I don't know about this one. The lady in the video seems thrilled to see the draconian punishment these young bullies will face when they're forced to register as sex offenders. I want to know more about the physical abuse and what exactly that entailed.

I'm glad they're not convicting them for murder. Violation of civil rights? Sure, okay, I suppose. Statutory rape charges? That's a bit much. High school kids who are 17 and 18 have 15 year old girlfriends; it's not that unlikely. And, yes, they do have sex.

There's a second video here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/30/massachusetts.bullying.suicide/index.html?hpt=T1

In states where 18 is the legal limit if a 19 is with a 17yr old its still statutory no matter how "consented" it is. It seems silly with such a small age difference but the number sticks.

From the sound of it this was a bit more than just bullying, and while I'm not sure about the statutory rape charge either, anything else that gets thrown at this punks the vindictive side of me hopes it fucks up their lives as much as they fucked up hers. Not very enlightened I know but there it is.

Many, if not most, states have exceptions to the concept of "statutory rape" when the age of the people involved are close. For Massachusetts, it appears that if the victim is between 12 and 16, the age difference must be greater than 10 years for it to qualify as statutory.

I don't see how they can make this charge stick...it's far more likely that this is an example of loading up the charges in an attempt to encourage a plea bargain.

>> ^RadHazG:

In states where 18 is the legal limit if a 19 is with a 17yr old its still statutory no matter how "consented" it is.

false.

Haha. I'm not sure if Golgi had valid reason to claim RadHazG's comment was false, but the simplicity in his comment made me laugh.

I've seen those exact cases reported on before. Some states may have wiggle room but not all. You imply the entire quote is false Golgi, it is not.

Ya, statutory rape is such a misuse of the word rape. We all know what rape is; it is one of the most violating acts a human can perform on another short of murder. Statutory rape tries to steal some of the thunder from the word rape to trump up what is really happening. What is funny is that doesn't hold for things like murder, IE, accidental murder gets a verbiage downgrade to manslaughter in most states. Statutory rape, in the case of young people having sex with other young people, is just a taboo that has been criminalized. Most DA's "USE" the charge to get young people that they feel are a danger locked up for longer and forced into an albatross.

If one were to take a real look into the sexual going's on's of our high schools and middle schools, most of the student base would be in jail and a sex offender. In reality, from what I have seen, this charge ONLY gets used as a DA's last resort to get someone...much akin to Al Capone's tax indictment. The law isn't supposed to "send a message" it is supposed to "do a job" and that job is justice. Justice is blind and as such isn't supposed to trump up charges to ruin some peoples lives so that other people "get the message".

With all that said, I got the raw end of bullies in school so I sympathize. But lets hope the culprits get brought up on the right charges, not the charges that satisfies emotions.

>> ^RadHazG:

I've seen those exact cases reported on before. Some states may have wiggle room but not all. You imply the entire quote is false Golgi, it is not.


the entire quote is false, specifically by the way it is worded.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by vaporlock.