Girl Forced to Apologize to Boy Who Raped Her
| Wed Aug. 17, 2011 1:38 PM PDT
A special ed girl in a Missouri middle school reported that she was raped a couple of years ago. But school officials insisted that her story was made up and badgered her into recanting:
Following instructions from the school, the girl wrote an apology to the boy she accused of raping her and had to personally give it to him, according to the lawsuit. She was then expelled for the remainder of the 2008-09 school year....The girl returned to the middle school for the 2009-10 school year and tried to avoid the boy, according to the lawsuit. It didn't work. She was sexually assaulted again [in the school library] but didn't tell anyone because she was afraid of being expelled again.I'll grant that it's impossible to know for sure what happened based on just one side of the story. Still, a forensic exam after the second rape showed that the girl had indeed been sexually assaulted, a DNA match was made to the boy she had accused of raping her, and the boy then pleaded guilty to charges in juvenile court. But the school district continues to say that it bears no responsibility for any of this. WTF?
....School officials were notified of the incident and allegedly doubted the girl's claim, saying they'd "already been through this," according to the lawsuit. The girl was also examined and found to have been sexually assaulted. However, she was suspended from school for "disrespectful conduct" and "public display of affection," her lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
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For more about this case, I encourage you to read:
Though I do not know this particular girl, this demonstrates just another case of revictimization by a system that is supposed to assist the victim. And, as we see, one of the consequences is that individuals fail to trust authorities after this occurs.
It seems inconceivable that a middle-school-aged young lady would be expected to apologize to a boy who raped her. Heck, it seems ridiculous to think that any female who is raped would forced to apologize. After all, it really isn't a claim of rape if DNA proves it occurred.
My critique of the news coverage of this case: nearly all of the stories make it clear that the young lady is categorized by the school system as "special ed". None of these stories explain why this is important, how it impacts the case, or why they mention it. Why do you think this is mentioned? How does this affect the case?
