Sympathy for the Devil

I really should make a disclaimer that pretty much everything on this blog will come with an automatic trigger warning due to the nature of the material. Just sayin’.

 

I was going to make a post about my personal experiences with sexual assault and rape culture, however, various articles coming across my news feed in the last 24 hours made me decide to push that back for now.

So let’s talk a little bit about Steubenville and how rapists can be perceived in comparison to their victims, shall we?

Ma’lik Richmond, one of the two teenagers convicted of raping a 16 year old girl in Steubenville, Ohio, was released yesterday. He and his friend, Trent Mays, were found delinquent (juvie court speak for ‘guilty’) this past March. Both were given minimum sentences–Richmond was sentenced to a year, including time served, and Mays was sentenced to two years due to an added charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity related materials–basically distributing child porn since Jane Doe was underage.

As a refresher on the case, these two teenagers–football players in their high school–were at a party with their victim, who remains unnamed so shall be referred to as Jane Doe. Jane Doe became intoxicated to the point of passing out. These two young men undressed her, and penetrated her with their fingers while she was unconscious (which constitutes rape in the state of Ohio).  Mays added to the sexual assault by trying to force his penis into her mouth. They took pictures and videos of her in various states of undress and of themselves committing these acts (and others, as evidenced by pictures of semen on her body and references to urinating on her in later discussions online) and then proceeded to post them on social media sites. Their fellow football players and other friends responded to these pictures and stories of the acts by ridiculing her, joking “They raped her quicker than Mike Tyson raped that one girl” and “They peed on her. That’s how you know she’s dead, because someone pissed on her,” among other pretty awful things.

Screenshot of some examples:

The internet exploded during this trial. Lauren Nelson, author of the blog Rant Against the Random (no longer updated), took the time to compile various reactions over twitter, facebook, comments on news articles, reddit, etc–a small, but powerful sampling of the social attitudes surrounding the case. While a good majority were run of the mill victim blaming, several expressed outrage at how Richmond and Mays’ lives were now “ruined”–not because of their actions by deciding to rape this girl, but because they were caught and convicted. 

For your viewing pleasure, here are some examples:

Sorry that one ^ is so blurry. It reads “How the hell can the DZ justified [sic] ruining these young men’s life’s [sic] with a rape charge. These young men could have went on to the NFL. They could have had full careers and happy families. But not know [sic] thanks to this DA. It is just disgusting how our justice system can ruin so many lives, because of a whore who though [sic] she did not have enough attention as is. If you ask me lock up the whore for prostitution and wasting government money.”

 

And, of course, what may be the worst comment I’ve ever read on the internet:

Random people on social media sites were not the only ones to extend their sympathy to Richmond and Mays–CNN’s coverage of the verdict was notoriously biased towards how sad it was that these two teenagers had to go to prison and possibly register as sex offenders for, well, being sex offenders:

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: …I cannot imagine having just watched this on the feed coming in. How emotional that must have been sitting in the courtroom.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I’ve never experienced anything like it, Candy. It was incredibly emotional — incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart.

One of — one of the young men, Ma’lik Richmond, when that sentence came down, he collapsed. He collapsed in the arms of his attorney, Walter Madison. He said to me, “My life is over. No one is going to want me now.

[…]

You know, Paul, a 16-year-old now just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, still sound like 16 year olds. The other one, 17. A 16-year-old victim.

The thing is, when you listen to it and you realize that they could stay until they’re 21, they are going to get credit for time served. What’s the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, Candy, we’ve seen here a courtroom drenched in tears and tragedy and, you know, Poppy’s description, I think, you know, sums it all up. But across America scenes like this happen all the time.

I know as a prosecutor and defense attorney, when that verdict is handed down, usually it’s just the family and families of the defendants and the victims, there’s always that moment of just lives are destroyed. And lives have already been destroyed by the crime. And we got a chance to see that

But in terms of what happens now, yes, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law and, by the way, the laws in most other states now require such a designation in the face of such a serious crime.

That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see they’re registered sex offender. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet where these things are posted. Neighbors will know they’re a registered sex offender.

It’s really something that will have a lasting impact. Much more of a lasting impact than going to a juvenile facility for one or two years.

 

So that was all back in March. And now Richmond is out of jail. While I don’t agree with the sentence that he was given–I feel that it was far too light for a rape charge–he did serve about a total of a year, between the time between the sentencing and now, and the time he served prior to sentencing.

My issue is with the following:

a) while he will have to register as a sex offender for the next 20 years, because he was a juvenile a the time of the crime/conviction, his name will not be included on public websites, meaning he probably won’t show up on a Megan’s Law site. To me, this kind of defeats the entire purpose of him registering–what is the use if his registration does not include even his name? (Someone more versed in the law, please explain this to me. That is a genuine request). Also he can petition the courts to request to have his sex offender classification removed. This is also ridiculous to me because he is a sex offender. He did not accidentally rape, publicly humiliate, and degrade Jane Doe. He made the choice to do so.

Now I will admit that I do believe there are flaws in the sex offender registry system, namely in situations where teenagers consensually sext each other or send each other nude pictures of themselves, or where teenagers consensually have sex while one or both of them are underage (with a small age gap). I see no reason why an 18 year old should be labeled a sex offender for having consensual sex with their 16 or 17 year old boy/girlfriend, nor should they be punished for willingly distributing photos of themselves to other teens (however, if the recipient decides to distribute these pictures without the sender’s consent, that is a different story).

The difference in these scenarios, though, is consent, which does not apply in this case. Jane Doe did not consent to what was done to her by Richmond. And, in my opinion, he should not be let off the hook so easily for his crime. Jane Doe will most likely live the rest of her life affected and haunted by what was done to her. Her attackers should have to do the same.

 

My b) issue is that, again, the focus is on how much this young man ‘suffered’ throughout this ordeal. In a public statement by his attorney, the following was stated:

Ma’Lik Richmond recently completed his designated time at the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Detention Facility. The past sixteen months have been extremely challenging for Ma’Lik and his extended family. At sixteen years old, Ma’Lik and his family endured hardness beyond imagination for any adult yet alone child. He has persevered the hardness and made the most of yet another unfortunate set of circumstances in his life. As with each other obstacle, Ma’Lik has met it squarely, lifted his chin, and set his shoulders; he is braced for the balance of his life.  While away, Ma’Lik has reflected, learned, matured, and grown in many ways.  He is a better, stronger person and looks forward to school, life, and spending time with family.  At this point, Ma’Lik wants most to be a high school teenager. In conjunction with his release, Ma’Lik, his family, and guardians ask that the media respect their privacy in this matter, as we all need to heal and move on with our lives. We will have you know that Ma’Lik will be taking all the time necessary to focus on his academic and personal goals. We ask for your support and prayers as we move forward, Thank you

Now, yes, this is a statement by his lawyer, who is paid to say nice things about him and support him as a client, no matter what. That’s what defense attorneys do, and they play an integral part in our legal system.  However, it echos the same themes and statements said over and over in response to this case: The past year and a half have been challenging for him–hard beyond imagination, even. Harder than any adult (this, in and of itself, is total bullshit–a year in juvie is in no way harder than multiple years in federal prison). This is just another set of “unfortunate circumstances”, as if his choosing to rape a girl is something that just sort of happened to him out of the blue. He wants to move on and pursue his personal goals, so please let this strong, brave, mature young man do that by giving him privacy, support, and prayer.

It almost sounds like he was the one who was raped, huh?

And, while most comments I’m seeing so far have followed the line of thinking that this kid got off easy, (aside: internet comments are like a bad car accident to me. I don’t want to watch but I just can’t look away. This is my major flaw in keeping my blood pressure down most of the time), the idea that this kid’s life has been ruined by the system and by mobs unfairly out for blood continues in the land of Facebook at the very least:

 

While this post has gotten much longer than I anticipated, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t point out that this is far from the first or only time sympathy has been extended to a convicted rapist or even influenced how much of a sentence the person then has to serve. This past November, an Alabama man named Austin Smith Clem was convicted of raping his neighbor’s daughter twice when she was 14 and once when she was 18. He was technically sentenced to 40 years in prison. However, he will not serve a day of prison time and will continue to live at home. Instead, the judge ruled that Clem must serve two years in a program aimed at nonviolent criminals and three years of probation.

Let me repeat that: a program aimed at nonviolent criminals. The program is designed  to “redirect the lives of nonviolent, low-level offenders who are “likely to maintain a productive and law-abiding life as a result of accountability, guidance and direction to services they need.”

Now, lest you be worried that this is a mild punishment for a pretty terrible crime, Clem’s attorney is here to allay your fears:

“It would seem to be relatively mild. But [Clem’s] lifestyle for the next six years is going to be very controlled…If he goes to a party and they’re serving beer, he can’t say, ‘Can I have one?’ If he wanted to go across the Tennessee line, which as the crow flies is eight or nine miles from his house, and buy a lottery ticket, he can’t do that…It’s not a slap on the wrist.”

No beer? Oh man. Now that’s harsh.