Sharpton: Treat black and white teens equally in rape cases

[RockaFowler]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/03/11/0311sharpton.html

The Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP activists stood outside the State Attorney's Office Tuesday morning, protesting what they say is disparate handling of black teens accused in the rape of a Dunbar Village woman and her son and white teens from suburban Boca Raton accused in the rape of their drunk friends.

Sharpton said the black teens remain jailed and the white teens are free on bond, despite them committing the "same act."

"To have different reactions to the same set of circumstances is a crime in itself," Sharpton said.

In the Dunbar Village case, four teens are charged with armed sexual battery for the June crime where they allegedly forced the woman at gunpoint to have sex multiple times, including with her son. Police say the teens then used cleaning agents on the victims afterwards in an attempt to cover their crimes, including stuffing a bar of soap inside the woman. They face possible life in prison.

In the Boca case, five teens are charged with sexual battery on a helpless person because the then 13- and 14-year-old female victims had downed repeated shots of vodka .

According to the teenage boys, at least one of the girls asked in her drunkeness to have sex. Prosecutors recently amended charges so the teens cannot argue consent as a defense. The teens face of a maximum of 30 years in prison.

[ben_meyers]

1. 2 words Al, Tawana Brawley.

Please go away.

[cloudbase]

2. The good reverend

has long lost anything resembling moral authority.

[Iris]

3. self-delete

I couldn't figure out how to say what I wanted in a way that made sense!