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03-29-2011, 04:17 PM
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 Smartest Retard Poster Rank:188 Female Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 8,011 Mentioned: 1 Post(s) Quoted: 34 Post(s)
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South Memphis Boys, Ages 7 and 9, Admit to Rape of Toddler to
Prosecutor seeks treatment, not punishment for children Two boys, ages 7 and 9, have admitted to raping a toddler. The 2-year-old victim's brother, age 5, saw the two neighborhood boys abusing his sister and told his mother. The boys initially blamed each other but gave similar details about the Aug. 9 crime, which included penetration. Both boys later admitted to the crime to avoid a trial. During a Shelby County Juvenile Court hearing Monday, Magistrate Dan Michael is scheduled to decide whether to remove the boys from their South Memphis homes. Due to their ages and details of the case, prosecutor Chris Lareau said he will ask the judge to place the boys in state custody for treatment, not punishment. The focus is now on determining what led to the crime, Lareau said. "Are they watching porn with big brothers and uncles? Have they been sexualized, molested?" the prosecutor said. "We're not trying to lock these kids up." Defense attorney James Sanders, who is representing the 9-year-old, said he agrees that his client should be removed from the home for his own protection. He believes his client has himself been physically and sexually abused. "What happened to this victim is horrible, nobody is minimizing that," Sanders said. "But my client has a lot of problems and needs some immediate help. "Somebody's got to rescue this kid," he said. Barry Mitchell, chief probation officer for Juvenile Court, said the two boys are the youngest to be charged with rape in Shelby County during his 11-year tenure. However, sex crimes by juveniles are common, Lareau said. "I'm seeing three of these sorts of cases a month," he said. In one recent case, a 10-year-old raped a 6-year-old, and three boys, ages 11, 13 and 15, are awaiting trial in adult court on charges of raping a toddler. Juvenile sex crimes, ranging from sexual touching to penetration with injury, increased by 19.5 percent in 2010 compared to the previous year, said Jerry Maness, the director of court services for Juvenile Court. More than 150 sexual offenses were blamed on minors last year, compared to 128 in 2009, he said. Link. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...pe-of-toddler/ |
