Reported hazing incident involving Damascus High School JV Football team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not hold with charging 15-year-olds as adults.

-parent of a 15-year-old

Not even when those 15 year olds gang rape their classmates in a locker room?

NP +1

It's not a bunch of kids sitting on a bridge and someone gets the dumb idea to drop a rock onto a road.

Gang rape is a very adult concept, premeditated, and it's a crime that they used all of their adult physical strength to commit. Zero sympathy here.

Don’t really care about your sympathy. The boys did not sit around planning what they perceived in their teen minds as a gang rape. They perceived it as a hazing ritual that was passed down as a traditional. Of course it is awful. But their lack of judgement is partly attributed to their age. This is not a situation where the courts should move the case out of where it naturally should be. Why the hell is there a juvenile court if a case like this is not in it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How were these kids zoned for Damascus? None of them lived there. 2 Clarksburg, 1-Germantown, and 1 Gaithersburg.

COSAs for football probably...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How were these kids zoned for Damascus? None of them lived there. 2 Clarksburg, 1-Germantown, and 1 Gaithersburg.

You can live in Clarksburg, Germantown, or Gaithersburg and be zoned for Damascus.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/DamascusHS.pdf

[Anonymous]

Is there a racial component to this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a racial component to this?

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am outraged. Yes, I feel empathy for the victims but a 15 year old is not an adult. They texted the victims that night asking if they were okay. They deserved to be punished but it is outrageous that teens who made terrible choices partly because they are teens and lack the ability to think as adults are being prosecuted as adults. They ARE NOT adults.

Sorry, but juvenile punishment would not be adequate here given the very public shame that will be attached to the victims. You run the risk of emboldening the offenders by making them think there are few consequences even for violent crimes. This isn't a group of misunderstood teens stealing a car.

They are not adults, not even close. They are children.

I’m really curious... if a masked intruder broke into your house while you were sleeping and violently raped you in your bed, would you be okay with him walking away from that crime if it turned out that he was 15?

Somehow I highly doubt it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am outraged. Yes, I feel empathy for the victims but a 15 year old is not an adult. They texted the victims that night asking if they were okay. They deserved to be punished but it is outrageous that teens who made terrible choices partly because they are teens and lack the ability to think as adults are being prosecuted as adults. They ARE NOT adults.

Sorry, but juvenile punishment would not be adequate here given the very public shame that will be attached to the victims. You run the risk of emboldening the offenders by making them think there are few consequences even for violent crimes. This isn't a group of misunderstood teens stealing a car.

They are not adults, not even close. They are children.

I’m really curious... if a masked intruder broke into your house while you were sleeping and violently raped you in your bed, would you be okay with him walking away from that crime if it turned out that he was 15?

Somehow I highly doubt it...

That’s not even close to being the same thing. Also, PP didn’t say s/he wanted the suspects to “walk away” from the crime. Stop with the stupid hypotheticals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I’m really curious... if a masked intruder broke into your house while you were sleeping and violently raped you in your bed, would you be okay with him walking away from that crime if it turned out that he was 15?

Somehow I highly doubt it...

Nobody is talking about anybody "walking away". The question is whether to charge a 15-year-old as a juvenile or as an adult.

15-year-olds can't legally drink, aren't legally adults, can't even legally drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not hold with charging 15-year-olds as adults.

-parent of a 15-year-old

Not even when those 15 year olds gang rape their classmates in a locker room?

NP +1

It's not a bunch of kids sitting on a bridge and someone gets the dumb idea to drop a rock onto a road.

Gang rape is a very adult concept, premeditated, and it's a crime that they used all of their adult physical strength to commit. Zero sympathy here.

Don’t really care about your sympathy. The boys did not sit around planning what they perceived in their teen minds as a gang rape. They perceived it as a hazing ritual that was passed down as a traditional. Of course it is awful. But their lack of judgement is partly attributed to their age. This is not a situation where the courts should move the case out of where it naturally should be. Why the hell is there a juvenile court if a case like this is not in it?

Really? Really? Only a rapist could write something like this! We are talking about several boys holding down a boy to rape him. Not about one boy that might have mental issues as reported. They perceived it?! WTF!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not hold with charging 15-year-olds as adults.

-parent of a 15-year-old

Not even when those 15 year olds gang rape their classmates in a locker room?

NP +1

It's not a bunch of kids sitting on a bridge and someone gets the dumb idea to drop a rock onto a road.

Gang rape is a very adult concept, premeditated, and it's a crime that they used all of their adult physical strength to commit. Zero sympathy here.

Don’t really care about your sympathy. The boys did not sit around planning what they perceived in their teen minds as a gang rape. They perceived it as a hazing ritual that was passed down as a traditional. Of course it is awful. But their lack of judgement is partly attributed to their age. This is not a situation where the courts should move the case out of where it naturally should be. Why the hell is there a juvenile court if a case like this is not in it?

My 10 year old boy knows that sticking a broom up someone's bottom is wrong. If your 15 year old considers it just a prank you have failed at parenting. Teaching your child about sex includes teaching them what rape is and what consent is. If you haven't done that, now's the time (actually several years ago was the time, but better late than never). Seriously, please talk to.your children about sex, consent, and rape before they enter high school!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not hold with charging 15-year-olds as adults.

-parent of a 15-year-old

Not even when those 15 year olds gang rape their classmates in a locker room?

NP +1

It's not a bunch of kids sitting on a bridge and someone gets the dumb idea to drop a rock onto a road.

Gang rape is a very adult concept, premeditated, and it's a crime that they used all of their adult physical strength to commit. Zero sympathy here.

Don’t really care about your sympathy. The boys did not sit around planning what they perceived in their teen minds as a gang rape. They perceived it as a hazing ritual that was passed down as a traditional. Of course it is awful. But their lack of judgement is partly attributed to their age. This is not a situation where the courts should move the case out of where it naturally should be. Why the hell is there a juvenile court if a case like this is not in it?

My 10 year old boy knows that sticking a broom up someone's bottom is wrong. If your 15 year old considers it just a prank you have failed at parenting. Teaching your child about sex includes teaching them what rape is and what consent is. If you haven't done that, now's the time (actually several years ago was the time, but better late than never). Seriously, please talk to.your children about sex, consent, and rape before they enter high school!!!

Yeah, I think the parents who have such a problem with a gang rape being considered an actual gang rape rather than just a kids prank in a watered down system need to stop playing on the internet and get off their butts and raise their kids properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How were these kids zoned for Damascus? None of them lived there. 2 Clarksburg, 1-Germantown, and 1 Gaithersburg.

At least 3 of the attackers were expelled from other high schools, that's why. One of them was even expelled for assault.

MCPS shut down Mark Twain school, which was for problem students, so now a student who commits an expulsion-worthy act simply gets transferred to the next school.

[Anonymous]

There has to be a bright line somewhere for age. Not based on how bad the crime was, how outraged people are, how much media exposure it gets, etc. Bright line. Either these kids are judged responsible like adults or they aren't. If they are, then why can't they vote, drive, serve in the military, smoke, drink, sign a lease, etc.? They have the cognitive maturity to be criminals but not to vote against Judy Docca? That doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How were these kids zoned for Damascus? None of them lived there. 2 Clarksburg, 1-Germantown, and 1 Gaithersburg.

You can live in Clarksburg, Germantown, or Gaithersburg and be zoned for Damascus.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/DamascusHS.pdf

One of the Clarksburg kids was at Clarksburg HS last year. He transferred to Damascus (apparently with an athletic waiver signed by Jeff Sullivan) after discipline issues at Clarksburg last year.

How many COSAs are denied every year in MCPS or COSAs granted but without an athletic waiver if kids transfer schools? Yet MCPS will provide a COSA with an athletic waiver for a kid with a history of trouble just so he can continue playing football at his new school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be a bright line somewhere for age. Not based on how bad the crime was, how outraged people are, how much media exposure it gets, etc. Bright line. Either these kids are judged responsible like adults or they aren't. If they are, then why can't they vote, drive, serve in the military, smoke, drink, sign a lease, etc.? They have the cognitive maturity to be criminals but not to vote against Judy Docca? That doesn't make any sense.

So why can people join the military, vote, sign a lease, but not drink?