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This is the most disgusting thing I have heard about in recent news. I think this teenager, along with everyone who 'participated', should be tried as adults and punished accordingly. Actually, that's not what I think should be done to them, but our legal system wouldn't allow the 'justice' that I would personally serve the beasts, were it up to me.

Here is the article:  article

Warning: article is very disturbing :(

What an awful incident.  My heart goes out to the little girl.  I can't imagine the pain and confusion she must be in right now.

My heart also goes out to her. She will most likely be emotionally messed up for the rest of her life. Her childhood and joy have been stolen away from her. Can you imagine going through that and then trying later in life to form a loving & secure emotional bond with a potential mate? OMG, that would be so so difficult.

This kind of stuff makes me wonder if I even want to have kids. I just don't know what I would do as a parent if something like this happened. Especially if one of the perpetrators was my OTHER child.

@ bellamargot - I agree with you completely.

Really, really horrible. The how in questions like this just astounds me. I mean, how does a woman do this to another female? How does a sister do it to a child? How do you get that many boys and men interested in a pre-pubescent child in one place?

For the 15-year-old, is she a super calloused and broken victim of abuse herself? Is she a psychopath? I mean, really, is she incapable of empathy? Psychopaths are terrifying.

Can peer pressure really lead to the rape of a child? It is NOT at all an excuse for such an act, but there are cases of group rape as a result of herd action, but of a child?

Man.

I really wonder if the 15 year old sister was a victim of abuse herself at some point in her life.  I do NOT say this to justify at all what happened, only that there is usually history that is not put into newspaper articles.

I agree with everyone who said they think the 15 yr old sister was possibly abused herself.

@ monita & Eva - I'm not condoning it either, but like you I'm just looking for answers to the 'hows' of it!

I just do NOT understand how someone who has grown up 'normal' for lack of a better word could stoop to something like this. I know that it happens, but I don't understand it at all.

@ okquuenbee: we have the same reaction. Just, how can a member of our species act like that. Reasons are not excuses. I can see why people can do horrible things (as in, I understand you shot a person because you wanted their money, not a good reason, but I can comprehend the motivation, the how and the why), but sometimes, it is astounding.

And those are the things that freak me out the most, thinking that there are people who are so dissimilar in their actions from normal people, that you have to fundamentally question their personhood, or I should say, ability to act like a person.

As someone who has been in the field of social work and psychotherapy for over four years, I can absolutely guarantee you that the 15-year-old individual was a victim of sex abuse, and it is highly likely that it was incestual. This individual is mentally ill and psychologically disabled. However, now the 7-year-old girl is doomed to have the same fate of a lifetime of psychological illness due to her trauma.

There is no excuse. This is just the cycle of abuse in play, but it in no way rationalizes this behavior. I have worked with victims of similar sexual trauma who have done everything in their power to overcome the debilitation of their abuse and break the cycle, and the rare few who remain successful in this lifelong struggle are heroic in my eyes. Those who choose not to make the effort to stop the cycle of violence are just as guilty as the ones who originated it. This individual who, in effect, stole the life of an otherwise possibly healthy and innocent child, along with the other abusers involved in this crime, deserve the harshest punishment available from man and God Himself.

I want to know why the title of this post is "What do you think should happen to this teenager?" when it is MEN who raped her, not her sister! Why are we so quick to blame women for rape? It is likely that the older girl had already been abused - normal 15 year olds do not have the knowledge to encourage their siblings to prostitute themselves.

@snmcdowell - I don't think anyone is "blaming women for rape."  I do think it's very disturbing that the report said

"Inside apartment 13-C, police said the 7-year-old was soon left alone as her sister headed to a back bedroom to sell sex to several men. When she came out into the living room, she handed her 7-year-old sister money and encouraged her to let the men touch her."

Police are now scouring video surveillance from lobby and elevator cameras to try to identify everyone at the party. They believe there were about a dozen people in the apartment, mostly teenage boys and young men who police say likely broke in — a fairly common occurrence in the crime-plagued neighborhood that sits in the shadow of the Statehouse's golden dome.

I think a lot of people have an issue with the sister because not only did she NOT stop the boys/men from touching her little sister, and she actively encouraged the behavior.

Edit: And to reiterate from my previous post, I do think it's likely that the 15 year old was sexually abused previously.

The only person responsible for a rape is the rapist. The sister's actions are deplorable, yes, but she is not responsible for the actions of other people. No decent man would ever think, "Hey a random teenage girl said I could touch this child, so I guess it's ok to rape her." Why are we letting the men off the hook for their disgusting actions just because some girl encouraged them?

@snmcdowell - no one is "letting the men off the hook"  Unfortunately, if the sister wasn't involved, this probably wouldn't have made national news.  Really bad things happen nation-wide all the time and it just isn't reported as widely. The story is so shocking because of the sister's involvement.

"Police are now scouring video surveillance from lobby and elevator cameras to try to identify everyone at the party."

"Annette Lartique, the city councilwoman who represents the area where the crime occurred, said the community would expect nothing less than the prosecution of everyone involved to the fullest extent of the law."

Also, she is not being charged with committing the rape herself.  "The teen has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes."  My understanding is that the definition of what actually constitutes "sexual assault" varies by state.  Any Lawyer bees out there?

Seriously snmcdowell, where are you getting that??

The girl would not have been raped if the sister had not sold her to the rapists. It's as simple as that. Do you not understand how the law works? It's called an accomplice. The 15-year-old is just as guilty as the male individuals involved.