Teenage Rape Victim Turns To YouTube

Allie @ Gone Hollywood | Thursday, May 15, 2008

Meet Crystal, a sobbing 16-year-old sitting in her bedroom and, staring into a camera, she says she has been raped. As if that isn’t sad enough, the legal system won’t be prosecuting her attacker.

Teenage Rape Victim Turns To YouTube - Photo

In the video uploaded on YouTube, Crystal says,

“Hi, my name is Crystal. … I need some help. I didn’t want to do it this way, but it’s the only way I know that’s going to work, that someone out there in the world is gonna listen to me.”

The teen, whom CNN interviewed but is not identifying by her last name, is among dozens of young people who are turning to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to talk about sexual assault.

For an online generation, the Web offers what traditional counseling does not. It’s a chance to communicate without having to face someone or fear their judgment. Some people are seeking legal advice and medical information, and many younger victims believe that they can warn others about their accused attacker, counselors say.

There also are people like Crystal, whose case was dropped by the Orange County, Florida, state attorney’s office, who feel slighted by the justice system.

“Young victims, particularly girls, turn inward. They are going to reach out and try to connect in the isolation of their dorm room or their bedrooms,” said Jennifer Dritt, the director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence. “Most young women feel like they want somebody to know that someone did this to them.”

Fewer than 5 percent of reported cases in Florida make it to a prosecutor’s office, Dritt said. Whether because of lack of forensic evidence or because many are he said/she said accounts, rape cases can be very difficult to try.

“What you hear from every rape crisis center from Pensacola to Key West is that there are hardly ever any prosecutions,” she said. “Most sexual violence is acquaintance rape, and unfortunately, a lot of juries still think that if a victim had a relationship with their attacker, then they cannot be raped by that person.”

Florida law states that a 15-year-old cannot give consent to sex. And though Crystal was 15 at the time of the alleged forced encounter, the prosecutor wrote that the case would not be prosecuted because Crystal was “a mere 1 month away” from turning 16, when it would be “legal to give consent,” according to documents.

A spokeswoman for the Orange County state attorney’s office declined to comment further.

See the part bolded above? As long as someone has at least met you once before, it’s ok for them to rape you — feel safer now? The worst part, the perpetrator was 23 and this poor girl was one month shy of 16.

I’m thoroughly outraged and disgusted!

source: Teen alleging rape turns to YouTube [cnn]

Teenage Rape Victim Turns To YouTube

ADVERTISERS

OTB MEDIA

OTB News

TOPICS

LINKS

Blogroll

AFFILIATIONS