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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!seismo!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Should rape trials be televised
Message-ID: <414@opus.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Apr-84 17:48:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: opus.414
Posted: Thu Apr 26 17:48:54 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Apr-84 05:57:37 EDT
References: <450@decvax.UUCP>
Organization: NBI, Boulder
Lines: 18

<>
>	A 12-year-old Pawtucket (R.I.) boy described as a "good kid
>	gone awry" was arraigned yesterday on charges of sexually
>	assaulting a 10-year-old girl on a pool table. Authorities
>	said he apparently picked up the idea from watching televised
>	trials of six men in a barroom rape case.

I'm having an awfully hard time figuring out how a 12-year-old gets the
idea of committing a sexual assault from watching a trial.  COME ON now -
are we really supposed to take this seriously???  It might make a good ploy
for a defense attorney; it might make a good ploy for a DA who wants to
quash the idea of televised trials in a hurry.  But it does not make good
sense, especially taken in the light of the description of the boy as a
"good kid gone awry" - which is a pretty sick characterization of a
juvenile committing that sort of assault.
-- 
...Cerebus for dictator!				Dick Dunn
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd				(303) 444-5710 x3086