Santa Clara Kidnapping

The recent kidnapping of a young girl in Santa Clara has people talking.  Kids are talking at the schools.   People are talking in the Vent. Even The Spectrum & Daily News editorial board had their say on the topic. 

I’ve made a few observations of my own. First let me say to the victim, you are a very strong young woman.  You fought back and got yourself to safety.  That took a lot of guts. You chose not to be a victim. You go, girl! By taking charge of your situation and taking the opportunity to escape, you very well may have prevented these perpetrators from doing something else stupid.

Some have referred to this stunt as a prank, performed by otherwise innocent boys who don’t get into trouble.  Well, good boys don’t just randomly kidnap people. Even the victim’s father, under pressure from others I’m sure, referred to them as “good kids who made a huge mistake.” Seriously? It’s okay to be angry about this and to expect these “good kids” be held accountable to the extent of the law.

The victim has gone from enjoying a jog in her neighborhood to sleeping in her parents’ bedroom, and has not returned to school. It’s not just the trauma of the initial crime that she is dealing with. There are lasting ramifications.

Had that been my daughter, I would not be going from “furious” on the night of the incident to “I hope they realize their mistake someday” in a week’s time. There can be room for forgiveness and expectation for strong punishment to coexist.

 And why were they not held by authorities that night? If I received a call saying that my son was picked for locking a girl in the back of his truck and driving her around my first response would be keep him overnight and call me in the morning.  A night in detention would allow him to realize what a stupid thing he did, and allow me to cool down long enough to come up with a proper punishment. 

It would start with the relinquishment of his keys and the selling of his truck. Then it would move to a face-to-face apology to the victim and her family.  I would not consider asking them not to press charges.

I don’t care if these boys are the sons of the mayor, police chief, bishop, or judge. What they did was wrong. It wasn’t a prank, it was a crime.

Within a day or so a rape occurred on one of the walking trails nearby, and the perpetrator is still at large. People don’t just wake up one day and decide to be a rapist.  It starts out with behavior that is less aggressive.  Like, kidnapping, perhaps, that goes uncorrected. They get away with lesser crimes, either by having charges dropped or by not getting caught. Letting these boys off easy is not helping them.

 If you do the big-boy crime, you should do the big-boy time.

Rhonda Tommer is a resident of St. George and a member of the Spectrum and Daily News Writers Group.