Toddler raped but her attackers shouldn't be punished

[Green_Lantern]

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.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/toddler/118109/toddler_raped...


I'm sick of hearing about kids being treated like property and these boys were probably acting out either their abuse or their mother's.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. 7 and 9 years old raping a toddler, and all we think of is punishment?

i think that's just crass and petty. the seven and nine are children themselves, maybe some sympathy and understanding as to how this could happen would be helpful.

normally 7 and 9 year olds don't rape. i think its not out of the norm to look into how this happened. whether they were acting out some other horrors that is happening to them or whether they didn't fully realize what they were doing

i think this society very conveniently decides we are cognitively capable when we commit a crime, then decides we are children when we want to use our bodies for pleasure. had a 7 or 9 year old wanted to get a tattoo or smoke or drink, would one be ok with that?

[blondeatlast]

3. Prosecutor is NOT pursuing charges, but wants the children removed from the home and

they have been (there's a couple of stories about that further down the newspaper page).

[Dorian Gray]

12. Isn't that

what the prosecution is doing? Removing the children from the home and studying to find out what happened to them in order to act out like this? Sadly, they were probably exposed to this type of abuse. I hope that with counseling and intervention they can be helped and not grow up into monsters who rape as adults.

[Name removed]

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[demmiblue]

16. Are you serious? n/t

[ck4829]

2. It's because the law says parents are responsible for their children

These kids shouldn't even begin to know the first thing about rape. We could lock them in a box until they're 18, but will that help bring whoever groomed them to do this to justice?

[blondeatlast]

4. Newspaper account here,

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/mar/26/boys-a...

[PDJane]

5. Punishment is inappropriate.

What kind of punishment do you mete out to children who have knowledge that no child should have?

They need treatment, affection, time to talk about the whole situation, some empathy, and the knowledge that this behaviour is not appropriate, for adults or children.

[Green_Lantern]

6. maybe they shouldn't be punished but...

If the baby they raped was my little niece(closest I have to my own child) I'd want to snap their little necks.

[CoffeeCat]

7. Children this young...

...who do this, most likely, have been sexually abuse themselves.

If these two boys were doing this to a little girl, the chances are very high that they are being
sexually abused.

These children appear to be "acting out" what they were taught. Children will play doctor
or play "you show me yours, I'll show you mine". This is not what that was. These kids
were engaging in sophisticated sexual acts with a victim-target.

These boys picked a two-year old--someone who they could dominate and power up on. If this
was just a couple of kids who knew about sex--they would have chosen a peer. They deliberately
selected someone who was helpless and someone that could be manipulated. That is typical
when abuse dynamics are acted out. The victim recapitulates what happened to them--when they
were overpowered and dominated--usually by an adult.

The judge did the exact right thing. Get these kids treatment and unearth what is
happening to them at home. The two-year old needs intense help too, of course.

Very sad.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. All the children, victim and victimizers, need to be removed from their homes

put in foster care, and given extensive counseling. Punishing the boys alone will miss the mark for helping them grow up in spite of their juvenile crime. When I use "punishment", I mean having them held accountable for their acts and having them understand what they did, have them feel remorse, and try to make better lives.

[Green_Lantern]

9. why foster care? what about the safety of the other foster kids?

Aren't these boys a danger to other small children?

[PDJane]

10. Yes. They are.

[Dorian Gray]

14. Why does the rape

victim need to be removed from her home?

[Dorian Gray]

11. Oh my

the poor little girl. Two years old and raped by bigger boys.

This is so horrifying. And what those boys were exposed to in order to do something like this? It makes me want to cry.

[ehrnst]

13. 7 and 9 year old kids don't just come up with that. Where did they learn it? (nt)

[demmiblue]

17. Exactly. n/t