csua.org/u/ffx -> www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0405wed2-05.html
RSS Feeds Judicial system failed abuse victims in Yavapai Apr. Pardon us for having to raise such delicate subjects over the breakfast table. classification," Arizona Revised Statute 13-1410 says: "A person commits molestation of a child by intentionally or knowingly engaging in or causing a person to engage in sexual contact . As for the definition of sexual contact, ARS 13-1401 says: " 'Sexual contact' means any direct or indirect touching, fondling or manipulating of any part of the genitals, anus or female breast by any part of the body or by any object or causing a person to engage in such contact." But when we compare that plain legal language with the descriptions of what was done to 18 young boys by a couple of Arizona camp counselors, and then compare that with the judicial system's response, we can't help but wonder: What gives? The counselors in question are Clifton Bennett and Kyle Wheeler. Bennett, 18, is the son of state Senate President Ken Bennett, R-Prescott. They are accused of having inserted broom and mop handles, a flashlight and a cane between the buttocks of 18 junior high school boys during a week-long outing last June for student council leaders at a camp in Prescott. By all accounts, the boys were clothed at the time, some of them wearing only swimming trunks or underwear. In addition, Wheeler was charged with choking three of the boys until they passed out. Now, Bennett is being allowed to plead guilty to one aggravated assault charge, and Wheeler to two counts. Sentencing is scheduled for May in Maricopa County Superior Court. The terms could range from probation to two years in prison on each count. The rationale used by the Yavapai County Prosecutor's Office to justify the lenient charges is astonishing. Prosecutor James Landis has said the office never regarded the "broomings" as sexual assault. But consider the laws quoted above and ask yourself what interpretation you would put on such an act if you were the one with a broom handle in your posterior. Landis also said there was no way to prove the perpetrators had "sexual intent." Further, sexual assault is seldom about sexual gratification. It's about the abuse of power and humiliating helpless victims. Most astonishingly, Landis said the matter might have been treated differently if the victims had been girls. Could any prosecutor be so ignorant as to the true nature of sexual abuse? Is the Yavapai County Prosecutor's Office, therefore, pulling excuses out of thin air? If one reason is, as was reported in defense court papers, so that Bennett would be free to go on a church mission, why should that be a consideration of the law? The law should be in the business of protecting victims, not their assailants.
"Once fully and accurately informed," it says, "one may continue to disagree with the result." That the boys indeed were victimized seems clear from the police report, despite Wheeler's assertions in that same report that this was all in good fun. One boy, the report says, "explained that when he was 'broomed' . he knew it wasn't right because nobody should be touched in the rectum area by someone else. Wrote one youth to the judge: "I realized now that I (have) been a victim to this molestation. All my innocence died that day when I realized all of that." These kids, beyond any rational argument, were victims of cruel attacks last summer by young men they trusted as authority figures. And now those young men are expected to waltz away with a slap on the wrist. Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk explains her position on the Bennett/Wheeler case in a column on today's Opinions page.
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