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13 yo allegedly rapes 5 year old girl...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45262046/ns/us_news/t/teen-arrested-rape--year-old-mcdonalds-play-area/#.TsBjS0Pz2so

WTF has this world come to?
Do you think this "kid" should be punished as a minor or adult?

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Reply 1

Sunshine showers

It doesn't say what he actually did, but I doubt it was really rape.

Reply 2

tface

I hate when people say "what has this world come to?". The world hasn't changed we are just more aware of what is going on.

On topic, this is awful, and the kid would definitely know what he was doing IMO. 13 seems young to me now, but that is a kid in year 9! Clearly, at that age, one would expect him to know what he was doing.

Reply 3

middlj

He should be punished as a minor, since he is a minor.

EDIT:

He should be punished as a predator, since he is (and probably always will be) a predator.

What's the point of having a system of differentiation in the legal system so adults and minors can be treated appropriately when whenever a child does commit a crime everyone comes out hysterical screaming "if he is old enough to commit the crime he should be sentanced as an adult!"

I don't really have an opinion either way. I'm just saying the question in itself is moot. If there are different procedures in place for dealing with adults and children then this child should be sentanced as a child, since he is a child.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

falseprofit

Original post by middlj

He should be punished as a minor, since he is a minor.

He should be punished as a predator, since he is (and probably always will be) a predator.

Reply 5

RinniieX

a child of 13 knows what sex is, and some are doing it. so yes, he should be punished, as a minor, but seriously.

Reply 6

dollar

Like one of the comments at the bottom of the article says; we don't know if he was abused himself and was now mirroring the act? Of course no excuse but maybe not such a straightforward case.

Reply 7

Pn94

He's a child, I don't think he should be punished as strongly as an adult would be.

Instead, I'd make sure he realises what he did was extremely wrong and he does not repeat such an act again. Maybe being sent to a detention centre. Yes, I think that's achievable.

Reply 8

green chica

The people in the comments of that article are blaming the grandmother for not watching the little girl closely. How freaking typical. Instead of focusing on the rapist and his parents, they blame the victim's family. :angry:

Anyways, this is disgusting and he knows that what he did was wrong and he needs to be tried as an adult. However, this did happen in Ohio, so it really just depends on the judge's political persuasion.

Reply 9

Hype en Ecosse

The more pressing question I think is how he managed to get as far as that in the play area. I mean wtf.

Reply 10

limetang

It's a tricky one. How can you give someone the responsibilities of an adult (in the eyes of the law) when they don't have all the rights of an adult (in the eyes of the law), although at the same time it's very easy to argue that he was perfectly aware of what he was doing and should be punished as such (assuming he did it that is).

Reply 11

kopite493

the dude has to get adult tickets on planes so yeah as an adult

Reply 12

amime

Original post by adi19956

I remember being 12 and thinking the same thing 'I know what I'm doing' and this abomination did too

Think you need to re-word this, or at least clarify you knew what you were doing, when you were doing what.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 13

whatisthis47

I swear the McDonalds play area is off limits to anyone over age 9 (or thereabouts)
Forget about the parents not doing their job properly, where the hell did the worker go?!

Although, we don't know the full story to make judgements. I wanna know more like what the 13 yo thought he was doing exactly and why he did it in such a public place!

Reply 14

takethyfacehence

Original post by dollar

Like one of the comments at the bottom of the article says; we don't know if he was abused himself and was now mirroring the act? Of course no excuse but maybe not such a straightforward case.

that would make it more tragic but wouldn't really change anything. i'm sure many rapists, adult or not, mirrored the act from their own experience.

Reply 15

ArtGoblin

Original post by Hype en Ecosse

The more pressing question I think is how he managed to get as far as that in the play area. I mean wtf.

McDonald's play areas are generally those ones with loads of tubes and plastic indoors bits, so you can't see what happening inside very clearly. Like this one:

Reply 16

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by ArtGoblin

McDonald's play areas are generally those ones with loads of tubes and plastic indoors bits, so you can't see what happening inside very clearly. Like this one:

That's mental. In my head I was imagining a little fenced off area with a few blocks or something. :tongue:

Reply 17

miserlou

Original post by green chica

I agree. It's virtually impossible for parents to watch their children's every move in places like this anyway.

The boy should be tried as an adult. If he feels adult enough to engage in sexual acts then he should be prepared to be punished as an adult.

Reply 18

Kolya

""Obviously this is something we don't like to see," Lt. Hartzler said. "We tell parents don't take your eyes off your kids.""

I'm not sure the best response is even more parental supervision and restriction. Bad things happen, but sometimes risks are necessary to give children some freedom to roam and explore the world.

Reply 19

hannahhaworth

This is absolutely horrible. As others have said; thirteen sounds young but when you think about it I can remember actively making decisions at thirteen, therefore there is of course enough awareness there to know what is and isn't acceptable. Obviously your judgement isn't as good as a fully developed adult but I think that he should be trialled as an adult. It's disgusting as well; a five year old girl? That just shows that he's messed up and it wasn't just a case of being overly interested or whatever (not that this would excuse rape but you know what I mean).