A toddler was raped, but as horrific as the thought is, those who raped her shouldn't be punished. You see, her attackers were just boys -- 7- and 9-year-old boys who shouldn't even know what rape is. Someone is to blame, but it's not them.
It happened in Memphis this past summer. The 2-year-old victim's brother, 5, saw it occurring and told his mom. Thank goodness he did. While the boys first blamed each other, they later admitted to the crime.
The boys are due in court today where prosecutors are recommending they be removed from their families' homes and placed in state custody for treatment, not punishment. They want to determine what these boys have been exposed to that would make them do this to another child. James Sanders, the attorney defending the 9-year-old boy, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
What happened to this victim is horrible, nobody is minimizing that. But my client has a lot of problems and needs some immediate help. Somebody's got to rescue this kid.
Someone has to rescue them all.
This is one of those stories that I recount through tears, because it's so awful and so unimaginable that such vile, evil things can happen to innocent children. And really, at this point, all three should still be innocent. Something has to be very, very wrong in one's life for a mind that young to be infected like this.
But as much as I don't want to blame these boys because of their age, where do we draw a line? Is there really an age at which one suddenly should be able to account for his tragic background, overcome what he's been exposed to, and now be able to stand up and do the right thing? Yes, we have to expect that, but we also have to expect that some won't be able to. It doesn't in any way make what the victim suffered any less horrifying or their actions justifiable in the least, it just make the whole situation more tragic.
Do you think these boys should be punished?
Image via davedehetre/Flickr
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Comments 1044
sorry.. but over the age 4 should know better.. they know they should touch other peoples privates. its that simple... to touch someone & they cry.. and they are hurting... NO WAY .. those kids know better!
I'm sure the kids have been punished. Should they be jailed no. There is no benefit to putting a seven year old in jail. Their minds are not capable of understanding anything other than immediate punishments.
They need some major treatment and behavioral therapy and dicipline but they don't need to be locked up and there needs to be a huge investigation to see where they learned this. You don't learn that type of thing from television, you learn it from experience. The kids were probably imitatating somthing that happened to them.
Oh my goodness. This is terrible. I definitely think these boys need to be evaluated. I do know for a fact that even at that early age some kids are curious and do things we don't think they'd even think to do. Liek someone else said kids these days are exposed to way too much! I feel bad for that poor baby and I pray these boys aren't being sexually abused themselves. However, I do think it's unfair to automatically crucify the parents when you don't even know the full details.
You can't put the 7 and 9-yros in juvenile detention [well, you could but]. Serious therapy. Court-supervised social services visits to the homes. Something the parents are doing or not doing enough to know what they're children are exposed to. The boys SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE HOMES. But incarceration is not the answer. They need help.
Kids that age do know right from wrong. Yet, children's brains doesn't fully develop {cognitive, thinking, reasoning} til they're in their early 20's {which accounts for why teenagers might continue to do 'dumb' things -- sorry I digressed}.
I can't help to think that the two boys would become adult molesters and pedophiles-- maybe they won't. But I definitely would NOT let them near other kids.
Another thought I've seen plenty of times where these editors may not be including important details like for instance what exactly do they mean by "rape"?? I'm not excusing what these boys did and maybe I'm naive, but is a 7yr old actually capable of that?
They are old enough to have something done about it and they deserve it. Even if its not long but seriously. Theya re well old enough!!
that is all so sad`
where was the mother who should have not had her two year old out of her sight?