For our parents, it was "Don't drink and drive." The lesson for today's youth? "Don't rape and social network"
Let this be a lesson to teenage criminal thugs everywhere: next time you commit a crime, it's probably a good idea to avoid publishing details of your devilry on MySpace...no matter how badass you think those details may be, and no matter how cool you think they'll make you look. Case in point: the above article, from this morning's Seattle Times.The victim, a 16 year old girl from Bellevue, was supposedly raped by four male teenage suspects. The Times' report claims the young men gave the victim alcohol, then took turns having their way with her in the back seat of a car on November 18, 2007. The girl's mother knew something was up when the suspects dropped her off at home afterwards, and the subsequent medical examination confirmed that an assault had occurred. Police were called in, and shortly thereafter...
The girl went to MySpace.com, found profiles for two of the teens and identified them as two of her assailants, according to a police affidavit.Foolish move, boys...but not one that you're alone in making. Almost since social networking took off, young people of the MySpace generation - sometimes suspected criminals, sometimes victims, sometimes a little bit of both - have been leaving online clues that ultimately come back to bite them. Recently in Seattle alone, it happened with Amanda Knox, it happened with Allen Joplin, and now it's happening with these four youths.
Police got a search warrant for MySpace.com records and found descriptions of the attack.
"The messages included details of the assault ... and confirmed that four males were involved," Detective Carl Kleinknecht said.
In other messages, two suspects and other recipients exchanged ideas that included possibly killing the girl if she went to police, concocting a cover story and even boasting of the attack. [Note: Of course, any emphasis in this passage was added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]
When will these kids learn? You're either a web 2.0 fanboy or a derelict criminal; there is no grey area. And for those who try to create one - as appears to be the case with these four suspects - the outcome is as predictable as the ending to M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (a film that totally sucked, by the way).
UPDATE: For those who were wondering: why yes, we did publish this post before Dan Savage offered his almost identically-cited coverage in SLOG a few minutes ago.
I can remember a guy booted off a jail landing for having pointed a gun at a pregnant cashier, these days, the ordinary felons are an endangered species.
What exactly is wrong with teenagers deciding to just steal something, without putting it rigidly into cop-memory by spilling blood or being sex-creeps?