# Unruly schoolboys or sex offenders? Pt1



## syscom3 (Jul 26, 2007)

> I cant believe this prosecutor is serious! This is insanity!!!
> 
> 
> > OregonLive.com: Everything Oregon
> ...


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## syscom3 (Jul 26, 2007)

Roache, the McMinnville police officer, declined to discuss the case. His supervisor, Capt. Rob Edgell, would not discuss specifics but said, "We totally support everything that has gone on in this case." 

Outside experts contacted by The Oregonian found the circumstances unsettling. 

While it's true that a great deal of child sex abuse by adults goes undetected and unpunished, cases like the one in McMinnville reflect society's tendency to overreact, said Richard Ofshe, author of "Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy and Sexual Hysteria." 

"The problem is that, like most good things, they can go to the extreme, and the extreme has been reached in several ways," said Ofshe, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. "The whole question of what constitutes sexual abuse gets defined and redefined to the point where it's absurd." 

It is difficult to quantify the number of children charged nationwide with sex crimes arising from misconduct in schools. According to the Department of Justice, juvenile crime has fallen steadily since 1998. Between that year and 2002, the only category of juvenile arrests that has grown is sex offenses other than forcible rape or prostitution. Those arrests have risen 9 percent. 

Researchers at the American Association of University Women seven years ago published a landmark study of middle school harassment and bullying, finding that eight of 10 students surveyed had experienced some form of unwanted sexual behavior at school, primarily verbal. But half also admitted harassing somebody themselves -- testament to the basic ambiguities of middle school. 

"It's important to pay attention to this in schools because this is where people develop their attitudes and beliefs about what's appropriate," said Catherine Hill, research director at the AAUW. "This is modeling what we expect in a public setting." 

Rachel Negra, Cornelison's attorney, called the initial felony counts from Berry's office "ludicrous." 

"These boys (were) charged with the same crime as a man who pulled a girl off the sidewalk and forced her to have sexual contact behind a bush," Negra said. 

Christian Richter, one of the alleged victims, said, "I think it's a crime, but I don't think it's that serious." 

"I do believe it should not have happened," she said. "Everybody knows about sex and our private parts. Our butts are our private parts, and I don't want mine touched." 

Parents of two other alleged victims have told the school district they plan to sue because they face "significant expenses" for counseling to deal with the "sexual harassment and abuse." 

Yamhill County, known more for its wineries and hazelnuts than crime problems, isn't the only jurisdiction in Oregon that prosecutes juveniles for similar conduct. 

"We get, even in Portland, quite a few cases every year of boys who grabbed the breast or buttock of a girl in a hallway," said Julie McFarlane, supervising attorney at the Juvenile Rights Project in Portland, a public defender's office for youths. "It's like criminalizing fairly typical behavior, and I don't think the schools inform or warn them." 

In the past five years, McFarlane said, her office has defended at least 10 youths charged with criminal sexual abuse for behavior she said was typically seen in school settings. 

If the McMinnville boys are convicted of any of the counts of sex abuse, they will have to register as sex offenders, which could have a devastating effect, McFarlane said. 

"It's basically the end of their lives," she said. "Everywhere they go and everything they do, they will have to disclose this. And these kids who do these minor offenses have to follow the same sex-offender registration requirements as someone who brutally raped someone." 

The boys' attorneys have filed prosecutorial misconduct motions with the court, which will be heard Aug. 10. The motions allege the boys were hit with additional charges for refusing to accept plea deals and were unfairly selected for prosecution. 

"It's either a crime warranting prosecution or it's not," said Lawrence, Mashburn's lawyer. "You can't pick out two little boys and string them up as an example." 

Kicked out of school and unable to socialize with friends, Cornelison spends his days alone at home playing a military video game and wondering about his future. 

"I might not even be able to go back to school next year," he said. "I just try not to think about it." 

Susan Goldsmith: 503-294-5131; susangoldsmith @news.oregonian.com


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## timshatz (Jul 26, 2007)

Poor bastards. Now they have a criminal record for goofing off. Tough being a kid.


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## evangilder (Jul 26, 2007)

That's f*cked up. They slap a kid on the wrist for shooting someone, but give 10 years for slapping a butt?!? WTF is this country coming to....


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## Cyrano (Jul 26, 2007)




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## Clave (Jul 27, 2007)

So very wrong - kids do that stuff all the time, it's like, fun...

If a teacher was running the corridors smacking butts, then you would have some concern, but kids? hell no!

I suppose the next thing is that they will be facing life for having a fight in the playground, or doing a bad tackle in football...

World is getting more insane every day...


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## Heinz (Jul 27, 2007)

while the world does seem to have gone rather nuts with laws and what not.....there is still a lot of scum hanging around causing problems and getting away with it, go figure.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 27, 2007)

That is such bullshit! I mean if they are going to screw a kids whole life over for this, then what would they have done to us.

We did much worse things and it was only in fun and the girls did not mind either.

This is just utter crap!


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## Thorlifter (Jul 27, 2007)

Cyrano said:


> The whole western world has gone nuts when it comes to pedophiles, rapists and sex offenders. They are seen everywhere, threatening our children and loved ones. And now it seems that they actually are our children. It's just crazy, like a modern witch hunt.



What???? As a father of a 14 yr old who was molested, I have less than zero tolerance for pedophiles, rapists and sex offenders. If this is a witch hunt, then hunt away. Find them, bury them, F**K them. I hope they all rot.

I hope your not minimizing what the act of pedophiles, because there isn't a level in hell that is deep enough for them. They completely destroy families by what they do and my daughter, and me, has to live with this forever.

Now, having said that......these boys should, at the most, get expelled from school. What they did was relatively harmless, but they did have contact with girls that told them to stop.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 27, 2007)

Thorlifter said:


> I hope your not minimizing what the act of pedophiles, because there isn't a level in hell that is deep enough for them. They completely destroy families by what they do and my daughter, and me, has to live with this forever.



That I completely agree with! 

Also I am sorry about your daughter. I hope that ****** rots in hell for what he did.


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## Clave (Jul 27, 2007)

I don't think anyone disputes that paedophiles need putting away for ever, but boys _and_ girls high spirits should _not_ result in a permanent record...


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## Thorlifter (Jul 27, 2007)

Very true Clave.

Thanks Adler. He plead out to 24 years and the people in prison have found out why he is there. I'm sure he is having a wonderful time!

Sorry guys. I'm not trying to be a bummer. It's just a touchy subject to me. I think everyone understands.


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## syscom3 (Jul 27, 2007)

Thorlifter said:


> Very true Clave.
> 
> Thanks Adler. He plead out to 24 years and the people in prison have found out why he is there. I'm sure he is having a wonderful time!
> 
> Sorry guys. I'm not trying to be a bummer. It's just a touchy subject to me. I think everyone understands.




We do.... but there is a vast difference between a 13 yo doing something silly and being charged for a major crime, and what happened to your daughter


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 27, 2007)

I agree sys. Kids will be kids, they were not mollesting the girls at school.


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## Cyrano (Jul 27, 2007)




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## mosquitoman (Jul 31, 2007)

Any rapists, molesters or pedophiles should be locked up and the key thrown away- had a friend attacked but she escaped and I had to help her through 4months worth of PTSD.
Those kids however were just mucking about and being kids.


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## Thorlifter (Jul 31, 2007)

Cyrano said:


> Thorlifter, I'm truly sorry for what happened to your daughter. If it were up to me, these sickos would be sentenced to death.
> I was just trying to say, that our society has become slightly too sensitive about sexual matters. Including pedophiles to this was perhaps a mistake from me. I've just seen a couple of times in my life how false accusations about this kind of stuff destroy people's reputation and lifes. A buddy of mine got charged with rape in the university, but he had an alibi, and it turned out that the woman had made the whole thing up. My friend's reputation was ruined, but the girl got nothing.



I agree 100% that its a wicked subject. I also have seen, first hand, how it can destroy someone's life. I had a buddy who was 18 and was dating a 17 year old. The girls parents, against her wishes, filed charges against him and his is now listed as a sexual predator for the rest of his life. I mean, this was boyfriend and girlfriend......Senior and Junior in high school.....and he is F'ed. Of course, he ended up marrying her and they are still married with 2 kids and that was 23 years ago. They don't speak to her parents at all and haven't since then, but he is still listed as a predator.

I agree with everyone....these kids were just playing. Like I said, at the worst they should just be expelled because the girl did say stop.


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## Henk (Aug 7, 2007)

Geez, what will happen next? The girls here touch the mens buds here and we do not care if they do it, except if they look real nasty.........

Poor guys now they will be scared of woman.


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