Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook

[DonViejo]

Three Chicago teens are charged with a horrible sexual assault. They allegedly posted the video on social media

BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

It’s yet another story of how social media can apparently become a tool for abuse — and evidence of it. But the lesson seems all wrong. In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook.

Prosecutors say the girl went to the home of Scandale Fritz last December and, “after she declined his demands for sex, he raped and sodomized her,” and then “demanded the girl have sex with the other two boys” while he recorded it. Chillingly, prosecutors add that Fritz’s companion Kenneth Brown can be seen holding a gun in the video. After the incident, the girl filed a police report and was examined at a local hospital. Two days after the alleged assault, the video appeared on all three boys’ Facebook pages. Prosecutors say that Fritz has already provided “a handwritten statement to his involvement.”

This is just the latest in a demoralizing spate of stories involving sexual assault as porny entertainment. Last year, Jared Len Cruise was convicted of sexual assault in a brutal gang rape of an 11-year-old Texas girl — a crime that was recorded on a cell phone and circulated around the girl’s school. In April, 17-year-old Halifax student Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide 18 months after allegedly being raped — and having a photo of the event distributed among her classmates. After her death, her mother wrote on her Facebook page, “Rehtaeh is gone today because of the four boys that thought that raping a 15-year-old girl was OK and to distribute a photo to ruin her spirit and reputation would be fun.” Local authorities had found “insufficient evidence to proceed with charges,” despite the fact that the image alone would be considered child porn under Canada law.

-snip-

The Chicago story is still unfolding, but here’s what is known so far: It involves a young man, who prosecutors say admits to making a video, and a 12-year-old child. Yet again, it wasn’t enough to just do something awful. It had to be documented; it had to become a trophy to be shown off. In an interview with Business Insider last month, psychology professor and sexual violence expert Dr. Rebecca Campbell noted that, “Sexual assault is a crime of power and dominance. By distributing images of the rape through social media, it’s a way of asserting dominance and power to hurt the victim over and over again.”

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/worst_horrifying_new_trend_posting_rapes_to_facebook/

[geek tragedy]

1. Life in prison, no Facebook access in prison. nt

[patrice]

2. I can't help but wonder what these families are like. How can this happen? nt

[gollygee]

3. If they posted it to Facebook

does that mean they weren't aware they were committing a crime? It doesn't seem like they'd post a video of them breaking into a convenience store on Facebook.

[geek tragedy]

4. They know it, they just think they can get away with it.

Because convenience stores are generally considered more worthy of protection than the girls who are their classmates.

[MadrasT]

5. It does make one wonder. n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. So, both horribly sick and flabbergastingly stupid. WTF??!!! nt

[redqueen]

7. more here

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/22/12-year-old-girl-raped-at-gunpoint-by-3-teen-boys-then-posted-on-facebook/

[cui bono]

8. This is really disturbing. Read this today and posted a new article by same person.

You can see it here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022885277