As there’s still a lot of discussion about the appropriateness of feeling sorry for the boys recently convicted in Steubenville, I want to call your attention to On Rape, Cages, and the Steubenville Verdict by Mia McKenzie. McKenzie is in about the same place I am. I’m sorry that we have a culture in which young men are capable of such behavior. I’m sorry they were enabled and not guided. I’m sorry the criminal justice system will probably turn them into worse brutes than they already are. It’s all a terrible shame.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
Another sad fact, is that these two boys will probably end up as rape statistics themselves – as victims, in prison rapes.
From what I know, juvenile facilities are much more serious about preventing rape than regular prisons – but, there are no guarantees. And I’m sure there’ll be the brothers of some girls who were raped, who’ll be wanting to make a point to these two rapists.
Prison rape is no less heinous than the rape of anyone, male or female, outside of prison.
All around, it’s an ugly situation.
And yeah, these boys are much more likely to come out worse than they went in, as future hardened criminals, rather than as “rehabilitated,” and trying to lead productive lives.
Our prison system, if it ever focused on “rehabilitation,” stopped doing so right after Reagan’s hand left the Bible on his first innauguration day.
I know, the program that I worked in, which helped prevent recidivism by giving prisoners educations, and providing accredited Associates, Bachelor’s, and even Masters, Degrees, to make their future job prospects better, was cancelled within months of his taking office.
Prisons, today, are purely for punishment.
Any “rehabilitation,” is purely accidental.
It seems like the nation, and our society in general, have focused on nothing but punishment, since either/both he, or Nixon, took office.
Me?
I blame the growing involvement of Manichean Dominionist Evangelical Christians in our political system for this.
Theirs is a world of absolutes – you’re with God, or with the Devil, you’re either good or evil, etc. No shades of gray, allowed.
More details on the sentence:
http://lezgetreal.com/2013/03/steubenville-rapists-sentenced/
Calvinists believe you are born good or bad, and your outward appearance (i.e., your success or lack thereof, usually measured in your accumulated wealth) is merely the result of your inner nature.
This has been the fundamental belief system promoted by the Republican Party at least back to 1981 (after the Post-Nixon reform), if not before.
From the LEZGETREAL article, it appears the boys may get some education. Hopefully, the young lady will get the help she needs.
Yeah, i could probably work up some sympathy for them if I had time. I’ve got a few other priorities though.
When you see and live the effects of the destroyed lives of their victims and the victims families,there’s very little room for sympathy for those boys..It is a shame it happened and because of their age and lack of understanding of the complete effects of their actions maybe they should be given at least chance at redemption.. but for others the punishment is minimally sufficient. The modern day equivalent of branding.
Meet my family’s predator… http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/flyer.do?personId=10276#
The consensus opinion may be to hate the “boys” and feel sorry for the victim, however as a parent who’s dealt with a teenage son and daughters, I feel sorry for them all. All of their lives are going to be hard as a result of this, thanks to the actions of the boys, and they deserve to be punished for that.
They all were kids when this happened, and the fact that it was done and the boys are responsible for doing it no less changes the fact these are kids who will live with this the rest of their lives.
What about Mitt Romney’s hair cutting episode… was that just good old american fun? Boy’s will be boys? Or did he damage the life of another child for sexual reasons?
I guess Mitt thought…He’s a faggot, so he deserves it.
Yep!,You can alway’s find shelter in the ranks of the GOP.
WAY, WAAAAAAY OT – but, a great article about the treasonous crimes and misdemeanors, beyond impeachable offenses, of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Bush I:
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/shocking-new-evidence-reveals-depths-treason-and-treachery-watergate-and-iran?paging=off
Which shoulod prove, once and for all, that “It ain’t the damned cover-up, IT’S THE FUCKING CRIME!!!!”
Hey did anyone notice who the prosecutor is in this case? Former sen Mike Dewine? Weird.Small work eh.? Anyhow he said this case is not over and he will be seating a grand jury. Could be the coach, could be others who tried to cover up the crime.. I guess we will see.
You know something bothers me about the notion these kids had a anything but ordinary future ahead of them. Everyone acts like they were the next great savior of the world ..to make my point let me tell you what the stars of our football team who were said to have these brilliant future, some were thought to have potential careers as pro atheletes, doctors or maybe most interesting man in the world- NOTHING. Some ended up lonely middle aged drunks who are Al Bundy like in recalling their “glory days” , a couple work at the local plant, one is a douche bag boss( so say my friends). One got a bunch of money after his folks died and went ape shit , he ending up dying in a drunk driving crash.And the year book and most likely to succeed lol..how many times does that end up being the case?LOL. And even if in fact they do succeed , what ever that means..they are still just ordinary people.
So why is everyone soo soo soo sad? Where these brilliant kids who were set to cure cancer or save the world ? Or would they flunk out of college and be a sporting goods manager at the home town walmart? Why are they making these boys something they were not?
Anyone jumping for joy over the verdict has their priorities wrong. A not-guilty verdict would have been worse – and had the case not been tried at all, that would have been a travesty. There are no winners here, but a grave injustice was averted.
Gulag – One of the most influential people when I was in my teens was a graduate of the California Prisons. He taught self-defense – and he taught the strategy of avoiding fights, recognizing if/when a fight was unavoidable. I’m responding to your comment about rehabilitation. It can be done – Charles Lamb was living proof.
There are facts and statistics about what works – measured by the rate of return of offenders. But here’s the key point. It’s cost-effective for a public prison system to reduce the rate of repeat offenders and almost any rehabilitation that works is cheaper than getting an ex-con back for 20 more years @ $30 K per year. The revers is true for capitalist prisons. It cuts into the profit margin for a for-profit prison to discourage repeat business. So there is a counter-incentive for private prisons to rehabilitate.
I think it would be good if this stood as a stark lesson about teaching people that rape can and should be taken seriously… and in that sense, while I expect some backlash, I also think that this might do some good. And insofar as it gets some people thinking “those poor boys, one stupid action, and their lives are horribly altered”, well, yes, that’s what we want people thinking. Just like we want to show them people who were maimed by being careless with a chainsaw, or who were stupid while driving, or whatever.
The idea that they might have to register as sex offenders forever bothers me a bit – I think US society is far too broad in using such registries, and sometimes the penalties are unjust (I know of a guy who had consenting sex with a 16 year old – now he can’t hang out with kids, even though he was never any danger to children.)
So, I’ll be a bit contrarian here and say that I think *some* level of “oh, those poor boys!” might be productive, but only in appropriate context. “See what happened to them, son? That’s why you *do not* mess with a girl unless she’s awake, aware, and happy with what you’re doing.”
Doug,
Yup.
That’s why I’ve always said the worst things to privatize, are the milliary and prisons.
Endless wars are profitable, and so are “return customers.”
So, why clammor for peace, and why try to rehabilitate?