In Ohio high school rape case, coaches, complicit students deserve punishment
An ongoing Ohio rape case has found two high school football players guilty of raping a teenage girl, although others may be charged with related crimes. The 16-year-old girl was molested while unconscious after drinking heavily, according to testimonies, during an end-of-summer party last August, but discourse has been stirred up again due to the court conviction this week. Many messages, pictures and videos portraying the event and discussions surrounding the event when it happened have been uncovered from Facebook and Twitter. Coaches of the football team are also being accused of covering for their players.
The court is now faced with deciding whether or not to charge all parties who had knowledge or evidence of the crime and neglected to report it. The opinion against doing so is in favor of a speedy trial to prevent the town from any further harm. However, the court’s primary concern is to deliver justice to the victim by charging anyone who is criminally accountable.
The court should undoubtedly uphold its responsibility to charge anyone who shares responsibility in the occurrence of a crime. Hundreds of thousands of text messages have been uncovered referring to the rape, even mocking the state of the girl and the traumatic assault she experienced. Rather than attempting to stop the attack, bystanders gathered around taking pictures and videos instead. They didn’t do anything to help, and unless punishment is delivered, they may never recognize their wrongs.
The coaches should also receive some form of disciplinary action for overlooking the criminal actions of their team players. Unfortunately, people need incentives to do the right thing and consequences to stray from doing something wrong in the future. Threatening bystanders with the possibility of legal action will force people to accept a greater degree of social responsibility.
The punishment for bystanders does not necessarily need to be a criminal charge — such a charge for being so indirectly involved would put a significant mark on their lives. But they should be shown how their actions could have contributed to the occurrence of such a heinous crime. To do so, the school could perhaps hold the bystanders responsible and implement a separate system of punishment. After all, communities should play a role in monitoring society, not just the court. The school should show support for the victim and show that it does not condone encouraging criminal acts through social media. While the desire to bring this case to a close is understandable, the problem must be addressed thoroughly by first holding all participants responsible in some shape or form.