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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRape, Lawsuits, Anonymous Leaks: What's Going On in Steubenville, Ohio? (good summary)
Brought to national attention last month by an excellent piece in the New York Times, the unfolding rape case in Steubenville, Ohio is a mess. At first, it seemed like a straightforward instance of acquaintance rape, perhaps a little more brutal than most but sadly of the kind that happens on a daily basis in this country: Two young men, both on the Steubenville High School football team, discovered an extremely drunk 16-year-old girl at a party and allegedly carried her around with them all night as their own personal rape toy, repeatedly sexually assaulting her. The alleged rapists, Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, have been charged and are awaiting trial. In the meantime, the case has grown complex, with allegations of cover-ups and corruption and hacktivist group Anonymous now getting involved. I have thoughts on the Anonymous role, but first, here's a rundown of where the story stands now.
The alleged crime: Witnesses, some also on the football team, testified at a probable cause hearing that Mays and Richmond spent most of the night of Aug. 11 standing over, directing, transporting, and otherwise controlling the blacked-out drunk victim, who they carried to three separate parties. According to the New York Times, witnesses claim that Mays and Richmond tried to coerce the victim into oral sex, exposed her naked body as a joke to other partygoers, penetrated her digitally, and exposed themselves to her. Other Steubenville students on Twitter and YouTube say they witnessed even worse violations, including urinating on the victim and anal rape, though these are not official statements. (And sadly, these students were more delighted than upset by what they allegedly saw.) While it appears that multiple students taped and photographed the alleged assault, officials claim they haven't been able to turn up much in the way of evidence, because the evidence has been deleted.
The local reaction: Even though, as the New York Times discovered, many members of the community and especially the football coach have been extremely defensive about the alleged rape and fallout, at least one former Steubenville resident decided to speak up. Alexandria Goddard has used her crime blog Prinnified to air the dissenting local opinion that this case is just another example of how the special status of the football program protects players from having to take full responsibility for their actions. Of particular outrage to Goddard is the fact that many other players besides Mays and Richmond appeared to have participated in the alleged assault to some extent, taking pictures and videos, but aren't facing any legal repercussions. Early to cover the case, Goddard has backed this claim up by posting screenshots of now-deleted photos and videos of the night. She was sued for defamation by student Cody Saltsman, who left an ugly online history celebrating the alleged assault, including a photo on Instagram of the alleged victim being tossed about by her alleged assailants. The case was dismissed with prejudice in late December, and Saltsman publicly apologized to the victim and her family for his online actions.
Anonymous gets involved: Convinced that the case isn't being taken seriously enough by the community or the justice system, online activists under the banner of Anonymous have now started a local leaks page to release information gathered on people they believe are involved in covering up the full extent of the alleged assault. They've organized "Operation Roll Red Roll" to hack the private information of people they think have been involved in the crime and/or what they deem to be the cover-up, and started dumping incriminating info online Jan. 1. They've also organized at least one protest demanding that the football coach lose his job.
More:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/01/03/steubenville_ohio_rape_anonymous_gets_involved_and_the_case_gets_even_more.html
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JustAnotherGen
(31,810 posts)Until the young woman - and I'm sure others who were victims of these s.o.b.'s - get justice.
Rec.
randome
(34,845 posts)But I'm wary of cheering Anonymous on. They have been wrong before. What if they tag someone as 'guilty' when they aren't? They've done that before, too.
sendero
(28,552 posts).. at least as much as I trust the cops who were apparently fine with sweeping this whole thing under the rug.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Just like they want others to apologize.
Goose, gander.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)out cold and they were carrying her around from party to party. I wonder where the other girls were? I will pound it into my granddaughter over and over don't drunk period. Always be aware of what is going on around you. Don't be at parties like this with ball players from any sports. Obviously when boys who drink and get drunk get in a group they do stupid things like this. Girls shouldn't put themselves in a position where they don't know what is going on. Make sure girls go with girl friends they can trust to watch out for each other. The simple thing to do is if your underage and you go to a party that you know that kids are drinking leave and leave soon. Then no one can ruin your reputation.
historylovr
(1,557 posts)This was a set up, a revenge rape because she broke up with another jock from the same team, Cody Saltsman. Some excerpts:
At the time of this gang rape, the girl was intoxicated and unconscious. The victim had been intentionally drugged with a “date rape” intoxicant.
And
Cody Saltsman sent many messages to people stating that “nobody breaks up with Cody Saltsman, Ill ruin that bitch”. This was a month before the rape. A few weeks later, Saltsman’s best friend – Trent Mays started texting the victim asking her for a date and pretending to like her and telling her over and over that everyone likes her and not to worry about Cody. He finally convinced her to let him meet her at her friends house and she remembers nothing past that point. A close personal friend of the victim received pics from her at 9:30 pm, and she was smiling and happy and with her group of girlfriends. An hour later she was unconscious and being viciously gang raped.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)watch out for each other. But for sure always don't lay any drink down. This is shocking and sad. Boys don't have a right to do that to girls. What the hell is wrong with these people and their mental state. Why don't the coachs make sure if these guys misbehave they are off the team,period.
jsr
(7,712 posts)Thanks.
polly7
(20,582 posts)dansolo
(5,376 posts)It sounds like she may have been drugged and taken from her friend's house. If that is the case, then her friend should be arrested and charged as a co-conspirator.
City Lights
(25,171 posts)
Thanks for posting.
kerry-is-my-prez
(8,133 posts)don't get too drunk or find yourself alone with them. Better yet - stay away from them altogether. But you know how guileless younger girls often are. (I went to lots of those parties myself in high school and college). Luckily, This sort of stuff didn't happen in my high school (that I knew of, anyways) and if I would have seen it, I would have gone ballistic.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)house. She was alittle older than us and a whole lot more experienced at everything then us. Some of her guy friends came over. I don't drink and I made sure I was aware where everyone was. I went into the kitchen to fix something when I came back my twin had gone into the bedroom because she drank and wasn't use to it. When I came back out to the living room she wasn't there. I immediately went looking for her and found her on the bed. There was a guy who had come in and if I hadn't come in he would have tried something. Oh I told him to get the hell out of the room. I went and told the girl who had the party it was time for these guys to leave. She agreed and we got them out of the house. The next morning I told my twin what happened and she never drank again. She didn't know what was going on at all.
rainin
(3,011 posts)and I never lost my memory. I'm always suspicious when I hear stories like this. Could she have been drugged? Even if your twin wasn't a drinker, it takes a long time (hours) and lots of drinks to pass out. Have you considered that your twin was drugged?
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)to leave. He did with the help for the home owner. We never did anything like that again. My dad was very strict and we never wanted to do anything that we would be sorry for. To be honest I don't like being around people when they drink to much because some just can't handle it and they make fools of themselves and some get in to fights. As soon as I see people get like that am out of that party. Nothing worse then people making fools of themselves.
ellenfl
(8,660 posts)getting raped because you are drunk is not the victim's fault. she's going to drink, if she's a typical teenager.
my response when some male told me i was looking for trouble if i was out partying at 3 a.m. was 'why should it be more dangerous for me than for you? are you going to rape me because it's 3 a.m.'? instead of teaching your granddaughter to limit herself, teach your grandsons to respect and protect women. this double standard of telling women what they can or cannot do at any time of day is sexist to its core.
being aware of your surroundings and not going out alone is good advice, but teaching all of our kids about personal responsibility and accountability is even more critical. young men have apparently learned less of that since my years of barhopping. the attitude that has produced the steubenville and other similar crimes is chilling.
on a related note, the law that exempts non-native men from being prosecuted for crimes against women on tribal lands is appalling, to say the least. that repub lawmakers could not find it in themselves to pass the vawa renewal just adds to their perceived war against women. i guess they figure women will vote like their superiors, e.g. their husbands. they sure do not learn.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)daughter. I told him you treat women right and you don't take advantage of a girl when she is drinking. I told him when people are getting drunk it was a good time to leave the party before fights brake out. He doesn't drink alot either. I don't drink at all. He had a girlfriend and they were together for awhile then she got pregnant and he did the right thing and married her. Then they didn't last long and divorced. But he is such a good daddy. Even she admits he is a great dad and involved with his daughter. I think she is closer to her dad then to her mom. When daddy is gone to work for a long while she misses him. Oh mom and dad remarried about a year ago. Yes we need to teach our sons not to be little bullies and to be responsible for their actions.
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)They apologized to one kid they named after uncovering evidence that he wasn't involved. They also published the name of another whom they had thought wasn't involved but was.
randome
(34,845 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Perhaps it wouldn't have stopped the actual rapists, but others would have known what they were doing was wrong. Maybe someone or a group would have stopped it and protected the girl instead of letting the star jocks continue. Maybe another star jock would have stepped in to put an end to it.
Maybe they would have known they were witnessing a crime and called the police, even if only to protect themselves.
Kids need to be taught what rape is and they need to be taught how to react to it when they see it happening. It's no different than teaching kids manners. How to act correctly in public is something that is taught so why not teach kids about how to react to rape.
dballance
(5,756 posts)How the heck can anyone think it's okay to violate a blacked out person? I didn't need to be taught that in any specific class or lecture in school. It is just plain obvious that you don't take sexual advantage of another person to 99% of people in this world. Sure, put stupid hats on them, put mustard, mayo and ketchup on them and take pictures. That's in the realm of normal and funny.
But you don't violate them and take them to multiple parties to keep doing it and show how proud you are of doing it.
If kids today need to be taught in classes that anally penetrating, digitally penetrating and showing the naked body of another person who is blacked out and defenseless is wrong then we really are off a cliff.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)When we still have idiots running for office who think rape is a gift from God or that a woman's body shuts down and won't allow 'legitimate' rape and who think that vaginal probes should be mandatory or who believe that conception is so sacred that it's God's will if it happens during a rape, there is a definite need for some education about rape.
And I was talking about the witnesses' reactions, not the rapists themselves. I guarantee that a few of the witnesses, in spite of being drunk themselves felt it was wrong. Perhaps if they KNEW for a fact that they were witnessing an actual crime they would have tried to stop it.
dballance
(5,756 posts)When we need to start teaching kids it is wrong to expose the naked body of a blacked out drunk; when we need to start teaching kids it is wrong to drag a blacked out drunk from party to party rather than be concerned about that person's health and perhaps call 911; when we elevate football players and coaches to the status of gods and rarely hold them accountable for their actions then we have become a doomed society.
Even if they were drunk the witnesses should have known they were, at the least, witnessing immoral, unethical acts even if they were not sure those acts were criminal.
I unfortunately doubt your assertion that "Perhaps if they KNEW for a fact that they were witnessing an actual crime they would have tried to stop it." In too many towns and cities as long as Joe Star Quarter Back is doing it then it's okay. Let me once again refer you to Penn State.
dballance
(5,756 posts)We put Cheetos in their nostrils and took pictures, we used mustard to pour on them and write unflattering words on them with it to take pictures. Then we'd smear the mustard and add mayo and ketchup. Perhaps we'd throw them into an ice bath (which I now know can be dangerous).
But never, never, never once did we drag a blacked out person from party to party or bare their naked body for others - especially a woman's naked body. And, yes we did call 911 on occasion because of our concern for a person's life even though it would get us into an investigation by the university. Yep, that was at a fraternity house. We didn't have our national fraternity office teaching us to care for people. We didn't need it because we were all reasonable people whose parents had taught us how we should treat others.
I fear that the football gods learned while they were in their high schools they were impervious to any rules, regulations, or just general common decency. At the university I attended the football team was close to being awarded the most losing team in history yet the players were still accorded the pomp and circumstance of a winning team. This still baffles me.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Who "didn't like what he saw" and told the perpetrators to leave. This COWARD did not stop the crime while it was happening, he did nothing to protect the young woman, he did not step forward to let his football gods know that what they were doing was wrong. He just didn't want it happening at his home.
The FIRST house where the party started with cases of booze also belonged to a coach who enabled and encouraged the drunkenness of the underage players. The girl was already passed out and was initially raped at his house. It's not clear if the coach was aware of this crime.
Another coach for the team refused to suspend players after they were charged because "they didn't know what they did was wrong" - isn't it his JOB as a coach and teacher to TEACH these perverts that RAPE IS WRONG?
This is the same mindset that let the Penn State perversion go on for decades. It needs to STOP.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)what rape meant when they labeled themselves the Rape Crew?
lunatica
(53,410 posts)that education about rape probably wouldn't have stopped the rapists themselves, but maybe some one or a group of onlookers could have stopped it at some point. Especially if they understood that what was going on was a crime and was indeed rape AND that they could be charged also.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)You hear someone upset over what happened and said something like, "you raped that girl." That indicates there was someone there who knew it was wrong and complained about it, but did nothing to stop it.
I do agree with you that education is needed starting with boys entering adolescents. But I will also say the issue is very complex and even though there was a boy voicing opposition to what they had done, he for what ever reason felt it was out of his power to do anything to stop it. The most basic instinct to protect the girl was frighteningly absent throughout the night, by EVERYONE present, whether they participated in the rape or not.
It seems to me if you label yourself a member of the Rape Crew, and then proceed to act out your title, you know full well what rape is.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)But just like our culture has gotten more violent because of the proliferation of hate talk radio for the last 20 years we can change the culture with a concerted effort to make our society a more polite and respectful place. That includes education.
When I grew up there were just as many nasty speaking racists as there are now, but they were what I call closet racists. They would express their racism behind people's backs and in whispers, assuming that because I'm white I was one of them. But in public they would act as if they weren't racist. I find that preferable. Hateful racism and violence like rape should never be accepted by society as if it OK on some level.
I'm not being an idealist. I've been a victim myself and I know full well that there will always be violence. But if we don't do something to replace it with some decency we could turn into a Mad Max like world where gangs rule.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)And a remarkable amount of evidence points toward taking lead out of our environment as the reason.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)by the numbers dropping. the high teen and 20 something are the majority that commit crime. numbers alone in boomer time would have a greater number. and we know for a fact, starting in the 90's to today, police force across the nation are manipulating the crime definition and filing reports ect... to not send at the least, rapes to fbi in their national numbers.
who knows whatever reasons... that we never discuss, but only using the numbers to prove we do not have nearly the problem.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)That wave of super criminals didn't happen, that's one reason that criminologists and epidemiologists started looking for some other cause than sociological ones. When your model fails spectacularly to predict something the chances are good you have the wrong model.
That was the point of the second graph, the one showing pregnancies for 15-17 year olds, irresponsible behavior among the young is dropping right along with the lead levels in our society.
The article quotes an epidemiologist who makes the following points. if an epidemic follows communication lines, the culprit is info (e.g., bieber fever). if it follows transportation lines, the culprit is a microbe (think flu). if it follows a fan pattern, it’s an insect (malaria). and if it spreads out universally, it’s a molecule; lead fits this pattern.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)thanks
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)prior to the horrendous events of that disgusting evening?
Where is that in this Slate piece roundup?
historylovr
(1,557 posts)for breaking up with a jock. I don't know why they left that bit out. Maybe we should bring it to their attention.
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)Apparently, the girl broke up with one of the foot ball players. A guy named "Saltsman." Saltzman's e-mail, allegedly scooped up by Anonymous, has Saltzman declaring that no one breaks up with him without punishment to some extent or another.
I dated someone like that in law school, until I got wise. He did his best to make my law school life even more miserable than law school normally is. Sociopaths.
The Slate article does not bring up the date-rape drugs, either.
Slate is behind the story here.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)imagination.
Which means each co-conspirator is equally guilty of any and all acts of any of the other conspirators. (Vincent Bugliosi, in Reclaiming History calls this the "vicarious liability theory of conspiracy, which holds that each member of a conspiracy is criminally responsible for all crimes committed by his co-conspirators in pursuance of the objective of the conspiracy" (emphasis added, p. 1296).
Thus, if the objective of the conspiracy was 'revenge' (making this a case of 'revenge rape' or 'revenge sexual assault'), all conspirators to that objective are equally guilty whether they had genital contact with the victim or witnessed said contact.
Does this analysis match your understanding?
dansolo
(5,376 posts)From what i have read, it seems to me like her friends set her up, and very likely were the ones who drugged her.
ellenfl
(8,660 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)she didnt trust.
after a couple weeks, and suggestion of another couple going out, she said ok.
it is said at least one other girl was drugged. a suspicion of. they found another picture of a girl, just body, whit a different pair of shorts, sprawled out.
could have been the girl she went with.
so, please, lets not suggest another girl lured her into it. facts are not supporting this.
could be. but, probably not.
dansolo
(5,376 posts)Don't you find it at all suspicious that the guy who orchestrated this made arrangements to meet her at her friend's house, and the last thing she remembers is showing up there? The only scenarios that i can think of is that either both girls were drugged, she was drugged by the guy and her friend just let it happen, or she was drugged by her friend. Since I haven't read any mention of her friend also being drugged, that suggests that she was complicit in some way. Don't assume that it is only guys that are capable of this level of depraved indifference.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Don't assume that it is only guys that are capable of this level of depraved indifference.
dont assume, i assume....
While the charges regarding the attack were dropped against Saltsman, he has provided ample evidence that he was present during this vicious gang rape – incriminating himself with multiple photos that he took of the victim during the various parties she was transported to. Examine these two photo’s, one posted by Saltsman to his Instagram account and the other posted to Twitter by another member of the “Rape Crew” closely. These images are of another unknown victim of the “Rape Crew” published by Saltsman in 2011.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)radicalliberal
(907 posts)Football builds character. 
