In March, two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, were found guilty of raping a 16 year-old girl last summer. The boys, both of whom were sentenced to serve at least one to two years in the state juvenile system, were also found guilty of distributing a nude image of a minor.
Thanks to text messages, cell phone pictures, and social media, images of and news about the rape of the 16 year-old spread like wildfire over the Internet while her classmates and friends did little to protect her or curb the spread of the pictures and videos of the assault.
The Ohio attorney general also interviewed other students, coaches, parents, and school officials, and tried to find people liable for an obstruction of justice or failure to report child abuse.
The tragic events in Ohio are telling of how high school students use tools such as social media. In a case such as this one, the responsible course of action would have been to curtail the spread of an assault video and notify adults, especially with an issue as serious and dangerous as rape.
The Schreiber Times hopes that both students and faculty can learn from the irresponsible actions of both minors and adults in the rape case, and that such negligence will not ever occur here at Schreiber.