Spanking- a sexual offense?

[warren211]

Boys Face Trial Over Slapping Charges

 

 

 

By SCOTT MICHELS,ABC News

 

 

 

Posted: 2007-07-25 08:17:01

 

 

 

Filed Under: Crime News

 

 

 

NEW YORK (July 25) -- Two middle-school students in Oregon are facing possible time in a juvenile jail and could have to register as sex offenders for smacking girls on the rear end at school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, both 13, were arrested in February after they were caught in the halls of Patton Middle School, in McMinnville, Ore., slapping girls on the rear end. Mashburn told ABC News in a phone interview that this was a common way of saying hello practiced by lots of kids at the school, akin to a secret handshake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys spent five days in a juvenile detention facility and were charged with several counts of felony sex abuse for what they and their parents said was merely inappropriate but not criminal behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The local district attorney has since backed off -- the felony charges have been dropped and the district attorney said probation would be an appropriate punishment. The Mashburns' lawyer said prosecutors offered Cory a plea bargain that would not require him to register as a sex offender, which the family plans to reject.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the boys, if convicted at an Aug. 20 trial, still face the possibility of some jail time or registering for life as sex offenders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys' families and lawyers said even sentencing them to probation would turn admittedly inappropriate but not uncommon juvenile rowdiness into a crime. If they are convicted of any of the misdemeanor charges against them, they would have to register as sex offenders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"It's devastating," said Mark Lawrence, Cory Mashburn's lawyer. "To be a registered sex offender is to be designated as the most loathed in our society. These are young boys with bright futures, and the brightness of those futures would be over."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cory Mashburn said he and Ryan Cornelison slapped each others' and other kids' bottoms every Friday. "Lots of kids at school do that," he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cory and Ryan were brought to the principal's office Feb. 22, where they were questioned by school officials and a police officer. They were arrested that day and taken in handcuffs to a juvenile detention facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Court papers said the boys touched the buttocks of several girls, some of whom said this made them uncomfortable. The papers also said Cory touched a girl's breasts. But police reports filed with the court said other students, both boys and girls, slapped each other on the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"It's like a handshake we do," one girl said, according to the police report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys were initially charged with five counts of felony sexual abuse. At a court hearing, two of the girls recanted, saying they never felt threatened or inappropriately touched by the boys. The judge released the boys but barred them from returning to school and required that they be under constant adult supervision.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

District Attorney Bradley Berry has since dismissed the felony counts. The boys face 10 misdemeanor charges of harassment and sexual abuse. They face a maximum of up to one year in a juvenile jail on each count, though Berry said there was no way the boys would ever serve that much time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"An appropriate sentence would be probation," he said. "These are minor misdemeanor charges that reflect repeated contact against multiple victims. We never intended for them to get a long time in detention."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We're not seeking major penalties," he said. "We're seeking change in conduct."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'We Just Want This to Be Over' Tracie Mashburn, Cory's mother, said they will not accept plea and plan to fight the charges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrests, critics said, reflect a trend toward criminalizing adolescent sexual behavior. Between 1998 and 2002, juvenile arrests for sex offenses other than rape or prostitution rose 9 percent -- the only kind of juvenile arrests that rose during that time, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"More and more, they are criminalizing normal adolescent or preadolescent behavior," said Chuck Aron, co-chairman of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers juvenile justice committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even probation, the Mashburns and their attorney said, would be too severe a punishment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie McFarlane, a supervising attorney at the Juvenile Rights Project in Portland, Ore., said, "Probation for a sex offense is very difficult thing, and there's a pretty high failure rate." Failing to meet the terms of probation could mean the boys would be sent to jail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depending on the terms of probation, it's likely that the boys would not be allowed to have sexual contact with anyone or any contact with younger children, McFarlane said. For Cory Mashburn, that would mean he couldn't be left alone with his younger siblings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"It's been awful," said Cory's mother. "We just want this to all be over. But it will never go away. We'll always remember it."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berry, the district attorney, said the victims -- the girls who were touched -- were being overlooked. "What's been lost in this whole thing are the victims, who have been pressured enormously by these boys' friends," he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cory, who said he now realizes what he did was inappropriate, spends his days playing video games and basketball. He said he's scared. "I could go to jail. I could be registered as a sex offender," he said. "I think it's all crazy."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2007 ABCNEWS.com

 

 

 

2007-07-24 15:35:40

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think guys? Could spanking count as a sex offence? Should the school have stopped it earlier? Should spanking even be an acceptable unofficial way of saying hello?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMO, I think that as long as the girls who were spanked think its ok and aren't complaining, then I see no problem with it. Its just a hit on the butt. The school should have definatly seen something earlier. If this practice became a way to say hello, that must mean its both pretty old ritual and its probably very common. However, I do think that if you have to slap someone's rear end to say hello, then there is something very wrong...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any thoughts?

[Nadril]

Just suspend them for a little bit (if the girls didn't want it). Being put on a sex offender list is much too harsh.

[Zonorhc]

Your judicial systems suck.

[warren211]

Your judicial systems suck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to agree with that. Remember that 65 million dollar lawsuit over a missing pair of pants? Nowadays the Judicial branch scares me...

[sycosis5]

all the chavs at my school do that...YES ITS AN OFFENCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nah just kidding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that was funny to read its not an offence

[Kashi]

Exactly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the girls involved didn't have a problem with it, why should anyone else care?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although it says "Two of the girls recanted" so I guess that means that the other

 

 

 

ones had pressed charges. Ionno', we had alot of other, weirder ways

 

 

 

of saying hello at my school ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It really is a shame that, although things similar to this are posted all the time on

 

 

 

here, there is nothing that we can do about it over the internet. If I lived in Oregon

 

 

 

I would organize a protest.

[hellbellz]

Your judicial systems suck.

Yes it does. :notalk:

[cowmasta13]

Your judicial systems suck.

[Mercifull]

Innapropriate yes, criminal offence no.

[Giordano]

Well if it's a way of saying hello, why not arrest everyone in the school? Idiots...

 

 

 

If a girl complain, then fine damn, suspend the guys for 2 days...not going to jail and put on the Sexual Offenders list!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW LAW: Looking at the other sex is now illegal. You will be hunted down and tired in a law of court!

[Lionheart_0]

:? Ya suspension should be about it. The kids were in middle school, just acting on hormones. Now I could see if charges are pressed if they where in a college or something, and some guys just ran down the hall slapping girls bottoms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its not all the justice systems fault, its also the parents of the girls who decided there was a reason to press charges.

[Zonorhc]

Suspension is going too far for something like this. At the most, they should be looking at a detention, because let's be honest, it probably wasn't actually meant nor taken as a "sexual" touch. If you really wanted to get these kids into trouble for something that quite frankly amounts to horseplay, then you could possibly have them on detention for striking another student. I wouldn't suspend a student if they slapped another student. I'd give them a stern reprimand, a detention and if it's a repeat offence, contact their parents directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These kids are going to be labeled sex offenders for the rest of their lives because of some stupid parent or a DA who just wants a long string of convictions to his name.

[superson]

Yeah, well I'm going to get my teacher locked in jail for life for giving me an F on a test!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It sounds just as ridiculous as that, spanking is innapropriate, and maybe they deserve a detention or two..

[stan18]

Suspension is going too far for something like this. At the most, they should be looking at a detention, because let's be honest, it probably wasn't actually meant nor taken as a "sexual" touch. If you really wanted to get these kids into trouble for something that quite frankly amounts to horseplay, then you could possibly have them on detention for striking another student. I wouldn't suspend a student if they slapped another student. I'd give them a stern reprimand, a detention and if it's a repeat offence, contact their parents directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These kids are going to be labeled sex offenders for the rest of their lives because of some stupid parent or a DA who just wants a long string of convictions to his name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it definitely was sexual touch. I don't know if you're in high school, or remember anything from high school, but schools are filled with [bleep] and [bleep]s, and they keep getting younger. ffs, this is just middle school. to let this go with just a slap on the wrist (detentions and suspensions don't even go on record in middle school)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so, what can the school do about it? I quickly read over the article once, and it doesn't say who pressed charges. It likely wouldn't be the girls, since thats social suicide. The school probably only brought it up. It was most likely the parents of the girls that got involved after the school brought it up. At that point, the school is putty in their hands. If the school resists, they're advocating the behavior, and would probably lose support/ funding/students. If they go along with it, they look good - in this day and age, reforming against sexual "assault" looks ideal, especially considering that most parents involved with their kids are mothers, as opposed to fathers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

despite how silly it looks, theres no way a school can look at [wagon] slapping or scooping as forms of saying hello. silly, yes, but thats just how things work

[wakka102]

wowzorz, I could be in juvi right now :uhh:

[biggy08755]

Next you are going to need consent to touch the opposite sex -.-

[wakka102]

Next you are going to need consent to touch the opposite sex -.-

they're going to sue us for looking at the opposite sex :ohnoes: :ohnoes:

[bartoron]

 

Your judicial systems suck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to agree with that. Remember that 65 million dollar lawsuit over a missing pair of pants? Nowadays the Judicial branch scares me...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why are you blaming the judicial system for that? The guy who was suing the dry cleaners LOST.

[superson]

 

Next you are going to need consent to touch the opposite sex -.-

they're going to sue us for looking at the opposite sex :ohnoes: :ohnoes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're going to sue us for thinking about the opposite sex! :ohnoes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaaa Big brother!

[The Dark Lord]

Inappropriate, maybe. However, things like that aren't always done for sexual reasons. And even if they are done for those reasons, suspension for a few days should be the highest punishment you may receive. They're in Middle School for crissake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually people do these things as a weird way of saying 'Hello' or as something playful in order to startle someone. A friend of mine does that to people and I know she isn't doing it for sexual reasons because A) they are usually other girls. B) i know she isn't homosexual. Guys do it also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is something that makes me lose some respect for the United States, my own country.

[goldphishies]

It's soooo nice to know that while there are serious sex offenders comminting rape out there, our authorities are spending time investigating something as important and threatening as two thirteen year old kids greeting their friends with a slap on the arse....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I now feel reassured that I won't be molested on my way to the store, now that those two kids are locked up...[/sarcasm]

[Rebdragon]

Wow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People are morons.

[xSxqPowerx]

Only in today's world.

[underu2000]

I don't think its THAT bad, except for the defendants maybe.

 

 

 

I mean, at least now middle-schoolers will keep their hands in their pockets when in public view. And if the girls in question were offended (or offended several times before), it could have gone much worse. In any case, folks will think twice before slapping some girl's butt without any consent from said girl.

 

 

 

And also, it looks ridiculous for the local judicial system. Now that it happened once (and should the plaintiffs lose, or the case be thrown out), another case like this won't happen again. It had to happen once.

[highlanders]

On girls you don't know, it should be a minor crime, but it should be a severe crime when done several times (harrassment). But on girls you know, and they say it's ok, then no charges.