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.
The news came just after a preliminary hearing for 19-year-old Daylon Hill — the sixth and only adult suspect in the case — was continued Tuesday afternoon in Arapahoe County court.
"In the interests of justice, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office will not charge the juvenile defendants involved in this matter as adults," the office said in a statement. "Our office will continue to seek the maximum penalty for them under the juvenile law."
The girl was assaulted at a weekend house party in Englewood, court records show.
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27776711/hearing-delayed-suspect-1-6-sex-assault-englewood
Disgusting. Four of the five "boys" were 15 or 16 years old.
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BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)
Baitball Blogger
(46,698 posts)Just wanted to point out another gang rape situation where the five defendants were black high schoolers. There are strong similarities in the ages between the Denver and Winter Springs incidents, but the outcome is turning out very differently. I didn't weigh in on the Winter Springs situation because I felt the court system was handling the case about as harshly as these situations usually turn out. And this case in Denver only proves my point.
Two High School Students Plead Guilty In Florida Gang Rape Case
WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) -- Another high school football player charged with participating in the gang rape of a fellow student near their central Florida high school has pleaded guilty to sexual battery.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Judge Donald Marblestone on Tuesday sent the 17-year-old Winter Springs High School student to a long-term juvenile facility. On Monday, a 16-year-old suspect received probation for his guilty plea.
Another 17-year-old on Tuesday turned down a plea offer from prosecutors that involved incarceration at a juvenile facility. Assistant State Attorney Laura Bosco said that her office would now prosecute him as an adult, meaning he could face up to 30 years in state prison.
Five football players were charged with rape after a 16-year-old student said she was attacked in a patch of woods near the school in November.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/18/high-school-gang-rape-florida_n_6895150.html?
Trillo
(9,154 posts)Specifically.
Baitball Blogger
(46,698 posts)Frankly, I think the court should be severe in these cases for obvious reasons. When you're dealing with peer crimes you should make it clear that "going along" means giving up your future. You do that enough, and do it consistently, and it should make a difference in the long run.
I would like to see it go a step further and examine what we can do to get the message across to young men to stop these things before they get started.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)I don't know about Florida, but it used to be that in California you could be kept in juvenile "jail" up to age 25, though there were several different names used and I don't recall them all offhand (hence the quotes). Minors are kind of interesting in that they're still young and can still be influenced easier to learn more civil ways of life, to be rehabilitated. The juvenile system is not a piece of cake, it's still jail. All of these teens need some very severe retraining in the need to obtain consent.
According to Rainn.org, 97 of 100 rapes go unpunished.
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)nt
7962
(11,841 posts)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Just as when Candace Crowley wept bitter on CNN about the rapists in Stuebenville, what about their future, huh?
Myself, I don't consider rape a 'youthful indiscretion,' as a 15 or 15 year old isn't a little kid. Those younger who are acting abuse issues themselves, deserve some institutional care, at least.
The behavior of these young people are being validated by the system. I don't care what anyone says is an extentuating circumstance. It's an act of the will and being conscious by them, not an 'accident.'
7962
(11,841 posts)They just dont care. They think they can get away with it
freshwest
(53,661 posts)The reason many have gone for holding off on sex until one is in their twenties is that the personality can be set by the time one has sex. It's said to stunt the growth of some.
Once they've taken that step, many other things a person could do with their energies to fulfill their lives and achieve higher goals are discarded in favor of the repetition of that pleasure.
Well, the pleasure for the rapists, that is, in this course. I understand that juvenile records are routnely sealed, or at least they used to be. Even in cases like this, just being of a certain age ensures no one but the most directly involved will know. So they may go on to more victims or even achieve elected office.
7962
(11,841 posts)
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)just remember that murder and serious assault should be adult crimes, as well.
I happen to agree that by the age of fourteen or fifteen, one knows right from wrong. Many will disagree with this, however, and I don't understand how we can say that rape is an adult crime when many other crimes would not be considered an adult crime here on DU.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)If anyone thinks the guys in the case in California, who are still free to attend school, aren't competent to stand trial, they might want to reconsider their parameters.
The ones in Colorado will be tried as juveniles, and those found guilty will be assigned to institutions appropriate to their age.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)If you want them to be treated as adults in this situation, then they should be treated as adults in all situations.
Drivers Licenses for the under-16-year-olds? Sure, they're adults. Cigarettes? Sure, they're adults. And so on.
We should not pretend they are "kids who don't know what they're doing" in some situations and "adults who knew what they were doing" in others.
Fred Drum
(293 posts)amirite
still_one
(92,117 posts)
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Prisons exist merely to confine. Juvenile facilities exist to rehabilitate. Juvenile courts were founded on the LIBERAL idea that young offenders can be rehabilitated and that their paths can be changed. The notion that youthful offenders should be locked up for life or be treated as adults is right wing and reflects America's punishment culture.
57% of youth arrested for crimes are never arrested again if they are processed through juvenile courts. 27% are arrested once or twice more. Only 16 percent go on to be lifelong criminals.
The recidivism rate for youth tried in adult courts? 67% according to one Columbia university study. The difference is simple. Kids in the juvenile system are far more likely to receive counseling and other positive aid to turn their lives around.
If it were up to me, nobody under the age of 17 would ever be tried in an adult court for anything. The actions of a minor do not determine his maturity level; age, experience, biology, and a myriad of other factors do.
dolphinsandtuna
(231 posts)is living in some different world from the one I live in. Rapists are pure evil.
Similarly murderers get off due to age only if they're under 4 or somesuch.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)And in the real world, nobody is "pure evil"...except maybe Hitler.
An eye for an eye simply results in lots of blind people. It is the responsibility of a liberal and progressive society to attempt to rehabilitate criminals in a way that will turn them into productive members of society. That responsibility is an order of magnitude greater when the criminal is a youth, and the potential for rehabilitation is so much larger.
Actions do not determine maturity. A 14 year old can commit theft, rape, and murder, but those actions don't mean that the 14 year old is a mature adult (if anything, they prove the opposite). A 13 year old can have sex, marry, and reproduce, but it doesn't mean they are mature enough to be doing any of those things. A 15 year old can decide to quit school and work a full time job to make money, but it doesn't mean they're mature enough to actually make that choice. While the body may be capable of committing the actions, they still don't have the brain development or life experience needed to really comprehend the implications of their actions. Youthful criminals shouldn't be treated as mature adults in the justice system. You don't suddenly become a "grown up" because one of your actions is criminal. Americans have this boneheaded idea that you should be punished as an adult if you know "right from wrong", but actual science and research has resoundingly refuted that idiotic point. The fact that the law and the bloodthirsty American population rejects those findings is the real problem.
The United States and Somalia are the only two nations on earth that refuse to sign the UN Convention establishing legal minimums for criminal charges against children. Even Iran and North Korea have signed the damned thing. The fact that we haven't, and the fact that we think it's OK to imprison children as if they were adults, is a shameful thing for this nation.
Mosby
(16,297 posts)I agree with everything you said, one change that might help keep kids out of adult jail is extending the age that kids can be held in the juvenile system like in CA, were they can be held until the age of 21.
