Perplexing Punishment Poll
LIKE BEES S
WARMING
For the past week the Newport-Mesa has been abuzz with comments about the arrest of two Newport Harbor Freshman girls for beating a younger student from Ensign Middle School - an event that was video recorded by another onlooker and posted on YouTube and advertised on MySpace. Several articles were published in all the local newspapers and coverage provided by local television stations. You can refresh your memory on those articles HERE, HERE and HERE.
CRITICISM AND SPECULATION ABOUND
Opinions of residents as represented by postings on the Daily Pilot blog were scathing - criticizing not only the girls, but their parents, too. Speculation about the ethnicity of the girls added to the intensity of the situation. Some folks assumed they were Latinas and posted vicious comments accordingly. Others assumed, because of the school and the location - Pinkley Park in Costa Mesa - that the perpetrators were "white rich kids". One pro-Aryan blog operator took umbrage, HERE at that assertion and attempted to deflect that criticism back on the brown-skinned residents of our community. In his mind, apparently, it was a foregone conclusion that only Latinos would do such a thing.
PERPLEXING POLL
One distressing by-product of this whole issue is a little poll the Daily Pilot has been running for a few days. The question they asked was, "Should the two Newport Harbor High girls who allegedly beat another girl - a beating aired on YouTube and a MySpace account - be prosecuted as adults?" I've been taking a peek at the results a few times a day and, as of the very wee hours of the morning Wednesday as I type these words, the results so far are shown below. These percentages have remained fa
irly constant for the past couple days, bouncing between 68% and 70% - Yes. By the time you read this and visit the page, HERE, the numbers will have changed but I doubt the percentages will shift much.
EMOTIONAL VOTE
Now, I admit to participating in this survey early-on - I read it and, in a knee-jerk reaction, hit that "Yes" button without giving it too much thought. I wouldn't be too surprised if many of the other 244 voters who voted "Yes" reacted similarly. This is a very emotional issue and was even more so in the beginning when the news media reported - inaccurately - that the victim was developmentally disabled. That report, provided by the Newport Beach Police, was false, but spread like wildfire throughout our communities before it was corrected.
RECANT MY VOTE? - NO CAN DO
With the value of a little hindsight and the passage of several days, I find myself wanting to recant my vote - not possible, since the Pilot permits only one vote per computer. As I think about it today I'm trying to imagine a circumstance that would justify prosecuting these girls as adults. No, this was not just a case of teenage taunting - the girls apparently beat the stuffing out of their victim. Yes, the victim will likely suffer the emotional scars of this attack for a long time - perhaps forever. Yes, the perpetrators should be punished severely for their act. The girl who photographed and posted it on YouTube and the other who just stood and watched should also be punished for being willing accomplices. I just don't think this crime - while vicious and thoughtless - reaches the standard of a crime to be punished as an adult.
AM I WRONG? MAYBE
I can hear some of you now, yelling at me for taking such a mild stance on this issue. You may be right. I suspect that, if I were a parent of the victim, I'd be looking for the harshest penalty available for the perpetrators. I just keep coming back to the fact that these were 14 year old girls, many of whom can be scatter-brained, loud, rude, thoughtless, self-centered, insecure, emotional basket cases. I hope the investigation reveals that this was just a spontaneous, thoughtless act and not some gang initiation (as has been speculated by some) or part of a pattern of behavior by these two girls.
QUICK RESOLUTION NEEDED
I hope this issue will be resolved soon, and that the community will be fully apprised of the resolution. These girls, as minors, have special rights that must be respected. The community, however, has rights, too. We should expect to be told of the resolution so we can put this terrible event behind us.
WARMINGFor the past week the Newport-Mesa has been abuzz with comments about the arrest of two Newport Harbor Freshman girls for beating a younger student from Ensign Middle School - an event that was video recorded by another onlooker and posted on YouTube and advertised on MySpace. Several articles were published in all the local newspapers and coverage provided by local television stations. You can refresh your memory on those articles HERE, HERE and HERE.
CRITICISM AND SPECULATION ABOUND
Opinions of residents as represented by postings on the Daily Pilot blog were scathing - criticizing not only the girls, but their parents, too. Speculation about the ethnicity of the girls added to the intensity of the situation. Some folks assumed they were Latinas and posted vicious comments accordingly. Others assumed, because of the school and the location - Pinkley Park in Costa Mesa - that the perpetrators were "white rich kids". One pro-Aryan blog operator took umbrage, HERE at that assertion and attempted to deflect that criticism back on the brown-skinned residents of our community. In his mind, apparently, it was a foregone conclusion that only Latinos would do such a thing.
PERPLEXING POLL
One distressing by-product of this whole issue is a little poll the Daily Pilot has been running for a few days. The question they asked was, "Should the two Newport Harbor High girls who allegedly beat another girl - a beating aired on YouTube and a MySpace account - be prosecuted as adults?" I've been taking a peek at the results a few times a day and, as of the very wee hours of the morning Wednesday as I type these words, the results so far are shown below. These percentages have remained fa
irly constant for the past couple days, bouncing between 68% and 70% - Yes. By the time you read this and visit the page, HERE, the numbers will have changed but I doubt the percentages will shift much.EMOTIONAL VOTE
Now, I admit to participating in this survey early-on - I read it and, in a knee-jerk reaction, hit that "Yes" button without giving it too much thought. I wouldn't be too surprised if many of the other 244 voters who voted "Yes" reacted similarly. This is a very emotional issue and was even more so in the beginning when the news media reported - inaccurately - that the victim was developmentally disabled. That report, provided by the Newport Beach Police, was false, but spread like wildfire throughout our communities before it was corrected.
RECANT MY VOTE? - NO CAN DO
With the value of a little hindsight and the passage of several days, I find myself wanting to recant my vote - not possible, since the Pilot permits only one vote per computer. As I think about it today I'm trying to imagine a circumstance that would justify prosecuting these girls as adults. No, this was not just a case of teenage taunting - the girls apparently beat the stuffing out of their victim. Yes, the victim will likely suffer the emotional scars of this attack for a long time - perhaps forever. Yes, the perpetrators should be punished severely for their act. The girl who photographed and posted it on YouTube and the other who just stood and watched should also be punished for being willing accomplices. I just don't think this crime - while vicious and thoughtless - reaches the standard of a crime to be punished as an adult.
AM I WRONG? MAYBE
I can hear some of you now, yelling at me for taking such a mild stance on this issue. You may be right. I suspect that, if I were a parent of the victim, I'd be looking for the harshest penalty available for the perpetrators. I just keep coming back to the fact that these were 14 year old girls, many of whom can be scatter-brained, loud, rude, thoughtless, self-centered, insecure, emotional basket cases. I hope the investigation reveals that this was just a spontaneous, thoughtless act and not some gang initiation (as has been speculated by some) or part of a pattern of behavior by these two girls.
QUICK RESOLUTION NEEDED
I hope this issue will be resolved soon, and that the community will be fully apprised of the resolution. These girls, as minors, have special rights that must be respected. The community, however, has rights, too. We should expect to be told of the resolution so we can put this terrible event behind us.
Labels: beating, girls, Poll, punishment
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 1/23/2008 12:53:00 AM
6 comments
