...one is definitely darker than the other. As per today's lecture, should we, as a society, continue to link these types of cases together? Both involve sexual activities with persons under the age of consent, yet are substantially different. However, most of the laws devised are based around the rare cases much like the latter, but applied to the former. What could society do to change things?
First,
from http://www.nbc5i.com/news/15424218/detail.html?subid=10101601
Police: Bedford Teen Hid Man She Met On Internet In Her Room
POSTED: 9:08 am CST February 27, 2008
UPDATED: 6:44 am CST February 28, 2008
BEDFORD, Texas -- Police said they arrested a Pennsylvania man accused of coming to North Texas to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
The girl’s mother found Eric Gahagen, 27, of Center City, Penn., sleeping in her daughter’s bed after the girl left for school Monday morning, according to police.
Investigators said they think Gahagen climbed into the girl’s second-floor bedroom window and had been in her bedroom for more than 24 hours amid an eight-month relationship that began over the Internet.
Gahagen remained jailed on $50,000 bond Wednesday on suspicion of sexual assault. He is accused of having sex with the teen Monday after she returned home from school.
Gahagen arrived about 6 p.m. Sunday at the teen's house without her parents' knowledge, police said. A friend drove him the nearly 1,500 miles from Center City near Philadelphia to Bedford and Gahagen apparently planned to fly back, police said.
Gahagen and the 14-year-old apparently met in an Internet chat room last year, then exchanged text messages and called each other, Bedford Assistant Police Chief Les Hawkins said. The two arranged for a meeting last weekend, Hawkins said.
Police said Gahagen thought the girl was 20, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition Wednesday. But Bedford police said she does not look 20, that her room appears as a typical teen's and that Gahagen didn't question when she went to school Monday.
The mother then took the girl and her younger daughter out of the house and told her husband, who guarded the teen's bedroom until officers arrived, authorities said.
As well as:
(from http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/29/girl.in.box.ap/index.html
Slain girl cried 'I'm sorry' in final moments
PURCELL, Oklahoma (AP) -- Jurors on Thursday heard a soft-spoken man describe in a videotaped interview how he lured a 10-year-old-girl into his apartment, killed her and sexually assaulted and mutilated her body.
Kevin Underwood could face the death penalty if found guilty of murdering a 10-year-old girl.
Kevin Ray Underwood, who could be executed if convicted of murdering Jamie Rose Bolin, told FBI agents two days after she disappeared in April 2006 that he hit her over the head with a wooden cutting board while she was watching television and playing with his pet rat.
Agents asked Underwood what the girl said after he hit her.
"That's something that's haunted me forever since it happened," he said. "She started yelling, I'm sorry,' which I'm like, What is she sorry for? She didn't do anything wrong. It's me. I'm the one that should be sorry."'
Underwood, 28, showed no emotion while the confession was played. One of his attorneys, Matthew Haire, held his head in his hands and looked at the ground.
Prosecution and defense attorneys rested their cases in the trial, which began Monday.
The defense did not present a case or dispute that the former grocery store stocker killed Jamie, a neighbor of his in Purcell, a small community 40 miles south of Oklahoma City. Defense attorneys said they planned to argue during the trial's penalty phase that he doesn't deserve to be executed for the crime.
In the FBI interview, Underwood said he regretted hitting Jamie as soon as he did it, but that by that point it was too late.
"I was sick to my stomach that I was doing this," he told agents Craig Overby and Martin Maag. "I was literally, physically sick."
He said he smothered the girl with his hands, sexually assaulted her lifeless body, draped the corpse over the bathtub and began sawing her neck with a decorative dagger, nearly cutting her head off.
He said the killing was part of a fantasy fueled by macabre Internet pornography. He said his plan was to kill and eat his victim.
"It started off as cannibalism ... I wanted to know what it tasted like, and just the thought of eating someone was appealing to me," Underwood told the agents.
Two days after the girl's disappearance, authorities grew suspicious of Underwood after stopping him and his father at a police checkpoint near the apartment complex. After a short initial interview, he allowed investigators to search his apartment, where they found the girl's nude body stuffed into a plastic tub inside his bedroom closet.
A forensic pathologist testified that Jamie was asphyxiated and had been sexually assaulted. Dr. Inas Yacoub said she was unable to determine if the girl's injuries, including the deep gashes to the neck, occurred before or after her death.
In the videotaped interview, Underwood said his fantasies involving cannibalism began about the time he started taking the antidepressant Lexapro. Defense attorneys plan to call witnesses during the penalty phase of the trial who will testify that Underwood often appeared detached from reality and was using the drug.
Underwood also said he had spent hours standing in the doorway of his apartment, watching children who played in the apartment complex courtyard.
"I had pretty much planned all along to probably get a kid, just mainly because they'd be easier to grab and easier to get rid of afterwards, smaller, and you know, put up less of a fight," he told the agents.
At the end of his videotaped confession, Underwood appeared to become tired and then became physically sick.
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27 comments:
I think society definitely needs to clarify certain cases and define each law, in regards to sex with minors, etc. The first case is an example of cases we see somewhat often. In the media we here about middle-aged men who find young girls in chat rooms on the internet. The two then "establish a romance" and meet up. I think we first need to crack down on internet access and control chat room communication. Parents should be a little more involved in what their children are doing on the internet. In the second case, Underwood felt no emotions when luring the 10 year old girl into his apartment, and sexually assaulting her and killing her. He should face life in prison or the death penalty for the violent, gruesome crime he committed.
The 27 year old claimed he thought she was 20, but her room looked like that of a typical teenager. If he realy thought she was 20, then their wouldn't be a problem,once again that stems to what we discussed in class regarding consenting age. However, if at any point, whether through admission on the girls part, or through what he saw in her bedroom, if he knew she was only 14 and still allegedly had sexual relations with her then yes, I would say he is a pervert. It's hard to stop unknown perverts in advance and more needs to be done regarding monitoring internet chat sites. Datelines to catch a predator has really focused on exactly this issue. When caught, the men claim this was ther first time, they will never do it again, they were solicited by the minor, and the reason they have alcohol and condoms on them is because the underage youth requested it. with the advance of technology, these crimes are becoming harder and harder to keep a handle on. When I was a child their was no such thing as the internet and chat sites, we all knew to look out for the man hanging around the school yard, or the car that drives slowly behind us as we walk home from school, never walk alone and always tell an adult if any of those things occured. Now, we need to somehow make on-line solicitaion of a minor a crime, but how are we going to enforce the numerous websites & chat rooms that exist soley for that purpose?
The second article regarding the man whom abused, killed and fantisized about eating the 10 year old little girl is so utterly vial, that based on his own admission of what he did to her, how and why their shouldn't be any trial. I feel in those cases, especially because he confessed he should simply be shot and used as fertilizer or left to rot and the vultures to eat him. I have no tollerance for that kind of crime. His allegation that he felt sick at what he did is not something I can internally believe. was he saying that to try and get a more lenient sentence? I don't know. He said knew he would always get a kid, and they were easy to get and couldn't fight back, I guess this angers me so much to know garbage like this are watching out children! Veronica V.
It really is strange how we place these 2 men in the same category. Yes, the first guy is a perv for still sleeping with this girl after it was apparent that she had lied to him and was much younger. However, he was not meeting her with the intent of violently assaulting and killing her. She was not kidnapped and she was not forced. The 10 year old on the other hand had no way of knowing what was going to happen to her. The age of consent comes into play. The 14 year old is old enough to take responsibility for her actions. The other was a little girl in the wrong place at the wrong time with a psychopath watching her. Although sex is involved, these are 2 completely different crimes and really should be handled that way. We should stigmatize guy #1 the same way we do guy #2 with the sex offender label.
I do believe that society needs to differentiate between these types of cases. The first case although he is a perv and should have never had sex with the girl once he realized she was lying it is nothing compared to the second case. The first girl knew what she was doing whereas the second was still very much a child and had no idea what was happening to her. These two cases are completely different and should be treated differently. As a society we need to take each case individually and treat a violent case like the second one much stricter than the other case.
As has been already stated, the guy from the first story clearly went against societal norms but to classify him with the killer from the second story is completely wrong. The girl from the first story invited Gahagen into her room and was interested in meeting him. The younger girl was clearly unaware of the danger that surrounded her actions and unfortunately lost her life because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I'm not completely sure that Gahagen should be placed on a sex offender list when the girl lied to him about her age. Although if it was obvious she had lied, my opinion definately would change. With that said, Gahagen's actions shouldn't cost him his ability to function freely within society to an extent.
Underwood's actions are despicable and disturbing to say the least.
Thankfully, it seems that he won't be free to prey on other children for quite some time, if he is able to avoid the death penalty.
I do believe that both of these cases are different and therfore should be treated in a different manner. I don't believe that the middle aged man in the first case should be having sex with a fourteen year old but at the same time she consented and he didn't force her to do anything that she didn't want to do. The ten year old girl on the other hand was violently beaten and completely forced to do something that she didn't want to do. I don't believe that these two men should be placed in the same category because these are two very different cases.
I think that while the two cases are linked because of the sexual nature of the crimes with underage victims, the second case stands out because it was a violent crime resulting in the death of the victim. I think that laws should be changed to have separate charges for different crimes, obviously in the second case, the maximum sentence or capital punishment will be used, but in cases like the first article the primary problem comes with catching the suspect in the first place. The internet allows of age persons to find and then attempt to have a relationship with underage children with relative ease, and unless they are caught in the act or caught with proof of the act they aren't likely to be charged. I think law makers should consider making even entering into an illicit online conversation with a person who says they are underage illegal, and that if a person arranges a meeting with a child for the intent of sexual acts they should be charged, because as things stand now in many states without the actual commission of an act the most the suspect would be charged with is criminal trespassing. Laws should be harsher for internet predators, because they are individuals actively trying to find underage people to have relationships with, and I think that makes them more likely to recidivate. I don't feel bad that they get put on the Sex Offender Registry, in fact I would be okay if they had to get "pervert" tattooed on their foreheads; people like that don't deserve privacy - they invaded the rights of the children and no longer deserve theirs.
Perhaps society needs to focus on how this is more common that parents think, making it a point to promote more parental supervision, especially the internet. I'm not sure that it's bad that laws made for crimes like the second case are applied to crimes like the first case, especially if there are harsh punishments, unless suspects get away with a light sentence, if anything at all. I don't believe for a minute that the suspect in the first case didn't know the girl was 14 and it doesnt matter that he didn't have a violent intent or that it was "concensual," he still committed a crime and should be punished for it.
There is not much society can do about the second case, except for promoting parent supervision, the police are reactionary in cases like this and parents are preventative, although the suspect should get the maximum sentence or capital punishment.
It seems these internet cases never cease. Almost everyday we see in the news somewhere that an adult male is arrested for meeting an underage female online and then proceeding to have or attempt to have sex with her. Are stiffer penalties needed? Do the parents of todays youth need to more closely monitor their children's activities? It is common afterward for the parents of these exploited girls to "act" schocked, like it could never happen to their family.
Well, it seems to occur as much as ever and parents need to realize how easy it is today for their young children to communicate with much older people.
In relation to the other case, I dont think the two are truly related. Most of these men arrested for underage sex crimes do not have the ultimate intention to kill their victim. Nevertheless, no matter what kind of sex act goes on with an underage person, the offender should receive a stiff penalty, consensual or not.
Society should start to make clarifications regarding the laws that deal with sex and minors. The majority of the laws dealing with sex and minors focus on the types of crimes that are rarely committed, crimes involving rape and murder. Other crimes that are committed to a much greater degree are sex acts involving consenting minors where there may be an age difference of 1 or 2 years between the victim and offender. Minor infractions require people to be labeled as level one sex offenders. Even being at level one causes much distress and many complications for someone with that title. When labeling people you are also stigmatizing them. Minor infractions end up being punished harshly because of the panic people have about the much more serious crimes. Laws also need to catch up with the changes of society and start applying some legal codes to the internet.
The first article where a man is suspected of sexual relations with a minor and the second where a man confessed to mutilating and killing a young girl are at two different ends of the deviant spectrum yet treated one in the same. It pains me to know that this still happens and nothing has been done to change it.
In the first article, i dont believe that he was unaware she was not 20. Since when do girls who are 20 look like 14? However, i do feel under some circumstances, mistakes like that could potentially be made. I think that if a girl who appears to be of age, tells you she is, what are you suppose to do? Ask for ID? I feel that in cases like this, there are definetely circumstances that there csn be an excuse.
However, the second article made me ill. I cannot even put into words how disguisting an individual like that is. There are no excused for that kind of behavior and he should be punished accordingly with life in prison or the death penalty. I also believe that we need to take an in depth look at the different between these two kinds of people. One, who is a horny guy just not using his head when he finds out this girl probably isnt of age, and other, who is a sick, twisted individual who cannot and should not live in society. I think that ideas like the sex registry list should think about cases like these and the differenced between the two before even labeling them in even the slightest similarity of catergories.
-Ashley G.
I doubt that the 27 year old thought this girl was 20 for the 8 months they had been chatting online. Most 14 year olds act their age which is distinctly different than how the majority of 20 year olds act. Even presuming that he was stupid enough for 8 months not to realize that, i'm sure it was quite apparent when he saw her that she was not 20 years old. Presuming that he's still just as stupid to not be able to tell from that maybe another clue for him should have been when she told him to climb in the window instead of coming through the front door. After seeing her he should have turned around and
crawled right back out the window. Sex with a minor under the age of consent is a strict liability crime no matter what he thought so I really have no sympathy for him. He deserves what he gets.
As for the other article. What a sick bastard. There are certain things that I'm wondering about though. First,did the girl live in the same apartment complex as this man. If so and other neighbors were aware of his strange behavior you would assume that her parents were also probably aware. In that case why was she as well as all the kids in the complex not talked to by their parents about staying away from this man as well as all of them being closely monitored by their parents. When you know someone is standing there staring at kids for hours from their window you know something is just not right. It seems very strange that neighbors didnt take turns sitting out there keeping an eye on the kids. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the death penalty but I definitely believe that if you murder a child life in prison is not severe enough and death is exactly what you should be given since there is absolutely no reason anyone should harm a child.
Lynda F.
It sounds like this man is extremely disturbed and mentally unstable. His confession and acknowledgment of the gruesomeness of his crime demostrates how seriously ill this man is. He knew fully what he was doing was wrong and disgusting but continued anyway. This kind of self-awareness, to me, says he should be executed. If he was able to see err of his ways but not stop it I think this rules out rehabilitation. He appears to be incapable of self control despite all awareness of social norms and laws. C. Leahy
I agree with Amanda, that the 14 year old girl should be held partially responsible for her actions. They seem to have had a mutual relationship, and she both allowed the man into her house and hid him in the room. At the same time, the pervert is obviously lying about being oblivious to her age, and in his case, if he HAD originally thought the girl was twenty, he should of left as soon as he realized what the situation really was. I agree also that parents need to be more attentive to what their children are doing online. There are so many controls that exist. What is odd to me is that they never wondered what those mysterious phone calls were from, or if they were aware of them, why they never inquired about who the person. Either the girl is a serious lier or the parents are completely oblivious.
As for the second article, the man obviously has a mental issue. He claims to have felt guilt but needed to continue to satisfy a fantasy... either his antidepressants contained acid, or he is a sadistic pedophile who deserves what is coming to him. I'm not exactly for the death penalty, but in his case, if that is not granted he should be institutionalized for the rest of his life. I feel that because he showed no emotion at the trial,then he is satisfied (in whatever twisted way), then it was probably something inside of him, not the medication. And honestly, I think any normal person would have stopped taking it if they started experiencing such disgusting fantasies.
Well I believe that both offenders should be punished, the second one more harsher then the first but non the less they should both be punished. The fact that the first girl had consented to the sexual relationship doesn't make it right for either of them. There are plenty of teenage young men out there that she could have been dating. This sounded more of a case that he new what he was doing and he seduced her. Why wouldn't he get a girl his own age? If he was sneeking into her room I'm pretty sure he knew what he was doing. If it was the case that he did believe that she was 20 (which I doubt) there are plenty of young girls out there that look and act older than their age, so I would place half of the blame on the girl because she also knew what she was doing and went along with it. With cases like this we have to becareful though becuase we don't know if these teenage girls are forced to say that it was consensual based on a threat they might have recieved from the offender and the only way we see fit to punish these men is by labeling them as sex offenders. The only possible way I see fit to resolve this issue it that no type of over age relationship with a minor should be allowed unless it's a case of the person being within 5 years or less from the other ex: 16yr old with an 18yr old.
I think in situations like the one in the first article, society is quick to blame the man. While I do admit that he was definitely wrong for having a sexual relationship with a 14 year old, what about the girl? Its not like she's completely stupid and didn't know what she was saying. She participated in the relationship as much as he did and allowed him into her house to have sex. I think in situations like these, both parties should be looked at blame should be placed where it is justified. In regards to the second article, I was totally shocked at the level of brutality the guy used. I think its because I haven't heard of this kind of crime in regards to children in a good amount of time. I definitely think he should be given life in prison but I'm not sure where I stand on giving him the death penalty.
I think laws need to be more specific to the crime when dealing with sex crimes. These two situations are very different in action and motives as everyone has already pointed out. The first case seems a lot less serious than the latter but then again if i had a 14 yr old daughter i would never want her in that situation. Although the laws may have been created and developed for the 'violent sexual predator' I think applying them to the first case isn't necessarily all bad because i definitely believe the first man should be punished as well. The problem arises when he becomes stigmatized and categorized in the same group as the man in the second story.
Regardless of the crime that took place the intent and illegality is all the same. Who are we to say that the first case could not have turned into a murder as portrayed in the second article. These two stories are substantially different but at the root of both stories are men taking advantage of the vulnerability and naivity of children. For obvious reasons the offender in the second article should be punished more severely but there is no way that the offender in article two should be let go easily just because his crime did not result in a brutal murder. His crime was brutal in its own nature. Taking control over someone obviously physically and mentally weaker than you is wrong despite the end result.
In reading the two articles I was able to distinguish that the first case involved a pedophile, while the second offender could be classified as a child molestor. I believe that when it comes to the rest of society, the line between a violent preditor versus one that seeks a physical relationship with a minor is very thin. To many, both offenders should be tried the same way because when it comes down to it, acts committed against children are unacceptable. While I agree with the idea that acts against children are immoral and unforgivable, I find that the punishment should be equivalent to the crime. Although, Eric Gahagen had sexual intercourse with a minor, I believe that Kevin Ray Underwood should receive the maximum sentence. Underwood's actions were premeditated and more violent in nature. Throughout it all, Underwood showed no true remorse or emotion, not even while his confession played. These are the kinds of individuals that should be taken off the streets and considered a threat to society.
I do agree with one of the above posts that we should treat both offenders in the same respect because there crimes are looked at as being in the same violation of norms although their intentions were a bit differnt. In regards to the 14 year old, how can the parents be that unaware or absent that they don't monitor what , or who she is talking to online. Foruteen is a naive age and for a girl that amy look a little older, a little bit of attention from her parents to who she is talking to and what she is doing can really go along way. I just find it hard to believe that they would be completly absent minded about the whole thing. Why would age not come up , or after 8 months of courting this girl, don't you think you would give a "hello" to the parents where that would throw up a red flag to them prior to spending the night? It is different from the second case because of the violence that is absent, but is still wrong.
The two stories strongly relate to class discussions of sexual deviance but in much different ways. The first story is clearly not as heinous of an act but should be prosecuted. It is all too common for young females to engage in chat rooms, often posing older then they really are. In this case the male should have known that the girl was still in adolescent years. By the appearance of her room, physical makeup, and actions of going to school it is pretty difficult to accept his justification that she was 20. In many cases females do fib of their age and may appear older then they really are. It is up to the male to be responsible of his actions and sure of his partner’s age. Whether male or female, if engaging in sexual activity, should know their partner deep enough so that this does not happen. I also believe that parenting should be improved. Children and teens have access to the internet in their bedrooms and are left unmonitored. Where are the parents? If parents get involve in their children's lives a little more it can make a huge improvement in this all to common problem. As for the second article...we are looking at a much more heinous act. The offender clearly has some major mental heath concerns. Such actions can never be understood or rationalized by a sane individual. It is something that is difficult to prevent from happening, especially if it is planned out in advance. The most we can do as a society is to provide better parenting and surveillance of our children. Children and women can be extremely vulnerable in certain situations and it is too bad that these types of crimes do happen. I believe there will always be mentally ill people in our society...the best we can do is continue to watch over one another and report to police if suspicious of anything. It is better to report rather then wonder.
I believe that these two cases are only similar in the fact that they envolve minors. The fact is with the first article with the 27 yr. old in the teenagers bedroom, yes this is illegal and should not have been done, but my real question in where were this girls parents?? They allowed her to go onto the internet. where were they when she was on these chat rooms? We really need more monitoring on the internet. The guy in the second article should really be punished for what he did. kidnapping and killing an incident little girl. these are two totally different stories yet they have minors in common, i think that this is were the law should be a little clearer on cases like this. There is no way that these two men should have been treated the same, the killer should be severly punished, after all sex isn't inheritly wrong it's wrong to have sex with minors because the law says it is. Killing is always wrong.
These internet cases are far too common in our society. The first case is still disgusting, but clearly the victim was consenting. It was the stupidity of the offender to not realize she was a teenager based on her looks and her room decor. The second case is so much more horrible and upsetting. A man who was inclined to try cannibalism decides to kill a 10 year old for it. Not only did he kill her but he sexually assualted her lifeless body and mutilate her. Both offenders are classified in similar groups when one thought he was with a 20 year old and the other one is murderer. Our laws need to differentiate between the two more than they have done in the past. Hopefully the offender in the second case is executed for his disgusting crime.
The man in the first case should have clearly noticed that the 20 year old he thought he was going to meet was a teenager. The age for consent I think is 16 in most states. So the child was not old enough to consent. Although she was in agreement with meeting up with the man she still did not know any better. The man should have realized this and left. But this is not nearly as bad as the second situation. It is crucial to hear that this helpless 10 year old was mutilated. Although this man felt what he was doing he still continued in killing the child in the most gruesome way. His intent to kill was carried out. This sitaution completely differs from the first case. I feel that society needs to find a way to to explicitly define the laws so cases like these aren't put into the same category. The second case clearly needs to be taken more seriously. Also, for the first case I believe society needs to focus on the necessary precautions of the online world. The internet is now the main source to a persons life. For children, protection should be strongly enforced so sitautions like the first case does not occur.
i do think that the two stories are different in many ways. I think that society needs to diffenciate between the two cases. The first case shows that the guy knew he was establishing a relationship with an under age girl. I think that there should be more strict laws about chat rooms and make it worse if the guy has the intentions of meeting up. Also the parents should be paying more attention to there children and the internet. In the second story, that guy needs to be locked away and helped. Any person who wants to know how a body taste, has something serious wrong in the head. The worst part about this situation is that the guy felt no emotion when he was luring the girl into his apartment. I hope he gets the life sentence for committing such a horrible crime.
T.Elia
While both of these acts are wrong and disturbing, we should not continue to link these types of cases together. Especially with the first act being consensual, there is a vast difference between these two cases. While one man had sex with an underage girl who lied about her age, the other man killed an even younger girl and then continued to sexually assault her dead body. I do not see how these two cases can be linked together, especially with the way the second man confessed and was acting emotionally; he clearly had mental issues. I believe that continuing to link these types of cases together would be unfair for men such as that in the first story. B. Brown
In regard to the first article, this is a disturbingly common occurrence, and clearly demonstrates the reason for age statutes regarding sexual activity. However, I believe firmly there ought to be other qualifiers, such as difference in age, rather than only a strict age cut-off point at eighteen. Almost anybody who had a sexual relationship with somebody even weeks younger than them in high school was likely guilty of statutory rape where the 'victim' was legitimately a peer and equally capable of making decisions.
I think these internet chatrooms need to be regulated alot more and no one under the age of 18 should have access. The first case is very common and it's hard to tell whether the man knew this girl was a minor. Underwood deserves the death penalty for committing that hainus crime.
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