When you send your children to school every day, whether it be for classes or some sort of school event, you normally feel secure in the thought that they are in a safe and controlled environment. Yes, there have been numerous example to argue this, but, in the end, they are events, although tragic, that are in the minority.
Last Saturday night, when police, teachers and school adminstrators at Richmond, Calif., High School were making sure everything went smoothly at the annual homecoming dance, a 15-year-old girl was brutally raped on school ground for two and a half hours. After leaving the dance at 9:30 p.m. to meet her father, the young girl was led to an alleyway by a “friend” and met up with a larger group of students. Although only five students (some who had graduated) have been arrested, police believe up to 10 suspects attacked the girl between 9:30 p.m. and midnight.
Now police are saying there are more unsettling facts coming out of the case. Apparently, 10 other students saw the attack happening and either left without calling 911, stayed and watched, or joined in on the attack, which left the girl unconscious and in need of serious medical attention.
In California, there is a law that makes it illegal not to report a witnessed crime against a child. Unfortunately, this law applies only to cases in which the child is 14 or younger. School officials also told the media that cameras have been purchased to survey the area where the attack occurred but have yet to be installed.
When it comes to the safety of a child, whether they be five or 15, everything should be done to keep the safe, secure and free from experiencing the horrors that will haunt this little girl for the rest of her life. For many, the pain of reading about this type of heinous crime ends as soon as they turn the page of their newspaper or click on a different story link on a news Web site, but, for the victims, it never ends.
