Posted on 08/09/2010 6:48:11 PM PDT by geraldmcg
All our young lives we’re taught to seek out the authorities when we’re in trouble. For young women who are victims of rape, this includes reporting the crime in the face of one’s own personal shame and agony to seek justice where it is due and prevent the perpetrator from raping again.
In a suburb of Pittsburgh, a startling lawsuit turns this conventional wisdom upside down. And, according to high-profile criminal attorney, Rene Sandler, no matter how the suit plays out, it reveals a disturbing lack of judgment on the part of those authorities we’re taught to trust.
The suit alleges that when a female student at Upper St. Clair High School (pictured) approached a teacher about a boy who had forcibly had sex with her after school, on school grounds, USC’s principal concocted an unusual idea.
Instead of connecting the girl with police, or even taking the teacher’s offer to walk the girl to her bus every day, the suit says the principal wanted the girl to continue roaming the grounds after school in a sting operation that would draw the boy out under security-officer surveillance.
The result? The boy took the ‘bait.’ But, because security lost track of him and the girl, he succeeded in raping her again.
A court filing on behalf of the school district revealed doubt on the part of the principal that the sex wasn’t consensual, and that he didn’t believe anyone was in danger. Instead, his objective was to put a stop to students having sex on school grounds.
Either way, Sandler says this case is “wrong on so many levels.” With any doubt at all, the strategy of the principal and security officers was beyond irresponsible. “Using a rape victim, even a self-proclaimed rape victim, as ‘bait’ to catch the alleged rapist violates all social and moral standards.”
Having established that, Sandler goes on to be a harsh critic of the tactics as well. “I think it speaks to the ineptitude of the authorities,” she says. “the lengths they will go to for cases beyond their competence. What happened to school officials and police officers walking the beat, per se, and staying connected to the public they serve in order to keep their finger on the pulse of the bad guys?”
That’s a nice looking school building. That girl is going to own it.
Utterly unbelievable.
Unreal. Was there no attempt to get DNA samples off this girl in a hospital?
They ought to do a brain scan on that Principal to see if he has one.
Where is the story of the criminal case?
Hard to classify this one but it seems a reason
ping
If I were the girl's father the principal would not have one.
Please tell me we’re talking about the ex-Principal at this point.
If I were her father, the principal wouldn’t have any balls either.
If you were the girl's father, you would have known if your daughter was raped the first time, and you would have known if she was roaming the school grounds.
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Just when you think you've heard it all, some public school system comes along and outdoes itself.
I just can't wait to see what the public school defenders do to spin, excuse, or justify this one.
What a moron......
I think there is more to this story.
Why waste the money? I'd say that he has established that he doesn't without a doubt.
ping
Pop-psychology. What was this principal thinking?
When you unhinge the social sciences from God this is the result.
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” - T. Roosevelt
This is in one of the most affluent areas of Pittsburgh. The local media has been relatively mum on the story, too.
I am not shocked by anything that concerns public schools anymore. The moron principal IMO aided the rapist & where were the parents? Did they even know of or approve this asinine idea? I would be suing everybody I could. Or the rapist & the principal & school security would face Sassy’s daddy. It wouldn’t be pretty. Actually I think I might do a better job on them. An angry mother can wreck havoc when her child is hurt.
Something along the lines of "If this is handled in the school, there won't be any bad publicity".
If the police are never notified, there is no crime. There is no scrutiny. There are no questions.
Sure, a student here or there may be crippled physically and mentally for life. But that's all secondary to the amount of paperwork the principal would have to fill out if the authorities were called. Certainly, you can see the dilemma. /s/
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