Middle School Girl Expelled, Forced to Apologize to Boy Who Raped Her

[Blackwing]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...?feed=rss_home

A 7th grade girl in Missouri, described as a special education student, reported that she had been raped and was bullied by school officials to recant on the whole thing. Now the school district is calling a subsequent lawsuit over the matter ‘frivolous’ and claiming that the girl failed to protect herself.

And yes, it gets worse:

Following instructions from the school, the girl wrote an apology to the boy she accused of raping her and had to personally give it to him, according to the lawsuit. She was then expelled for the remainder of the 2008-09 school year. The school also told "juvenile authorities" that she filed a false report.

The girl returned to the middle school for the 2009-10 school year and tried to avoid the boy, according to the lawsuit. It didn’t work. She was sexually assaulted again but didn’t tell anyone because she was afraid of being expelled again, her lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. She was allegedly raped a second time Feb. 16, 2010.

School officials were notified of the incident and allegedly doubted the girl’s claim, saying they’d "already been through this," according to the lawsuit. The girl was also examined and found to have been sexually assaulted. However, she was suspended from school for "disrespectful conduct" and "public display of affection," her lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

As Drum notes, there’s two sides to every story. But the boy pleaded guilty in court to unspecified charges. Again, there’s no telling what actually happened without more details (and hopefully the lawsuit brings those details to the surface) and a guilty plea isn’t the same thing as actual guilt, but it sure doesn’t look like the school did the right thing in this case no matter how you spin it.

Intimidating and then expelling a girl for reporting sexual assault is just cruel. Yes, people do lie about these things, and yes we should always err on the side of caution, but caution goes both ways and ought to apply just as much to alleged victims. This looks like nothing so much as retaliation on the part of the school district. The question is: why?


In February 2010, the boy allegedly forcibly raped the girl again, this time in the back of the school library. While school officials allegedly expressed skepticism of the girl, her mother took her to the Child Advocacy Center and an exam showed a sexual assault had occurred. DNA in semen found on the girl matched the DNA of the boy she accused, the suit says

http://www.news-leader.com/article/2...2/1002/SPORTS/




School board needs a Attitude adjustment they are a complete joke blaming the victim ?

[FlyingTrue]

Based on the news story I'm betting the whole reason she recanted in the first place was because she was bullied by the school officials. I think all of the people responsible for doing this to her need to be fired and charged criminally for this. It is all very outrageous. The school board doesn't stand a chance here.

Also I think this thread needs a triggering tag.

[Heretic]

Assuming all of what this girl says is true (and I believe it is), I hope that this story really does get out into the open. The school administrators should be ashamed of themselves, and deserve the humiliation of being fired and possibly charged with criminal offenses for suppressing the sexual assault reports, intimidating the victim and denying knowledge of the events (as well as failure to protect the girl).

I see stories like this from around the United States from time to time, albeit not nearly as bad as this. I always wonder how the school boards and administrators think they can weasel their way out of explaining their misdeeds, inaction or neglect. It disgusts me.

[Casey.]

This is pretty terrible. The school should not have treated the girl like that. If they were skeptical, they should have sent her to a doctor. They should not have discounted it entirely and blamed it on her. That's just wrong. The poor girl.

[Blackwing]

Originally Posted by Casey.

This is pretty terrible. The school should not have treated the girl like that. If they were skeptical, they should have sent her to a doctor. They should not have discounted it entirely and blamed it on her. That's just wrong. The poor girl.

Whats even worse is she was Raped again after the fact the school did jack Sh*t the first time.

[Guile]

If true, this is quite terrible, but can we fully give weight to the accounts of a well, "mentally handicapped" individual? I think a real investigation needs to be made, and not accept her report at full value without evidence.

[FlyingTrue]

It's on CNN now:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/18/...aim/index.html

[Age of Ignorance]

EDIT2: And here I was thinking it was the school board filing a law suit AGAINST the girl. The following is written as such, and I don't really want my work to go to waste. For future reference, remind me not read anything that's confusing.

If this is true, I'll deeply regret what I'm about to say and my heart will definitely go out to this girl.

Let's just clarify this: I see no evidence to the contrary that she was raped the second time, and some evidence support it, though we all have an idea on how credible these tabloids can be, which causes me to doubt the credibility of that evidence (or if it even exists).

The problem is, the school board filed that suit on the basis that she may have humiliated the boy and defamed the school, which is a credible and (albeit ridiculous) valid claim. Whilst the boy may have "pleaded guilty" to an unspecified charge, no one seems to know what that charge is - and if he is found guilty of rape, then the school board will ultimately not be able to sue for damages, but she will be able to counter-claim under the tort of negligence. However, if he is found not guilty of rape (which seems to be why the school board filed the suit in the first place - she was making seemingly ridiculous allegations against the boy, which indirectly affected the school's reputation), then both he and the school board will most likely be successful (for nominal damages, no doubt), though their behaviour in the matter would probably also give rise to a counter-claim on her part (under the intentional tort of intentionally causing emotional distress.

HOWEVER, the school board could also lose this similar to the way O.J. Simpson got sued under the tort of wrongful death. If the boy is found not guilty for rape under criminal jurisdiction (because the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases), he may still be found guilty of rape on the balance of probabilities, as the evidence may suggest to the jurors/judge(s) that he did rape her, and it was more likely he did than not.

But again, there's no way to see if what the defence has written in the law suit is anything more than a cock-up, nor do I know whether or not the Child Advocacy Centre is a credible examination centre (I mean, even if there's one foot out of place in the person who took the exam; they "just wanted to help the mentally disabled girl," rather than actually having conclusive evidence that she was raped) - it seems to me that they somehow magically managed to get ahold of the boy's DNA without following necessary procedures. I would imagine that, for the evidence of rape to hold up (or furthermore, 'sound'), it would have to be done by police - in which case, if the evidence was conclusive against the boy, he would be charged with rape (providing he's over the age of 14 and is not mentally disabled as well).

If he is under the age of 14 and is mentally disabled, the police CANNOT charge him (at least, that is the case in Victoria, Australia), though he can still be found liable for the damage he caused the girl if the evidence suggests it - and even then, it would be his parents being sued and not him. Furthermore, she could then sue the school board under the aforementioned tort.

This seems to be a big problem with civil claim: you can't squeeze blood from a stone. I suppose that's why a contract made with a person who is bankrupt is considered illegal and thus void, simply because that person cannot possibly be awarded damages against them when they have no money.

EDIT: I like waffles; so much so that when I went to reread this post, I said to myself "tl;dr," and that was the end of it.

EDIT3:
Let's redo this. Simply because I like this case already.
She has a very strong case, regardless of what I said earlier - I mean, she filed the suit, not the school board. She has a strong case under the tort of negligence - if the boy is found guilty (on the balance). The school board has a strong case for counter-claim should he be found not guilty (in a civil proceding, not a criminal one).

Also, I do think a formal criminal proceding needs to take place if anything is going to go forward with this case. If the boy is found guilty of rape in a criminal court, his parents will be liable and so will the school. I think the lawyers in this case might have jumped the gun too fast.

[thefirstlady]

Originally Posted by Guile

If true, this is quite terrible, but can we fully give weight to the accounts of a well, "mentally handicapped" individual? I think a real investigation needs to be made, and not accept her report at full value without evidence.

They do have evidence she was sexually assaulted, plus DNA evidence in the form of semen from the boy she said did it.

That being said, the actions of the the school officials are just appalling. Every last one of them involved needs to be fired for their actions.

[NevermindMe]

Originally Posted by Guile

If true, this is quite terrible, but can we fully give weight to the accounts of a well, "mentally handicapped" individual? I think a real investigation needs to be made, and not accept her report at full value without evidence.

Exactly, I mean if the girl is truly handicapped, then it is possible that her account may not be accurate.

However I think an investigation should have been made the second she made a complaint, rather than brushing her off as a "Retard".

- Justin

[dr2005]

I hope the school board themselves have a good legal team on standby, because they could end up with the mother and father of all damages claims landing on their heads if it turns out they indeed failed to act on a rape complaint and allowed a second rape to occur as a result. That has "negligence" written all over it frankly.

On the credible witness point which has been raised, disability alone is not sufficient to render a witness testimony unreliable - applying such a blanket principle is deeply flawed, to say nothing of contrary to the principles governing admissibility of evidence. The reliability of a witness can only be realistically judged on a case-by-case basis. In any event, in an instance such as this she would most likely be deemed incapable of giving informed consent and so the boy in question would likely be charged with statutory rape or a lesser sexual assault, unless it could be demonstrated that she was in fact capable of giving informed consent. As such, in light of the physical evidence it is actually down to the defendant to prove that valid consent existed or he had reasonable grounds for believing it existed. Most statutes concerning rape and sexual offences are quite clear on that point.

[BBECK DeChamp]

I have one picture that describes my full response and i bet alot of others aswell

[Loving Linux Penguin]

To be totally honest with you, as others have said, this is ridiculous. Each and EVERY claim of sexual assault, or ANY assault for that matter, needs to be investigated FULLY, and they need to pay attention to evidence here...there is NO REASON for them to ignore the fact that evidence was found during a medical examination. This is a serious thing, and they treat it like a joke. Why does nobody have their head screwed on properly anymore? Come on, world!! Get with it!!!

[Fabrication]

<__< shit like this pisses me off, I don't understand how people think anymore. If I were her I would do my best to my ability to sue every single person who was involved in the case for every penny they own. Our society is getting ridiculous.

[MegaMadness]

If it's true that's just awful.

[Magical Forest.]

I've been raped, and if I'd been treated like that... I can't bear to think about it. Poor girl.

[forfrosne]

Originally Posted by ✖Truth✖

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...?feed=rss_home

A 7th grade girl in Missouri, described as a special education student, reported that she had been raped and was bullied by school officials to recant on the whole thing. Now the school district is calling a subsequent lawsuit over the matter ‘frivolous’ and claiming that the girl failed to protect herself.
...

In February 2010, the boy allegedly forcibly raped the girl again, this time in the back of the school library. While school officials allegedly expressed skepticism of the girl, her mother took her to the Child Advocacy Center and an exam showed a sexual assault had occurred. DNA in semen found on the girl matched the DNA of the boy she accused, the suit says

http://www.news-leader.com/article/2...2/1002/SPORTS/