Steubenville Rapist Returns To High School Football Team

[Reverend Conehead]

Here's where winning is not the most important thing. This kid who was convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl has been allowed to return and play for his high school football team. That sucks. Mind you, this is a case of an actual conviction in a court of law. It's not a conviction in the court of public opinion. I've been critical in the past of people jumping to the conclusion that someone is a rapist before we know all the facts. This isn't one of those cases. Like the commentators said, you can be kicked off a high school football team for any number of things less serious than rape: Bad grades, smoking pot, swearing. He must be a really good player for them to want him back so bad.

There isn't any player who's a good enough athlete for me to want on my team if he's a rapist. I don't want Michael Vick, and he's not even a rapist. He's guilty of being cruel to animals. IMO rape is more serious than that. I'm generally in favor of giving people second chances, but come on. Raping a 16-year-old girl is so awful that I can't imagine the guy who did that back on the team. His second chance is already really generous just in his not having been tried as an adult and only having to have done a year in jail.

Here's the video. Judge for yourself.

 

[justbob]

Watch yourself very closely with your comments on this thread.

 

[EST_1986]

Yea I agree with this. A convicted rapist shouldn't be in high school sports it sends a terrible and wrong message to the rest of the kids on the team.

 

[WV Cowboy]

He can play for the steelers, .. Big Ben can show him around.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Ridiculous. How this kind of garbage ever happens is completely beyond me.

 

[Denim Chicken]

How is he even back in school? Shouldn't he be in a juvenile detention center or something?

 

[5Stars]

Well, according to Screamin Steven Smith, the girl probably had it coming! What a punk!

 

[joseephuss]

How is he even back in school? Shouldn't he be in a juvenile detention center or something?

He only got a 1 year sentence, which seems very lenient and served 9 months of that time. He has been back in school since January.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/features/...up-scrimmage-ohsaa-explains-bylaws-5315.shtml

 

[tantrix1969]

I would think as a sex offender he wouldn't have been allowed to go within xx feet of any school. That he is not only back at the SAME school but playing football again there is insanity

 

[joseephuss]

I didn't read much of this story just after it occurred, but I have been catching up with it this week. The obvious question is why is this young man back playing football, but that isn't the end of the "why" questions. Why does the football coach still have a job? Why was the sentence for both players so light? Why weren't other people involved also punished? It is depressing reading some of the aftermath of this poor child's rape and how little just was actually applied.

 

[casmith07]

Deplorable.

 

[Tawney88]

I didn't read much of this story just after it occurred, but I have been catching up with it this week. The obvious question is why is this young man back playing football, but that isn't the end of the "why" questions. Why does the football coach still have a job? Why was the sentence for both players so light? Why weren't other people involved also punished? It is depressing reading some of the aftermath of this poor child's rape and how little just was actually applied.

The superintendent covered it up, coaches in football and in other sports covered it up, teachers ignored it and law enforcement refused to pursue it. The football coach technically isn't doing anything wrong now by allowing the kid to play but this is woefully unacceptable behavior by people charged with protecting children and the public. Until I watched the video I was thinking there had to be more maybe an injunction or something that stated the kid couldn't be furthered punished by the school. Nope that doesn't seem to be the case that district is just full of people who care more about football then they do about the students under their charge.

 

[Tawney88]

All that said if the kid left the district and went to another school I'd have less of an issue with this but to attend the sane school and be able to play at the same school is not giving the right message to your students or community. If I were the girls parents I'd be suing the district, not necessarily because of this but because if the actions of the district.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

I'd have a hard time rooting for a convicted rapist.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Was it forced sex or was he convicted only because she was young? If it was his girlfriend and her parents ratted him out because she was young, that would be different in my eyes thant if it was a random violent sexual assault.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Was it forced sex or was he convicted only because she was young? If it was his girlfriend and her parents ratted him out because she was young, that would be different in my eyes thant if it was a random violent sexual assault.

Do you not follow the news? A bunch of high school kids recorded hours of footage of them raping an unconscious girl at a party. They bragged about it, posted the videos on YouTube, and made jokes about the girl on Twitter. The girl was the laughing stock of the town. The town had more pride in their football team than doing the right thing. (This was a huge news story about a year ago.)

Anyway, the internet "terrorist" group, Anonymous, found out about this and decided to make this town and these rapists pay. They hacked into government sites, people's cell phones, YouTube accounts, and exposed all the wrongdoing that had been done. Because of this, some of the Anonymous members are being tried for serious prison time -- much more than the two convicted rapists served. (Also, Brad Pitt is making a movie about Anonymous' involvement in this case.)

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Now, a loosely-related rant of my own. I hope I don't offend anyone, but I just have to say it. There are a lot of small towns throughout the US where high school football is everything and the athletes are treated like celebrities. That's fine and dandy and all, but it can be a little dangerous too. Something like this doesn't really surprise me. This entire town of "normal" people -- law abiding, tax paying, God fearing, upstanding citizens -- are willing to cover up and overlook a sick crime like this for the sake of their beloved football team. They even were giving this innocent girl death threats for getting the national media involved (which wasn't even her doing; it was Anonymous'). And it's not just high school football. There are also towns where college football is huge. Didn't the cop in the Jameis Winston rape allegation basically intimidate the rape victim into being quiet? You don't see stuff like this in the NFL. It's small towns with a beloved high school or college football team. Rant over.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I don't pay attention to every news story if that is what you are asking.

 

[Future]

All that said if the kid left the district and went to another school I'd have less of an issue with this but to attend the sane school and be able to play at the same school is not giving the right message to your students or community..

I agree with that.

As messed up as the initial act may have been, he is still a kid. You can argue all day about whether or not you think the penalty was harsh enough, but her served his time and you have to let him live. I don't think it's necessarily fair to persecute him for the rest of his life. Having said that, I would be plenty furious if I was that girl and he came back to my school.

 

[gmoney112]

I agree with that.

As messed up as the initial act may have been, he is still a kid. You can argue all day about whether or not you think the penalty was harsh enough, but her served his time and you have to let him live. I don't think it's necessarily fair to persecute him for the rest of his life. Having said that, I would be plenty furious if I was that girl and he came back to my school.

Question, would you just be fine with letting him live if he had raped you, videotaped it, and made you a running joke? I'm going to guess, no.

The still a kid excuse only really works when it's normal kid behavior, drinking/smoking weed, etc., doesn't really fly when it's something all humans over the age of 12 consider inhumane and deplorable.

He *should* be persecuted for the rest of his life just as she'll be dealing with psychological effects for the rest of hers, probably. Rape is one of the most psychological damaging events that can happen to a person, and he barely got a slap on the wrist. If I was that girl's father I'd have to be restrained every time I picked her up from school.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Having said that, I would be plenty furious if I was that girl and he came back to my school.

If I was that girl's father I'd have to be restrained every time I picked her up from school.

FYI: She goes to a different school, .. in a different state I believe.