I just wish this was a hypothetical situation

[sigma7]

Via ravenword, a most interesting philosophical exercise:

A 13-year-old boy and his 17-year-old friend are [warning: links triggery] convicted of kidnapping and raping the 13-year-old's cousin. The older boy gets ten years; the younger gets rehab counseling and starts playing high school football. The younger becomes a football star and gets scholarship offers from 27 college football programs, 26 of which rescind offers when they find out about his "character issue." Tennessee signs him and welcomes him.

I can't count the number of issues this raises. There's his treatment as a juvenile by the court, whether or not that's warranted (and contrasting that with the ten years his friend got), whether the sanctions against him (or lack thereof) deserve to linger past his legal sentence. There's the fact that this sealed case has obviously been unsealed and whether we should even be discussing this. There's the disparity in his treatment now, as a football hero as opposed to if he'd just been some schlub with a 3.8 GPA and 27 ACT. Even if he does deserve a second chance, what's Lane Kiffin doing offering a free ride to a convicted rapist? How would those cheering for this man's arrival on the team feel if he couldn't play football and was just an academic scholarship winner -- would they feel safe having their kids on campus with him?

I'm just impressed that this entire unpleasant situation has managed to appall me on more levels than I thought possible.

Comments

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's devil's advocacy at all -- I think it is quite possible for troubled teens to be reformed. I don't think that a crime someone participated in at 13 should necessarily set the tone for the rest of his life. But, at the same time, I find it really hard to swallow when someone gives him an elite scholarship in spite of his gruesome history. I feel like a violent crime in someone's recent past (even though that past was during his early adolescence) should at least exempt him from highly coveted special privileges, if not from an ordinary life. I wish UT would at least make some kind of gesture to counterbalance this, like giving a few scholarships to teens who volunteer at rape crisis centers or something. But no, they just have dollar signs in their eyes. It's a tricky issue.