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December 06, 2004

Kid-on-kid crime is still crime

Annie's mom catches her crying at times.

The young teen sleeps on the couch in the living room, rather than her own bed, because of the nightmares.

Sometimes Annie dreams tornadoes chase her. Sometimes it's sharks, circling the girl's small boat, gnashing pieces of wood, trying to bite the slender brunette inside. And sometimes it's the boy who raped Annie, standing just outside their front door.

"A police officer showed up within minutes. Somebody from the Center for Prevention of Abuse showed up within minutes," Mom says of the surreal Sunday night they took Annie to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. "Everything's stood still ever since."

That was Aug. 29.

We have talked off and on. The girl's name is not really Annie, of course. But she does call her mother "Mom." Let's stick with that for a reason: Mom could be any teen's mother. And Mom believes nothing has been done about her daughter's rape for more than three months. She has a point. Not exactly nothing. But not much.

They told me their story in person about six weeks ago.

Thirteen-year-old Annie was spending the night with friends, as she had done many times before. The boys and girls spread mattresses on the floor and watched Disney movies - in this case, "The Princess Diaries," Annie thinks.

But this time one of her friends had brought a new friend along. He didn't live in the same smaller Peoria County town. He was just visiting.

"I had no reservations whatsoever," Mom says. "He seemed like a sweet little boy."

Annie thought so, too. As the night went on, he seemed to pay her special attention. Somehow, when they settled in for the night, he moved onto the air mattress beside Annie. As the others slept, he rolled over on top of Annie, kissing her and pulling at her underpants. She was confused. It hurt. She cried. He continued anyway.

She was quiet the next day, but not noticeably so. It wasn't noticeable until after she got home and had Sunday dinner. When it came time to go to bed, she broke down in front of her mother's boyfriend, saying that the boy had touched her and kissed her neck.

"Annie started crying uncontrollably," her mom says.

At first, everything went as they expected. Police and counselors showed up. Evidence was taken. A nurse told Mom it did appear Annie had been sexually assaulted. But the boy went home, without being interviewed. Days passed, then weeks. Meanwhile, another young girl was raped in Peoria County by two men who were captured and prosecuted right away. They're headed for prison. Mom does not deny that was a horrific crime that deserved swift justice. She'd just like a little of the same for her own daughter.

"What difference does it make if they're 14 or 21?" she says. "Rape is rape."

That is true. But prosecuting rape has always been tricky. It is one thing to have a case where adult strangers kidnap and nearly kill a child. It is another when recent acquaintances are both under 15 years old. Adults can get mixed signals; inexperienced teens even more so.

And that is part of Mom's point.

"We obviously have a child out there who needs help," she says. "He's not getting help."

You could say he is on hold as well. One factor is the tests that are being done on Annie's clothing. Her case is almost certainly going nowhere without some physical evidence, but those tests can and often do take months.

"I have to have everything back before I go out there and file charges," says Mike Spokely, chief of the juvenile division for the Peoria County State's Attorney's Office and director of the Child Advocacy Center. "They're not easy cases. They're extremely difficult, and you've got to be very careful how you handle them."

He understands Mom's dismay. He says the process may be slow, but it is moving. Although it may sound cold, other cases - like murders - have higher priority.

And there is another factor. You don't want to think that Annie's learning disabilities make a difference. Spokely says they don't. Off-the-record, others wonder. But you don't want to think that there's an open season on vulnerable teens who might have trouble testifying. It's bad enough when it's teen-on-teen.

Spokely says the county is prosecuting between 50 and 60 sexual assault cases that involve teens and children. That's slightly higher than normal and the year is not over. Most of them are kid-on-kid.

"There's a real problem here," he says.

He adds that parents may worry about the adult down the block . . . but they ought to keep an eye out on the children, as well. "People should be worried."

Annie is getting counseling at the Center for Prevention of Abuse. According to the center's records, 102 children and teens are being helped there after sexual assaults so far this year. Seventy of them are teens; 24 of them were assaulted by other teens.

"In any sexual assault situation, what is difficult and why many people don't come forward ... they generally know that when it goes to court, it would be 'he said/she said,' " says executive director Martha Herm. "There are so many fuzzy gray lines when it comes to relationships, particularly teens."

Still, she advises parents to talk to their children about appropriate personal boundaries. And if they are crossed, "Report it. Pursue it."

Mom has. She will continue.

"My daughter was raped. And nothing happened," she says. "Where is the balance in that?

Posted by Nealus at December 6, 2004 11:49 AM

Comments

this story really bugs me.
why does nobody seem to want to take us seriously!?

also, if something is not done to correct this boy's behaviour NOW, while he is still a teenager, he will go on thinking that what he did was okay. What will he be capable of when he is older?
it's scary :(

Posted by: menina at December 6, 2004 12:56 PM

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