My article is about Owen Labrie, an 18-year-old, who
was acquitted of felony rape after allegedly raping a16-year-old girl at his
prestigious prep school in New Hampshire. Labrie’s actions were part of a
"tradition" called Senior Salute, in which the senior males would
coerce underclassmen into having sex. The school issued a statement saying they
did not know about the Salute, and that it was not a “tradition.” But later
during testimony, the Dean admitted to having heard about the salute in
passing, raising the question why wasn’t the problem addressed?
Labrie was charged with three counts of aggravated
felony sexual assault, four counts of misdemeanor sexual assault, endangering
the welfare of a child, and computer crimes for his use of a computer when allegedly
luring the victim.
The jury deliberated for almost eight hours before
revealing the verdict. Labrie was found guilty of misdemeanor sexual assault,
but was acquitted of the more serious felony charges. Labrie could face over
seven years in prison.
The point of this article is to inform people that
their actions have consequences. I think this article is important because a
lot of sexual assault cases are dismissed, and many women do not get justice.
This also starts a conversation about sexual assault in high schools and
universities.
Fernanda Sandoval
ReplyDeleteI feel that in todays world many people believe that if you have money than you are invincible and this a perfect example of that. Its so sad that a school advisor would look over something that serious further telling the boys that what they were doing was ok.