Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

WTF... this isn't right. This definitely isn't right.

http://kplr11.com/2012/04/06/rape-vi...suspect-trial/

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

This is absolutely terrible, her rights are being completely violated, not to mention the psychological trauma she's probably experiencing right now.

If they were worried about her not showing up, why not put her on house arrest and give her an ankle monitor?

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

Her rights are secondary to the possibility of the perp walking free and raping more young girls. Gotta break eggs to make an omlette.

- Yogi

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

I fully agree with this but I think jail is too much. Why not house arrest, or maybe putting police guard 24 hours outside her house?:?

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

Jail for people awaiting trial is much different than jail for those who've had trial and were deemed guilty (at least where I live). It's not as bad as you might think, and I think it's worth it to put a possibly dangerous offender behind bars. The good of many outweighs the good of one.
And as with all media articles, there's probably more than meets the eye here. For all we know this might be in part to protect her from the guy's friends until the trial is over.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

I think it's going a bit far. Rape victims are already traumatised, not to mention the idea that to testify you have to see the rapist right there and recount the events. I doubt that holding a victim in a jail cell will help matters in the least.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

I agree. This is ridiculous! Putting the VICTIM (which I'm sure is already terribly traumatized) in jail just because she's a VICTIM makes no sense, and the article says she has the right to refuse to testify [which I'm rather sure is true]. I'd like to know what state law says rape victims can be jailed for being a rape victim to force them to testify in court. I want the criminal to be punished too, but not at the expense of further traumatizing and violating the rights of his victim.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

I agree that jailing was going too far. As the others have already said, house arrest would've been a smarter move here.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

I was going to say it was a bit too far, but she's apparently skipped two court dates before.

If that was anyone else, they'd most definitely be in jail.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

You can refuse to testify, but if you're legally presented a summons to attend court, you must go.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

I agree with jailing the rape victim in this case. First, she is required to attend court but has failed to do so more than once. Placing her under house arrest does not ensure she attends court, it simply ensures her location is known. Having officers keep guard of her wastes precious police time that could be better served elsewhere. Second, given the description of the rapist's tattoos, the article attempts to infer he is a group member and it is likely the police were weary the rape victim would suffer if not protected. Placing her in jail ensures she is monitored 24/7 and she likely would be housed away from other inmates. There is no doubt she was inconvenienced, however, the rights and protection of society trump the rights of one victim. Increasing the trauma the victim has gone through is an unfortunate by-product that may occur at the expense of protecting society.

Re: Authorities JAIL Teen Rape Victim To Ensure She Will Attend Trial
 

Armed guard outside her house costs money, much more than keeping her in a cell.

I doubt she's being treated like the average criminal, however I'll admit this is a bit much.

- Justin