Should 2 13 year old boys be sentenced to 10 years and be labeled as sex offenders 4 slapping butts?

Question

Teens charged with sex abuse for slapping bottoms
Posted Jul 23rd 2007 2:34PM by Sandy Maple
Filed under: Health and Safety, Lifestyle, Middle school, Public school
Next month, two 13-year-old boys from Oregon will go on trial, facing charges of five counts of sex abuse and five counts of harassment . If convicted, these two could possibly receive 10 years in jail and the distinction of being labeled as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. What horrible crime did these boys commit? They slapped some girls on the butt.

Apparently, Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison ran down a hallway at Patton Middle School last February, swatting the bottoms of the girls they passed. Bottom-slapping is against policy in the McMinnville Public Schools, so a teacher's aide sent them to the office. This would have been a good time to have a talk with these kids about inappropriate touching and possibly send them home to think about what they had done. Instead, they were interrogated for hours, handcuffed and sent to juvenile jail, where they spent five days.

Police reports and juvenile court records reveal that the butt-slapping incident occurred during what can only be described as a butt-slapping frenzy at Patton Middle School. For reasons not revealed, girls and boys were all slapping one another's bottoms with crazy abandon. Some students say this is a common form of greeting.

Since the incident, the female victims of the butt-slapping have recanted their statements to interrogators, saying they felt pressured at the time of questioning. One even admits that there was nothing sexual about the butt-slapping. However, one of the victim's mother thinks the charges are appropriate. "Slapping somebody on the butt is sexual harassment, and it is a crime," Rhonda Pope said. "Considering what was going on and that my daughter was offended, it is a crime. And it's not OK."

She's right, I guess. It is not okay to slap girls on the butt under any circumstances. But should these boys really be faced with charges of sex abuse? The McMinnville district attorney, Bradley Berry, says his office "aggressively" pursues sex crimes that involve children. "These cases are devastating to children," he said. "They are life-altering cases." He is no doubt referring to the girls, but it seems the boys are the ones whose lives will be altered in this case.


http://www.parentdish.com/2007/07/23/teens-charged-with-sex-abuse-for-slapping-bottoms/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1870377/posts

pcpy ~ Do you have kids? Do you have boys? I have 2, I think what these boys did was wrong, but they should not be sentenced for 10 years in jail. Kids do stupid things and need to be taught that this is inappropriate; they do not need their lives destroyed by some DA with a big head.

Answer 1

Are they going to charge every coach who slaps a player on the butt as they come off a field or court with sexual abuse?

No, because it would be ridiculous. It's like the case a few years ago where school officials wanted some 8 and 9 year old kids charged with terroristic threatening for pointing their chicken-fingers like guns in the cafeteria.
Should youngsters be slapping each other on the butt? No, but the issue should be who is most appropriate to deal with it. The parents, school counselor and the principal, not the district attorney. We have an officer assigned to the school here, and he frequently has to cope with complaints at the school. He has to explain to school officials that there are differences between school rules and law.

Ever since the Jonesboro and Columbine tragedies, there has been a trend to hold children to a frequently higher standard of behavior than law generally requires in public. A trend to overreact to minor misbehavior and penalize rather than educate to improve behavior. A schoolyard squabble can lead to charges of assault, instead of counseling about coping with anger.

The school systems need to be reminded they are part of the Dept of Education, not the Dept of Corrections.
Prosecutors need to focus on real sexual predators and abusers.

However, if they are going to charge these boys, they should do an in-depth investigation and charge all of the kids doing this, including the girls. Perhaps the backlash would awaken people to the silliness.

Sexual harassment is not kids slapping each other on the fannies, it's a boss using his/her position to curry sexual favors with subordinates. Sexual abuse is not kindergarteners holding hands or giving another a kiss,
it's a sexual predator attacking children.

Answer 2

No I don't think so. But as a guy - I do think that those girls should be able to slap those boys back in the face as their punishment. Just so the boys know it wasn't as fun for those girls, and they understand that in the end. I think those girls being able to slap those boys in the face would be punishment enough, and make a statement.

Answer 3

It appears to be a case of "making an example".
I would hope that sanity will break out and the
whole thing will quietly disappear after a bit.

Answer 4

I seen that on the news and I just think it is ridiculous. If kids are going to be punished so severely, for being kids, then I think Child Molesters should be executed by law enforcement, on site.

Answer 5

Yes. Let them have some things done to their butts for a while and see how they like it. When I was 13 there was no way any young man would touch a girl in that manner. Send a message; lock them away with a bunch of cornholer's! I bet there will be fewer sex crimes from the little buggers buddies.

Answer 6

i did not have the energy to read all of this but at 13 they know what they are doing and that is disrepectful to do to a female they have hormones running wild and they need to be stopped 10 years might be a bit much but thenagain you can't justify that.when they get out of there they will want there butts slapped.

Answer 7

I think everyone is overreacting; they've lost all sense of perspective. I just hope there is a sensible judge.

Answer 8

that does seem a bit over the top.

Answer 9

Stop plagarizing Conservative blogs.