Teacher has sex with 11 year old student and only gets 120 days in jail

[Pawel K]

What the hell is this about?

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1503409/

Does anyone know if there is more to this story than is reported on? If she did this and only got 120 days in jail this is a total outrage. What the hell is wrong with our justice system?

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Female teacher, male student. I.e., the kid got lucky, so why punish the teacher?

Had it been a male teacher with a female student, you can bet the farm that the guy would have been locked up forever.

[Warpy]

12. Not true

There has to be something more to this case, even if it's a senile judge who doesn't realize what this sort of thing does to a boy's head.

Other female teachers who have crossed the line have had long jail sentences.

Remember, we don't hear about the male teachers and female students because that is COMMON. We do hear about the female teachers and male students because it's UNUSUAL.

I agree that 4 months in jail is too short a sentence. I don't agree that the leniency is the usual thing for women offenders.

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. Mary Kay Letourneau was only sentenced 6 months for her first offense. n/t

[rurallib]

17. If it was a male teacher/ male student would you say the same thing?

This is from a victim of abuse by a priest when I was about 12. It has haunted me all my life. So maybe any adult/ child sex play ain't so good.

[TechBear_Seattle]

18. I do not believe it is a question of good/bad

It seems a question of public perception. I remember quite well the Mary Letourneau case. The popular consensus was that Letourneau was every (straight) boy's fantasy teacher and that her victim was one lucky kid, and everywhere you turned people (always male, it seemed) were wondering why she was being punished at all. When sensible people pointed out that attitudes would be different if the genders had been reversed, these people would exclaim, "But that would be different."

:shrug:

It comes down to some kind of sexism. A predatory male teacher is a predator; a predatory female teacher is a dream come true, at least when her victims are male. I think all predatory teachers are predators, but the American public is not in the habit of asking my opinion.

[rurallib]

28. I apologize. I misread the tone of your previous post.

Overly sensitive sometimes.

[TechBear_Seattle]

32. I will be more prudent in using the :sarcasm: tag

:hi:

[Bandit]

33. Seems to me there was more to the story than you let on

The teacher is with the boy, now man, today and they have children together...It was not just a one time thing but by her account, Love...

[TechBear_Seattle]

41. So that makes the rape of a child by his teacher acceptable? n/t

[Mike Daniels]

40. The simple fact is the teacher is in a position of authority over the student

If a prison guard was having sex with inmates he'd be out on his ass w/out a job as soon as the ink dried on his resignation letter. And, in that situation we're talking about consenting adults.

I really don't care if the teacher is just out of college and the student is 17 nor whether it's male teacher/female student, female teacher/male student or same sex teacher/student. Teachers don't have sex with their students.

If the teacher is that hot to trot he/she can take a cold shower, hit the local bar/meet market, or suck it up until the student is out of high school.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Terrible. She should be in for years. Sexism. nt

[NewJeffCT]

3. Society views it differently

when it's an older woman & an underaged male.

it's not right, but that is how it is. Even on DU you'll have people saying how the boy got lucky.

Even the article is worded differently - if it was a 30 year old male teacher having sex with an 11 year-old girl, it would be called rape or statutory rape. The article calls it being sentenced for having sex with an 11 year old boy.

[hlthe2b]

4. Attitudes towards this should have changed, just like those

re: DUI...no tolerance and gender neutral when a clear adult exploits a child. This is the exception, no longer the rule. It was wrong, IMO.

Conversely the GA case-- where they threw the book at the 17 yo boy who had consensual oral sex with a 15 yo girl--was also clearly wrong, IMO. Some days we need a bit more common sense

[mondo joe]

6. Besides - the kid was 11. ELEVEN.

I'm not idealistic enough to expect gender-neutral attitudes -- but this wasn't a 16 year old boy. He was 11.

[Mike Daniels]

42. Even if it was a 16 year old boy the teacher is still the authority over the student

It's not that different from a boss having sex with an underling under his supervision even if it's consensual.

I'm not saying that the teacher should be arrested in the case of a 16 year old student but they deserve to be fired and banned from teaching.

[ComerPerro]

21. always the way it is

[yes2truth]

5. How long is enough & what exactly do YOU think...

about punishment, rehabilitation, and mercy? Are you basing your desire for more jail time on the fact that 120 days wouldn't be enough to teach YOU a lesson? That's what it sounds like.

[lukasahero]

7. She raped an 11 year old fer chrisesakes!

Do you really think 120 days is appropriate punishment for the crime of rape? (And yes, I'm using rape technically as an 11 year is not old enough to consent.)

[helderheid]

10. Jesus Christ, are you SERIOUS??

[Vickers]

23. Wow, that's the stupidest fucking reasoning I've ever seen on DU

And I've been here awhile and seen some stupid bullshit.

Congrats, I guess. :shrug:

[Pawel K]

25. Its gotta be a troll

no one around here could be that sick. Those NAMBLA types usually hang out at that other site as we all know.

[TahitiNut]

26. Would you say the same if the teacher were male and the 11-year-old female?

:eyes:

[blondeatlast]

29. Ten posts since 12/06 and you chose this one. Interesting, to say the least.

Now, go hide your profile.

Where's the "I need a Clorox shower" icon?

:puke:

[Madspirit]

37. Screw THAT

I'm one of the most leftist people on this site. I totally believe in rehabilitation. If I had my way, there wouldn't even be jails and prisons, there would just be hospitals. HOWEVER, small children have a right to be protected from predators. This 11 year old boy is going to have to bear this for life. The teacher should be sent somewhere and in my opinion, yes, rehabilitation, therapy, etc....FOR YEARS AND YEARS. Pedophilia doesn't cure up over night. What about the next little boy. What a crock. Children have a right to be protected.
Lee

[NeedleCast]

8. She plead down

From the article:

As part of a plea deal, first-degree rape of a child and indecent liberties with a child charges were dismissed. She resigned from Johnston County Schools last October as authorities investigated the allegations.

Prosecution is at fault here, most likely. Letting the defendant plead down like that is lazy and a way to get rid of cases.

There are two possibilities that the article does not bring up though. One is that there is a lack of evidence and the prosecutor is worried that they would have a hard time proving the case to a jury. Remember that under our system, it's innocent until proven guilty. If there is a shadow of doubt, a juror shold vote not guilty.

Two is that courts are overworked and pleas allow stuff to be taken off the docket. Trials take time and resources. Please don't read this as an argument for what happened here. This just reeks of lazy prosecution but there could be circumstances that the news isn't reporting.

[ComerPerro]

19. good points

[TahitiNut]

27. The 11-year-old may not have been a willing witness or (for some reason) not reliable.

Without knowing the details of the evidence available to indict, it's hard to say.

[northzax]

34. not a shadow of a doubt, of course

a 'reasonable doubt' different standard than 'shadow' in my mind, at least.

[NeedleCast]

35. You're correct

I'd edit but the edit period has expired on my previous post.

[lonestarnot]

9. Must be a bushitler or have connections to bushitlers

[opihimoimoi]

11. It was all the kids fault for being 11....he should be ashamed and go to JAIL...

I not series...LOL

[Blackhatjack]

13. There is more to this story....

She pled 'no contest' to reduced charges, and did not admit guilt. The prospect of spending 20 years if convicted as opposed to 120 days guaranteed if she took the deal obviously played into her decision.

There are reports that she was having an affair with the father of the child, the wife reported the incident with the son to the authorities. Initially there were statements made that the charges against her were revenge related for her having an affair with the husband.

I do not know the truth of what happened, but that was quite a choice for the teacher to make --120 days without admitting guilt or possibly 20 years imprisonment if she went to trial and was convicted.

[Pawel K]

14. That's what I was thinking but it really speaks volumes about our justice system

if there is no evidance why prosecute?

This is the only story I can find on this subject for some reason, do you have any other links to it by any chance?

[Blackhatjack]

22. My comments related to local news telecasts which I do not think were transcribed...n/t

[Rosemary2205]

39. IMHO no jury in the world would believe her.

She's a divorced woman having an affair with a married man. Obviously a "slut" who can't control herself. Let the kid get on the stand and talk about how he was raped and she's going to the pokey for a long long time. And we know what they do to child molesters in jail............


No one know, did she or didn't she, but the choice for her was pretty obvious.

[OneBlueSky]

15. male student + female teacher = 120 days . . . male student + male teacher = 120 years . . . n/t

.

[sampsonblk]

16. Nope, she's ugly. Throw away the key-nt

nt

[ComerPerro]

20. Wonder if she raped the student out of some sort of revenge or something?

Thought I read in the link that the mother alleged that the teacher had been having an affair with her husband as well...

[Progressive_In_NC]

24. I'm from Raleigh and the local nightly news implied,

That they didn't have enough evidence to convict, but they had to do something so they plead it down.

My wife's friend works at a school in that county next door where she taught, heard the mom had trumped up those charges and coached her son, in order to get back at the teacher for sleeping with her husband.

If she had raped the student as revenge, she would be in jail for 11-12 years most likely. The DA wouldn't plead down something this serious if he/she had specific evidence about it.

[pitohui]

31. from the sound of it the teacher didn't do ANYTHING w. the 11 year old

she slept w. the hubby and the wife and child have had their revenge by destroying this woman's life for legal acts of consensual sex w. a grown man

our "justice" system is so famous for convicting innocent people of sex crimes, where no crime occurred, that apparently the woman saw no alternative to plead down even tho she did nothing illegal

seems like this could happen to any one of us who was disliked by somebody sufficiently evil and in position to manipulate a child

i don't know why anyone teaches these days, you are gambling that absolutely everyone you come into contact w. is a person of good sense and good will and that is just not a good gamble over the long run

[bamacrat]

36. Too bad she wasnt a 17 year old black kid who got some from a 15 year old.

This is wrong, 11 a bit young to argue that he probably wanted it. In the Debra Lafave case the kid was 14 and she was hot so I can kinda see that... Oh to be a female teacher, you can have sex with anyone and only lose your job.

[Rosemary2205]

38. The 2 cases might have quite a lot in common but we'll never know.

4 other boys plead to lesser charges because a public defender convinced them they can't possibly win, whether they were actually guilty of a crime or not. Genarlow decided to fight because in his heart of hearts he knew he wasn't a criminal (or shouldn't be).

People plead to things they didn't do all the time to just make it go away so they can pick up the pieces and go on with their lives.

We will never know if this teacher raped her 11 yr old student or if the Mom got her kid to falsely accuse as payback for boinking hubby. The plea mucks the waters forever.