Officials: 12 1st- and 2nd-grade boys sexually assault girl

[ECH1969]

Twelve boys in the first and second grade at a St. Louis elementary school are accused of sexually assaulting a second-grade girl during recess, authorities said Tuesday.

One teacher who was supposed to be supervising the recess has been fired, and another suspended with pay, school superintendent Creg Williams said. Ten of the boys, ages 6 to 8, were suspended for the rest of the school year.

Police turned the investigation over to juvenile authorities. A court official said the boys could face misdemeanor counts of sexual misconduct and assault.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/10/gradeschool.allegedassault.ap/index.html

[benburch]

1. My wife is a social worker who used to work with sex offender youth.

Most youths who sexually offend have themselves been sexually abused.

Likely the courts and the child welfare agency will put these boys into a program such as the one my wife worked in.

[Boomer]

3. One can hope

But that's not necessarily a forgone conclusion. Some areas of the country are more concerned with punishment than intervention and breaking the cycle of abuse.

[madeline_con]

25. But... 12 kids??!

All 12 abused, so they did? That sounds at least unlikely. More like mob mentality.

[me b zola]

29. I think that mob mentality is part of it

But the child(ren) who iniciated it have deeper issues. Sick things happen when children are sexualized too young (pre-puberty). I in no way believe that any of the children should face incarceration, they are far too young to have any concept of the repercussions of their actions. All of those involved, though, need serious mental health intervention. Those who initiated the sexual assualt have even deeper needs that could bode badly for them & society if they do not receive the help that they need.


Just horrible. Anyway that you slice it this is horrible.

[benburch]

33. One or two likely were.

The rest went along with their peers.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

2. Looks like

end times are coming.

[ECH1969]

5. lol

[TheWraith]

4. This sounds very fishy.

You don't get 12 six and seven year old kids all sexually assaulting someone together. The odds are astronomical. Two, maybe, three or four at a stretch. But a dozen together is highly improbable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Oh I believe it

We had a similar incident in my district about 20 years ago. It was 15 boys and they pinned a girl against the fence, ripped her shirt off and took turns feeling her breasts, She was a 3rd grader and the boys were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. A 1st grader stood there and watched.

It happened after school as the kids were walking home. They were about a block away. A kid ran back to school to get help or who knows what more this gang of kids would have done to that poor girl.

[sonsera]

6. This boggles my mind

I never even thought about sex when I was in the first and second grade, didn't even know what it was. I still believed in Santa Claus. O8)

[libhill]

11. No kidding -

what the hell's this country coming to? When I was that age, all I knew was that that thing was for taking a pee??? wtf? Even in early puberty I was clueless about sex, females were a complete unknown to me...

[katty]

17. me either! sex was something weird mom&dad did

[High Plains]

7. This sounds like the kind of thing that used to be handled by

calling the kids' parents to the office.

I can't help but suspect that this is less "sexual assault" than "playing doctor."

Are we building kiddie prisons yet?

[callous taoboy]

8. Don't be so sure about that:

I walked in on a kindergarten boy going down on a kindergarten girl in a student bathroom. I also found out that a first grade boy in my class was giving head on the school bus. Kids are being exposed to graphic sex at an earlier age and are acting upon this stimuli.

[benburch]

10. Likely that boy had been sexually abused himself.

Its not porn that is doing this. It is adults who abuse children in their care who then re-enact the abuse.

[Horse with no Name]

23. Exactly.

The odds that all of the boys were sexually abused is a stretch...but even if the one who was a "leader" was abused, his "followers" would simply do what their friend was doing.

[helderheid]

22. "Kids are being exposed to graphic sex at an earlier age"

If you mean being abused, perhaps - just "Kids are being exposed to graphic sex at an earlier age" I don't buy. The US is a puritanical society in love with violence and freaked by sex. You look at the media in other countries where the naked body is less taboo and you find far fewer sexual hangups.

[benburch]

24. Exactly.

But that idea is part of an organized RW censorship campaign that uses porn as its rallying point, but which really aims to purge all thought that is not in line with fundamentalist "Christianity".

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Oh it happens

My friend who teaches 1st grade caught two of her boys in the bathroom last year engaged in oral sex.

[Ilsa]

9. A girl I knew was raped in fifth grade (ten years old) by a boy in

the same class, same age. Over-sexually stimulated kids, and this was in the late 1960's. Her reputation was always trashed after that, whereas the boy was hailed for his prowess.

[libhill]

12. Stop the world -

I wanna get off. What a sick, disgusting, despicable goddamn excuse for a society...

[tjwash]

13. STOP THE PRESSES!!

We have a real scandal.:eyes:

Two weeks from now there will be a disclaimer in fine print buried on page 115 of their web site, under the ad for preparation H that say's "oops. We apologize, the story about the first graders was wrong."

[progressivebydesign]

14. you have no idea what type of entertainment some parents let kids watch.

It doesn't shock me that kids that age would act out violently and sexually. I notice when I'm in video stores, what type of videos parents are renting for little boys.. they aren't Disney movies. Parents think nothing of letting a young child watch PG-13 movies (which used to be R, really). What do people expect raising kids in an over violent over sexualized entertainment environment? It sickens me how badly people raise their children.. because that's where it comes from. I worked at a home for kids who were neglected, abused, or sexually abused.. you have no idea what some people do to their children, and it has to come out somewhere. All it takes is one or two charismatic kids to lead others into something like that assault. I hope they get those kids into treatment, as part of the suspension. I agree with the suspension, because the girl they attacked has to feel safe at school, and they have to answer for their behavior. BUT.. they have to get those kids into counseling, and take hard looks at their family dynamics.. because in one or two of those families you'll find the answer. First and Second graders do not get the idea of sexual assault out of nowhere...

[Thorandmjolnir]

15. This is a weird story

I have read the story twice, and apart from the headline and what some official say the kids are facing, there is nothing in the story that indicates what kind of behavior resulted in the charge of sexual assault.

[benburch]

18. They legally can disclose no details. nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. Thank you

Why do we not realize that about these kids in trouble stories?

[benburch]

30. I don't know.

I would have thought that more people would understand the juvenile justice system, but that would appear not to be the case.

[KingFlorez]

16. What in the heck?!?!

This is crazy!

[seabeyond]

19. without any more information than we have i am not assuming anything

buying into it nada./..... could go so many ways. dont let the lack of information out a story into your head cause we just do not know

kids are being rounded it for touching and kissing being sexual assault to from what some say in the thread and i dont know how much i buy it, giving head in first grade, in a bathroom

i KNOW this has not been going on in my kids world and i am not hearing it all over the place with the adults i know so ....

i am not needing to stop the world so i can jump off, ... yet

[Ksec]

20. Probably evil Caucasian boys

Damn .

[nonconformist]

31. Huh? nt

[Hubert Flottz]

21. Young Republicans?

They must have seen on the TV, what the GOPers at the Watergate were up to!

What an example the "LEADERS in Washington are...Whan can we tell the children?

[nonconformist]

32. I can't even wrap my brain around this.

I have a first grade boy, 8 years old, and I can't even comprehend this.

I hope there will be some investigations into the home lives of these boys, because that is extremely disturbing.