There is a sharp disconnect between two prank stories this morning. When Tyrell Morton put an inflatable girl in the girl’s bathroom at his high school, he ended up with a felony charge and a potential jail sentence of eight years. However, when three eighth-grade girls from Dunbar Middle school in Florida tackled an 11-year-old boy and stripped him naked (and proceeded to videotape him and taunt him), they were let go as a simple prank in bad taste.
In the video, the girls stop the boy to chat and then hold him down, strip him naked, and mock him. The video was put on YouTube.
The boy is a fifth grader at Ray Pottorf Elementary. One girl faced a single misdemeanor battery charges, but it was abandoned when the boy’s mother has refused to press charges. I commend her for her restraint, but I wonder what the charge would be if a group of boys attacked and stripped a girl in public, videotaped her, and mocked her.
I tend to disfavor criminal charges in such cases. However, it seems clear that the girls should be expelled and subject to the most severe forms of school punishment. What I find interesting, however, is the sharply different treatment given such acts by boys as opposed to girls. Indeed, I doubt seriously this would have even confined to a misdemeanor if the genders were reversed or that, with the existence of the videotape, the failure to press charges would be determinative. If the police witness or have evidence of a felony, they do not necessarily require the consent of the victim. Once again, I would not take this to the criminal system. Yet, I am surprised that the articles only refer to the possibility of parental punishment as opposed to immediate expulsion and other measures, such as denial of social clubs, graduation etc.
Jonathan Turley
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“On the other hand, I’m sure the girls in question would have been expelled if they had Midol in their purses for treatment of menstrual cramps.”
You’re right about this, but instead of making it a boy v. girl, patriarchal, sugar and spice v. snips and snails, feminist thing, why don’t you actually act as a moral adult and put and end to robotic lawyer approved zero tolerance practices?
Different anon from above.
Question:
Why is it up to the mother to press charges? Why is this not up to the prosecutor? How is any of this at any time in a criminal matter up to the victim?
Opinion:
While I don’t think this is necessarily a matter for law, I also disagree with the suggestion “that the girls should be expelled and subject to the most severe forms of school punishment.”
What is important is that boys and girls are treated equally. What is not important is zero tolerance demands that expels kids and subjects them to the most severe forms of punishment without some sort of appealable legal process.
According to the article, the boy and at least one of the older girls were friends. This was a prank gone awry. That tells me that regardless of the gender of the perpetrator and victim, this may not call for expulsion and the most severe form of school punishment.
Are you calling for this because a) you honestly feel that’s what the situation requires, or b) that’s what would happen to a group of boys in 2011? I am saying the answer may be c) the 2011 punishment is stupid, cruel, abusive, inflexible, and surely the product of some dumbass lawyers meeting with a dumbass bureaucrat.
Wikipedia has me covered: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur_Posse
Some things…..just some things make no sense…and this…could it be a prank or a reflection of parenting kills…..or are these Carolyn Warmous wanna be’s….
Although its a prank…and yes the out cry would be different if the sexes were reversed…but my god…what trauma would be wrought on the boy if he would be called to testify….
I heard a something this weekend….Somethings just shouldn’t be tried…
I don’t understand why the mother refused to press charges. It was a criminal act and I question the parent’s ability to handle it appropriately, if their kids are capable of doing this in the first place. I think they need to be tried and given community service or something to fully understand the extent of what they did.
What endearing naivete you all show, in the belief that boys acting in this manner toward girls would be expelled or imprisoned! A generation ago, when my daughter was in elementary school, her school had a tradition known as Friday Flip-Up Day. If any girl was inattentive enough to wear a skirt or dress on a Friday, groups of boys would knock them down and pull their skirts up over their waists.
When I complained to a playground monitor, her answer was, “Boys will be boys.” When I complained to the principal, he seemed to take me seriously. I don’t know what measures he took, as I moved to another school district. I did notice, a few years later, a scandal that hit the newspapers; at the high school fed by this elementary school, boys in clubs raped girls for points. I don’t have the link, but if you google “Spur Posse,” (the name of the club) you can probably find the story. It didn’t surprise me at all.
On the other hand, I’m sure the girls in question would have been expelled if they had Midol in their purses for treatment of menstrual cramps.
In North Carolina, a first grade boy was expelled for “sexual harassment” after giving a little girl a peck on the cheek. I am waiting for common sense to come back. I fear I am going to have a long wait.
My god … can you imagine three 8th grade boys stripping a fifth grade girl, video taping her, mocking her and posting the whole thing on YouTube?
I’m sorry but there is no way in hell this incident qualifies as an innocent prank.
According to one source the boy’s mother only found out about it after his older brother had seen the vid on-line. “Fort Myers Police says the girl would have faced misdemeanor battery charges, but that the boy’s mother has refused to press charges. She wants the girls’ parents to hand out a punishment instead.” (http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2011-06-01/Online-video-shows-Fort-Myers-boy-being-bullied)
Now that’s an interesting reaction … I have to think about it.
Nay & Buddha,
“If the genders were reversed the outcry would be deafening.”
I agree.
Nal,
Yep.
____________
“[F]ind them each alone and kick their skanky asses.” Awwww. Someone sounds bitter. Speaking from personal experience, are ya? My but you are a good role model for children on appropriate dispute resolution.
Why are these girls not guilty of distribution of child pornography? There have been stories on this blog of underage boys being listed as sexual predators because their underage girlfriends sent them a sexting picture. Here you have girls attacking, taking pictures, and posting them to the Internet. That poor boy will be scarred for the rest of his life.
I agree. If the genders were reversed the outcry would be deafening.
The kid should just find them each alone and kick their skanky asses. But then their mothers would probably have the kid on death row or facing life in prison.
Kids used to handle this type of thing themselves after school.
These are very inflated charges, the naked truth will make him free.
merry girls!
That was no prank! If these girls thought what they did to this boy was funny, I’d say they need some therapy.
Could this matter be handled in a juvenile court?
Good for this mother to not press charges. She is absolutely correct that it should be the responsibility of the parents to meet out punishments. And she should keep tabs on what happens to the girls. If some kind of just punishment isn’t given out, then she should press charges.
This poor kid. Sounds like he has an awesome mom capable of helping him overcome this nasty attack.
I’ll chime in as agreeing with the others. These girls deserve expulsion and public scorn, not 15 minutes of fame on YouTube for a nasty film.
I totally agree: these girls should be punished somehow. How are boys supposed to respect others’ boundaries if their own are discounted? If it’s wrong to do to girls, it’s wrong to do to boys.
My son is in fifth grade. Tell me that kid won’t be scarred for life by this. You can be darned sure I would be doing everything in my power to get those girls expelled, ON TOP of pressing charges. My god.