The Saturday, October 24th gang rape of a 15-year-old Richmond, California girl pisses me off on so many levels. The fact that it happened at all is one. The fact that – despite 20 to 25 onlookers – no one came to her aid is another. And the fact that these witnesses jeered, cheered, and took photos with their cell phones makes my flesh crawl.
But, since my central focus on heinous activities such as this is prevention, I am ultimately more bothered by the fact that no one watching this two-and-a-half hour ordeal cared enough for the well-being of this young lady to call the police. Not coming to the aid of a victim of a mob attack can be dangerous as the brutal September 24th killing of 16-year-old Chicago honor student Derrion Albert clearly indicates. And just maybe the jeering, cheering, and photo taking can be construed as youthful posturing – a misguided attempt to give the appearance of condoning heinous activity to avoid the more dangerous notion of disapproval and, thus, subsequent reprisal.
Still, my gut tells me that unless we as a nation institute a “duty to report” mob violence in particular – with legal culpability for not doing so – the “bystander effect” will continue to flourish. I’m not referring to an instance where one or two non-participants who witness a crime would incur this “duty to report”. That could be dangerous to the witness(es). The identity of the “snitch” could then be easily deduced. But when there exists a group of witnesses, anyone could call in an anonymous tip without the culprits knowing who had done so.
Throughout history we have seen that the mob insulates criminals (i.e., lynchings) to the extent that they feel a tacit condoning of their activities. At the very least, a “duty to report” in mob situations would cause onlookers to disperse – possibly shortening the time of the attack, if not halting it altogether. According to MercuryNews.com, “No one called police until word of the ongoing rape spread to a house party in the city’s North and East neighborhood, where an appalled partygoer felt obligated to phone in the rumor”.
Finally, I am particularly troubled by Richmond Police Department’s Lt. Mark Gagan’s response to a KGO-TV (ABC-7 News, San Francisco) reporter’s question as to whether or not the witnesses faced any criminal charges. He responded that, “California law does not allow you to arrest a person for witnessing a sex crime if the victim is over the age of 14”. Why in the hell should the age of the victim in a sex crime be determinative! What are your thoughts?
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Food for thought.
I agree that the age of the person being attacked should not matter. We as a people should have some type of morals and values to ourself, and not let things like this go on. Where has our faith in God gone. Where is our basic love for one another? These types of things should not happen, and the people that stood by and watched are as bad as the actual people committing the act.
Hmm! Stephanie, sounds like you are saying something akin to, “You’re either part of the problem, or part of the solution”. I tend to agree. Apathy certainly is a variable on the “problem” side of the equation and NOT the “solution” side!
Upon further thinking, this brings to thought that most of the worlds population are followers. It’s unthinkable that a person can be so much so a follower that they could watch something this hanious and not feel convicted on the spot and come to the aid of another human being. All I can say is, let’s be sure and instill some leadership qualities in, not only your own children, but any that we have the opportunity to. It is very necessary right now and I would ask everyone to do the best that you can in appealing to and addressing the behavior that results in acts such as this.
Ditto, Plbee.
Very insightful point of view! Please continue to give us something more to think about.
In any case, I would think that the persons life would be in danger, no matter what their age is. What kind of low life’s would have to stoop to this level. This is just more proof that many people need god in their lives. Whether there is truth to christian belief’s or not, morals are like glue that keeps us civilized.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Caleb. My beliefs – pluralistic as they may be – hold that without a “God force” in our lives, we’re animals, catering to animalistic desires, devoid of morality. Thus, while we strive to introduce morality to the immoral among us, we need laws that protect us from them while they are on their “learning curve”.