SEVEN YEAR OLD BOY CHARGED WITH THIRD DEGREE RAPE AFTER HE…

A 7-year-old boy from upstate New York has been charged with rape.

And Yes, you read it right! And it is making headlines for the wrong reasons…

The  Watertown Daily Times and  WWNY-TV  reported that the boy was charged by New York State Police with third-degree rape on March 23. The charge stems from an incident that was reported on Thanksgiving. The boy is from Brasher Falls, which is near the Canadian border.

State police confirmed they were investigating the matter and that the child was only 7, according to the newspaper.

“Instinctually, it shouldn’t happen to a 7-year-old. I don’t think you could even realize what you’re doing at 7 years old, so I think it’s absurd to charge a 7-year-old with rape,” Anthony Martone, an attorney told WWNY-TV. “They’d have to prove he actually physically committed this act, which to me it almost seems to be an impossibility.”

The March arrest of a boy from a tiny town in upstate New York is rekindling a debate over just how young is too young for kids to be branded a criminal.

Whatever led to the child’s arrest happened Thanksgiving weekend, the Ottawa Citizen reported. The boy, who was later released from custody, will likely be tried in juvenile court.

Little else is known about the case. In New York, the records of cases involving children are private.

But is prosecuting him the answer? Juvenile justice experts such as Dawne Mitchell, who leads the Legal Aid Society’s juvenile rights practice, say it’s not.

“What we know now is that the science doesn’t support the prosecution of second graders,” Mitchell told the outlet.

Current law in New York state allows for authorities to charge and prosecute children age seven and over as juvenile delinquents. There is currently a bill proposed in the state capital of Albany that would raise this age requirement to twelve because there have been a number of controversial arrests of very young children in recent months.

In February, a 9-year-old girl from Rochester, New York, was handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police car. Before that, her face was doused with pepper spray.

“Please don’t do this to me,” she pleaded with officers.

“You did it to yourself, hon,” a female officer replies.

This case, as well as the one in Brasher Falls, is prompting the state of New York to re-examine legislation that would raise the minimum age for prosecution from 7 to 12 years old.

The issue extends far beyond New York.

In fact, 28 U.S. states have no minimum age in place for prosecution, according to Alyson Clements, director of membership and advocacy for the National Juvenile Justice Network.

Watch the video below for more details:

Sources: AWM, Watertown Daily Times, WWNY-TV

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