The Pros and Cons of Athletic Prowess

February was Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month--but apparently not everyone embraced the message.  It is not a month to encourage violence against women.  But it appears that many in Steubenville, OH disagree.  Two high school girls have been charged with harassing and threatening not the perpetrators of rape but the victim.  Her identity was revealed not just by her rapists, but also by mainstream media--if the boys who raped her were going to be punished at the behest of the public, so too would the victim.

Here is the story:   Two high school football stars were found guilty on Sunday of raping a 16-year-old intoxicated girl last summer, then taking pictures of it, tweeting about it, and posting pictures of her nude on the internet, in a case that drew national attention for the way social media spurred the initial prosecution and later helped galvanize national outrage.  Please note--the community law enforcement valued the perpetrators, both star football players, over a girl who could not consent to what they physically did to her, and then proceeded to publically humiliate her as well.  Not making themselves look like good boyfriend material in the process, no doubt about that, but until there was more widespread outrage, the plan was to sweep their crime under the carpet, giving the message to all athletes that the law does not apply to them.

Because the victim did not remember what had happened, scores of text messages and cellphone pictures provided much of the evidence. They were proof as well, some said, that Steubenville High School’s powerhouse football team held too much sway over other teenagers, who documented and traded pictures of the assault while doing little or nothing to protect the girl.
      

One of the football players, Trent Mays, 17, who had been a quarterback, was sentenced to serve at least two years in the state juvenile system. The other, Ma’lik Richmond, 16, who had played wide receiver, was sentenced to serve at least one year. Both could end up in juvenile jail until they are 21, at the discretion of the State Department of Youth Services.

      

Mr. Mays’s minimum sentence is twice as long as Mr. Richmond’s because he was found to be delinquent beyond a reasonable doubt — the juvenile equivalent of guilty — not just of rape but also of distributing a nude image of a minor.

 

I will not argue that incarceration is likely to increase either of these teens respect for women. Not hardly.  There is nothing good to come of caging people up.  So I beg to differ with commentators who argue that they have been saved from becoming adult rapists.  But wrong is wrong.  Athletes, from childhood into professional sports, are not above the law.  The ability to perform on the football field in the 21st century should not give you license to rape and pilage with impugnity.  But not everyone agrees.

 

A society that values it's athletes over it's citizens is bound to continue to reap what it sows.  The seeds are spoiled in Steubenville, and the plague is not limited to them.  CNN demonstrated that sports equals money for broadcasting, and they knew what side their bread was buttered on.