When Being a Boy Hurts

Several readersa href=”http://www.newhouse.com/bottom-slapping-case-stirs-outrage-3.html” sent me this story/a of two thirteen year old boys who were charged with a felony for slapping girls’ rear ends at a middle school:br /br /blockquoteTwo 13-year-olds facing sex abuse charges for slapping the bottoms of girls in a school hallway probably won’t do jail time or be required to register as sex offenders, according to Yamhill County, Ore., District Attorney Bradley Berry.br /br /br /”From our perspective and the perspective of the victims, this was not just horseplay,” Berry said. “People may disagree, and I understand that.”br /br /But based on his experience in similar cases, he says it’s unlikely the boys, if convicted, would be sentenced for the maximum jail time.br /br /Each count carries a maximum one-year sentence. Lawyers for the boys say they also would face mandatory registration as sex offenders./blockquotebr /br /I saw one of the boys talking on span style=”font-style:italic;”Fox News/span last night about his experience and how he understood that what he did was wrong. There was also mention in a href=”http://www.newhouse.com/bottom-slapping-case-stirs-outrage-3.html”this news story/a that girls were also participating in hitting the other student’s rears, but apparently girls can only be represented as victims and never as perpetrator’s of harassment. br /br /Not that I am saying they should be. Middle schoolers hitting people’s rears and engaging in other juvenile antics is as common as well, middle schoolers, and to criminalize juvenile behavior to the extent that a 13 year old boy is sitting in juvenile detention for five days for common (albeit stupid and offensive) behavior is in itself, criminal.br /br /Update: Mark Steyn has a href=”http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/butt-one-mashburn-1789340-counts-cornelison”more on this case/a (Hat Tip: Fred Ray).br /br /Update II: Not related to the above post, but you can check out my column at PJM on why women hook up with a href=”http://www.pjmedia.com/2007/07/ask_dr_helen_doing_unto_others.php”serial sperm donors and altruism here./a