21st Century Small-Town American Gang

¶ … 21st Century Small-Town American Gang Rape

Nursing -- Gang Rape Article Critique

Author's note with contact information and more details on collegiate affiliation, etc.

The nature of crime has changed throughout American history and culture. Violent crimes are more prevalent in our culture. Whereas many violent crimes have a higher likelihood of being committed in densely populated, urban areas, it is more and more the case that some of the most vicious crimes are happening in small towns across America. This paper will review such an incident that happened late 2010 and was reported by The New York Times in the spring of 2011. The article is a story of an 11-year-old female who was gang raped by various boys and men from her town in Cleveland, Texas. The article describes the events of the incident and also examines the social aftermath of this crime on the town. The paper will summarize the article and suggest how the causes and effects of the crime permeate not just the local community, but the national community as well.

Critiquing 21st Century Small-town American Gang Rape

The article "Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town" describes the brutal, prolonged gang rape and sexual attack of an 11-year-old girl in Cleveland, Texas. The attack took place approximately around Thanksgiving of 2010. "Cleveland a town of 9,000, lies 50 miles northeast of Houston in the pine country," thus, this is no big city crime; this is a small town affair. (McKinley, 2011) Rape is a tragedy, no matter the victim. This incident, no doubt, has robbed this girl of her childhood and her innocence. This assault is a turning point in her life, for better or for worse. There are several key details of her attack that make this event worthy of examination, and ultimately, action.

The girl's attackers threatened her with bodily harm. They took her to an abandoned location and threatened that if she did not obey and participate, her attackers would hurt her (more). One notable detail in this case is the number of attackers. Eighteen men in all are allegedly participants in this gang rape. This is as if the child's entire class raped her at once. The girl was a middle school student. What is further disgusting about the attackers is their age range. There were not only boys involved, but also men as "the suspects range in age from middleschoolers to a 27-year-old." (McKinley, 2011) It is vicious to be attacked and raped by one's peers, but there is an additional level of horror when one's attackers are more than twice one's age, especially when one has not yet reached adolescence or fully entered puberty.

What characterizes this rape as a 21st century crime is the use of mobile technology and social networks. The attackers recorded their rapes and assaults on devices such as mobile phones and went on to share the footage with friends and peers. In this way, this incident reminds us of Abu Ghraib in 2006. Military personnel committed crimes against humanity upon prisoners of war in an Iraqi prison, took pictures of their acts, and shared them with whomever where the photos went on to proliferate on the world wide web. The males who raped this girl were not ashamed of their actions; they boasted. These males swelled with pride; they bragged to their peers. What is more disgusting: gang raping a child or gang raping a child and then showing all your friends how it went? What were not included in the article were the reactions of those who were shown the video of the rape. Were alarmed or aroused? Did they report what they saw to the proper authorities, or keep silent and let these criminals continue to prowl for children?

These rapists demonstrate more disgusting qualities when they say that the girl dressed older than her age and associated with males older than her. In other words, according to the perpetrators, this little girl "was asking for it." That's what many rapists who evade responsibility say. They say the victim brought it upon herself because of her dress or some other such character traits that they misperceive as desire for rape.

The article quotes from various members of the community who reiterate the incident is "devastating" and "is tearing our community apart." (McKinley, 2011) If approximately 20 males are gang raping a little girl and spreading the news around, the community was in danger before the rape occurred. There are clearly a number of issues at work in this community and the rape is a symptom of the problem and likely not the problem itself. Living in the community now must be incredibly awkward, and it is difficult to imagine how the town can go on functioning with this incident in the air or on people's minds. If they want their community to heal, the people of Cleveland, Texas have some soul searching and community outreach to do.