Five New Jersey Men Arrested in Rape of Seven Year-Old
Five New Jersey men have been arrested in connection with the rape of a seven year-old, a situation that was discussed previously on our blog article for April 1, 2010. The men, whose ages are twenty, nineteen, seventeen, thirteen, and fourteen, are reportedly five of the seven men who participated in the rape of the little girl; the other two either have not been identified yet or the authorities are keeping quiet as to their identities. Each of the men was reportedly charged with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment, and prosecutors are seeking to try all of the offenders as adults.
As discussed in the previous blog dealing with this topic, trying these offenders as adults poses a serious increase in punishment. With this increase in punishment comes the burden of considering whether or not trying these young men as adults is proper under the law. While the offense is one that many will deem heinous and no doubt consisted of extremely troubling conduct, that alone is insufficient to try two kids in their early teens as adults. What also must be considered is the state of mind of the offenders during the commission of the offense and whether that warrants being taken out of the juvenile court system and tried as an adult. For example, how did the thirteen and fourteen year-old men become involved in the situation? Did they seek out the young girls and willingly participate in the conduct, or were they somehow coerced or otherwise intimidated into participating by the older men who participated. Understanding the mental state of the suspects at the time of the offense is key to the determination to try them as adults.
This offense is admittedly one that would shock the conscience of most people who read or hear about it. However, prosecutors should be wary of trying suspects as adults based solely on the nature of the offense itself. Implicit in the decision to try someone as an adult is the belief that he or she was able to reason through the decision to undertake the alleged conduct and deal with its consequences in the same manner than an adult would. Not many thirteen or fourteen year-olds are truly able to do so.
Source: http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/5-arrests-made-in-gang-rape-of-nj-7-year-old/19425574
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