Saturday, November 22, 2003

The NY Daily News has published the names of 3 of the Mepham High School rapists and pictures of 2 of them. The said they did this even though the rapists are juveniles because of "the horrific nature of the crime". I think this may be a good thing as people should know the names and faces of dangerous criminals in their neighborhood. I have known the 3 names for weeks now and even published a "memo" to the 3 using just their last names on this site but after a couple of days I took it down because I wasn't sure if this was right. I think, but am not sure, the Daily News did the right thing. Without being charged as adults, these rapists will practically get away scot free. Now hopefully the other two involved in the rapes will be charged. I also hope that this will send a very strong message to every high school sports team in the country.

Update: Newsday has an article online about the Daily News printing the names and photos of the rapists. Seems the lawyer for one of the jocks complained about it, but the article contains some half-truths. The article states the "identities had only been whispered house to house in Bellmore". Actually, the names of the 3 rapists involved in the attack could be found on the News12 Long Island Sound Off message board. Also, someone created a website (Mepham.us) that contains a message board where the 3 names of the attackers were given, then confirmed and spelling corrected by students from Mepham weeks ago. This board also contains the names of the two other attackers, both of whom have not yet been charged. Is this another example of the "new media" topping the "old media"?

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