By Cheryl Mattox Berry
There are enough lessons to last a lifetime stemming from the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case involving two high school football stars. So, read carefully.
Juvenile Court Judge Thomas Lipps found Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, guilty of digitally penetrating a 16-year-old girl. Mays was also found guilty of distributing a nude image of a minor. Digital penetration is considered rape in Ohio.
Lipps, who described the evidence as “profane and ugly,” said this case should teach teenagers how to conduct themselves when alcohol is present and “how to record things on social media that are so prevalent today.”
Other teens at the party took cellphone pictures of the girl who was drunk, naked and passed out. They circulated photos and text messages about the incident last August as if they were the latest bootleg copy and reviews of a box office hit.
The girl woke up the next morning with no idea how she got to the living room basement or what had happened to her. However, many of her friends knew and had seen a picture of her naked.
This case raises so many questions. Where were the adults? Why did this girl drink until she passed out? Didn’t any of her friends see that she was in bad shape and try to take her home? Why didn’t anyone call 911? Didn’t they know that she could have died from alcohol poisoning?
Students involved in the incident – participating, watching, videotaping, photographing or forwarding the images – showed lack of empathy, compassion, morals, ethics and integrity. They had no sense of what is right and wrong. And this was wrong, very wrong.
I ask each of them, “How would you feel if that was your sister?” If you don’t think it could happen to your sister or another family member, think again. I’m sure the victim couldn’t have imagined her classmates doing something like that to her either.
Because this is real life and not a movie, the boys don’t get a do-over. They must deal with the consequences of their actions. Mays got two years in detention; Richmond, one year. They could end up in a juvenile facility until they’re 21, at the discretion of the State Department of Youth Services.
What’s worst is that this case will follow everyone involved for the rest of his or her life.