A decision in hazing's favor

[NebraskaDelt]

Although this is not greek related, this local story about a high school hazing incident leads credence to possible further hazing and places a divisive definition what actually hazing is and what "boys being boys" is.

Student found not guilty in locker room assault
By The Associated Press

PLATTSMOUTH — A former Plattsmouth High School football player has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a fellow teammate. On Wednesday, a Cass County District Court jury announced its verdict in the case of Jacob Schippert, who had been accused of first-degree sexual assault involving a younger boy in the school locker room.

Schippert, 17, had pleaded innocent in December, one month after his request to transfer the case to juvenile court was denied.

The high school senior was accused of assaulting the younger student after football practice Aug. 19. Schippert was expelled from school after the incident.

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What is not said in the article but reported on the local news stations was that the victim was chased around the lockerroom by the defendant and when the defendant caught up to the victim, the victim was pushed to the ground and the suspect inserted two fingers in the victims rear-end.

The evidence was overwhelming, but it seems like the local town didn't think this was a big deal. And since they are the jury they found the defendant non-guilty. It's really sad.

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

WTF??? This is NOT just "boys being boys". This is sexual assault. "Boys being boys" would be something like the older boy chasing the younger boy around and then smacking him with a towel or giving him a noogie. What in the world is wrong with this town that they think this is no big deal? This just sends a horrible message to the those that are doing these type of things ("it's ok, there's no punishments to fear") and to the victims ("don't bother stepping forward because no one will do anything about it"). If the older boy doesn't see any kind of consequences to his actions, what's to stop him from going further in the future? Who knows what might happen in the future? If he derives pleasure from doing this to the younger boy, who knows if in the future he will become a pedophile? I'm not saying that he definitely will, but I'm just saying this could be a warning sign and now he's not going to get any kind of treatment/counseling/punishment at all.

[33girl]

Originally posted by SOPi_Jawbreaker
If he derives pleasure from doing this to the younger boy, who knows if in the future he will become a pedophile? I'm not saying that he definitely will, but I'm just saying this could be a warning sign and now he's not going to get any kind of treatment/counseling/punishment at all.

Since we don't know how much younger the "younger" boy is - he could be 16 1/2 - I think it's a little premature to sound the pedophile horn. It says he's a fellow teammate, so I doubt this is a 6 year old kid or something.

[hoosier]

This is very common.

A hazing case gets the public's attention, and the state legislature rushes thru an anti-hazing law with severe penalties. Everything is now considered "hazing". there's 'zero tolerance'.

The enforcement is left to the white male good ole boys, and they don't see boys messing around in the locker room as a very serious thing, certainly not worth ruining a teenage boy with a felony conviction for life.

Certainly we don't like hazing, and times have changed, but I don't see the good ole boys network considering locker room fun and games as serious as does some mother of a spoiled kid who got a shocker, wedgee, or swirlee.

[NebraskaDelt]

Hoosier, I just saw your message to the University of Nebraska administration concerning the double standard on the Delta Upsilon string. (It was awhile ago, I'm sorry) I think this outcome tends to conform to your theory. These kids are athletes who may go on to University athletics and think this is what you do. Johnny didn't get in trouble for a little "horseplaying", but those damn frat guys were paddling each other, something needs to be done about them. Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

[DeltaSigStan]

There are some people who seem to think that sports locker rooms are a bastian of intelligence, enlightment, and even common sense.

For every Alex Smith and Emeka Okafor, there's a Jose Canseco and Bill Romanowski.

My point: Why people are surprised by this I have no idea...

I'm not saying it's RIGHT, but, do you think these guys act like gentlemen in the locker room? Remember YOUR HS locker room?

[AGDee]

The members of athletic teams are selected for their athletic ability, not their character. As GLOs, we claim that we hold ourselves to a higher standard. If we behave like the uncivilized athletes, then we aren't meeting that self described standard, are we? I don't condone hazing in any situation and I don't agree with this particular ruling, but at least they're not claiming to be selective with a mission/purpose/value system like we are.

Dee

[alphaalpha]

I have heard a news report which said that (i believe in washington or oregon state congress) passed laws stating that sexual assult can not be between people of the same gender. So, what this older buy did to this younger boy (probably a freshman/sophmore) COULD not be sexual assult. But oh buy would i be pissed and would kick and scream until someone found a way to punnish a person for doing that too me.

BY the way, i highly disagree with this law. A person can very well sexually assult a person of the same gender. I mean after all is sexual harrasment defined as ANY unwanted sexual contact, either verbal or physical. Humm, i think this younger boy definatly did not want to have the older buys fingers up him behind.

Plus, if this happened to me i would dang well not care if this guy carried around a felony charges for the rest of his life, since i would have to carry around the memory of the attack for the rest of my life. Also, i agree with the older boy getting away with this attack can lead to pedophillia later in life.
debbie