School Rape
A 15-year old female student at Parkside High School in Salisbury, MD was raped in the hallway of the school, while classes were in session around her. The suspect is a 17-year old male student who made sexual advances to her. She repeatedly said no, then the boy raped her. She reported the incident to school administrators.
Parkside High School has almost 1,200 students in several wings.
The suspect is facing eight charges, including first- and second-degree rape, and first- and second-degree assault and kidnapping. A conviction of first-degree rape, could have him facing a life sentence in prison.
The first thing this story does is remind us that in schools, teachers need to have rigorous methods for maintaining accountability for all their students. It is when students are left alone that incidents like this happen.
The second thing this story does is establish that the presence of video cameras is not necessarily a deterrent to violent crimes like this. Video cameras are passive recorders. They can allow us to see what happened afterward, but their presence doesn’t stop a person intent on doing harm to someone else.
Cameras cannot replace human judgment, nor can they replace human decision-making.
