Boy, 6, caught playing doctor, is accused of sex assault - family files fed civil rights violation

[PeaceNikki]

Three young children caught playing doctor last year have unintentionally landed themselves, their families and some Grant County officials in a federal civil rights case sure to raise questions and outrage.

The parents of a 6-year-old boy who faced charges of first-degree sexual assault have sued Grant County officials who investigated and filed the juvenile petition. The charges came after a 5-year-old girl's mother suspected that play had gone too far.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Madison, contends that officials violated the civil rights of the boy and his parents, and seeks damages and an injunction against Grant County District Attorney Lisa Riniker. The suit also names a sheriff's deputy and social worker as defendants. None of them could be reached for comment late Thursday.

The new federal lawsuit contends the whole investigation was biased because the girl's father is a "well-known political figure in Grant County," and her aunt a regional social services supervisor. It claims now-retired Grant County Sheriff's Sgt. James Kopp "waged a relentless campaign to discredit and embarrass and humiliate 6-year-old D," and that the entire process was unreasonable and unconscionable.

Good for the family of this boy. I really hope that they get him help. Charging a 6 year-old with first-degree sexual assault is absolutely beyond the pale.


Doh! More at link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/box-6-caught-playing-doctor-is-accused-of-sex-assault-pi33ogg-134089743.html

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Jesus...

:eyes:

[redqueen]

2. That is actually sick.

I can see suggesting counseling (the activities, if they did occur as alleged, do seem to go beyond just playing doctor)... but criminal charges? :wtf:

[PeaceNikki]

3. Agreed.

Sad. :(

[Jackpine Radical]

6. I think what you really mean to suggest is an appropriate

psychological assessment to determine what, if any, treatment is needed. And the idea of criminal charges against a 6 year-old is itself criminal.

[redqueen]

7. Yes, sorry...

the attempt to do what he's accused of doing may not have been motivated by exposure to material that a boy that age shouldn't have seen.

If it wasn't, and he had been exposed to something age-inappropriate, then I would think he would benefit from some talking, that's all. Didn't mean to suggest he was deranged.

[Feron]

13. According to the article...

the boy had medical conditions that required rectal exams prior to playing doctor with the girl.

So it's easy to see how a little kid would interpret that as something acceptable to do while playing doctor.

And the girl said that the boy only touched her butt cheeks.

Really it should have been settled by talking to the kids and explaining why that is inappropriate.

[redqueen]

14. It sounds like the parents did try that...

but that it turned into a big mess.

[PeaceNikki]

19. Because the parents of the girl have friends in high places.

[Jackpine Radical]

32. Yes, exactly, that's what's going on here.

[intheflow]

9. I thought you were talking about counseling for the adults

who brought the charges. If anyone is sick/sexually repressed, its them.

[redqueen]

10. It's sick to press criminal charges against children.

A child who had been exposed to material which might have influenced the boy to act out what he is alleged to have been doing would probably benefit from being able to talk about it with someone who doesn't consider it appropriate to allow children to see such things.

As for the girl's parents, I can understand their being upset. I don't think they are sick or sexually repressed. I think they don't want what happened to have happened to their daughter, and they are frustrated and angry, and don't know what else to do. They could probably benefit from some counseling as well.

[intheflow]

24. Children have been playing doctor,

with or without the stimulous of porn, since humanity separated from the apes. Children are curious. I remember "you show me yours, I'll show you mine" games at that age. It's a normal art of child development.

[teddy51]

30. I agree with you totally, I used to do it as well. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

What, you don't think apes do it too?

You're gonna have to look a lot further back in evolution than that for the beginnings of juvenile sexual exploration.

And more to the point, Freud invented the concept of "polymorphous perversity" to describe the highly varied (polymorphous) sexual exploration activities (perversity) that he recognized as a normal psychosexual developmental stage that children go through.

[intheflow]

41. Not having any background in primatology,

but a lot of background in human sexuality ;), I didn't feel I could make a sweeping generalization that included all primates. :hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

42. Not just primates.

I think larval Republicans do it too.

[redqueen]

36. "You show me yours" does not usually lead to "and I'll stick my finger in yours"

It might not have happened. It might have been inspired by something mundane.

All I'm saying is I understand the parent being concerned about what exactly went on.

And just because such overstatement and restatement seems to be necessary: I already said filing charges is sick. Wrong. This means I disagree with charging a six year old. With *anything*... and that obviously includes this.

[intheflow]

40. Fair enough.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TBF]

5. WTF is wrong with people? nt

[Bonhomme Richard]

8. Delete due to posting before reading

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. I don't know about others here but

when I was that age, way way long ago in the 1950s, sexual experimentation was going on all the time. When I was 5, the little girl who lived across the alley invited me into her playhouse to play doctor. Her mom caught us and screamed at me. I ran out of there and never went back. I'm not saying that this is behavior that parents should encourage (far from it), but I think it's as old as humankind and criminalizing it is not going to stop what comes natural.

[izquierdista]

20. Older

Usually it is the alpha-male ape that screams at the juveniles imitating adult behavior, but high-ranking females can go off too.

[redqueen]

12. I would like to suggest that people read the link to see

what the boy is alleged to have done. It goes a little beyond my understanding of what most people are referring to when they say 'playing doctor'. In that way, the headline can be said to be a little misleading.

I'd also like to suggest than when you see such crazy things as the claim in the OP, that maybe it is sometimes an indication that there may be more to the story.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. What are you talking about?

He was, according to the article, simply imitating an exam a docter gave him - that is the very literal definition of 'playing doctor'.

There is no reason to freak out about kids being kids.

[redqueen]

17. That is the claim, yes.

We don't know if it's true. It's possible, and it's possible it didn't even happen. We just don't know

I agree there's no need to freak out, but that simply is not what most people consider playing doctor.

[PeaceNikki]

18. I would never support the idea of a six year-old being charged with first-degree sexual assault

In any context. That's a baby. A little kid.

[redqueen]

33. I guess you missed the part upthread where I said it was sick.

I think I said it twice, even.

[jberryhill]

16. True

But we tend to over-legalize and under-psychologize...

[Xithras]

22. What is your definition?

I still remember the first time I "played doctor" with a girl in first grade. I remember because, when I asked about the "extra hole", she told me that babies came out of there. Like a clueless 6 year old, I proceeded to stick my finger in there to see if I could feel any babies, causing her to scream bloody murder when I hit her hymen. She never played doctor with me again :dunce:

"Playing doctor" is an activity that occurs when children begin to realize that there are real differences between the sexes, and it's typically a curiosity-driven exploration of another childs body. It's very innocent. Even when there's penetration, there's a WORLD of difference between "playing doctor", and touching someone for sexual stimulation or humiliation. Charges are NEVER appropriate.

[PeaceNikki]

27. Exactly. Thankfully people are usually sane in these cases but the parents know people.

That's what this story is about. Assholes in high places being assholes cuz they can.

[redqueen]

34. Playing doctor doesn't usually involve penetration.

I would be surprised if most of it even involved touching.

[Xithras]

38. Well...

...I suspect that it depends on the curiosity of the children, doesn't it? I first did it when I was six, and there was mutual touching. When I was seven to eight, we had a girl in our group of friends who was very curious, and there was mutual touching and exploration multiple times with her as well. Some kids are OK with it, and some aren't. Either way, there's nothing abnormal about sexual curiosity between young children, so long as it isn't an abusive or ongoing thing. Children are naturally inquisitive, and most children become aware that boys and girls are "different" in more than just clothes and hairstyles around that age. Once that happens, curiosity and exploration are a normal byproduct. How far individual children go is largely dependent on the attitudes of those children. I suspect that there is no "normal" here, and that the actual behaviors range from "show me yours and I'll show you mine", to "want to see if it fits?"

In my case, neither of the two girls I "played doctor" with as a young child had any problem with physical contact.

[WildNovember]

25. I read the link and it doesn't go beyond my understanding of what "playing doctor"

can mean. The kid is *alleged* to have put his finger in the girl's anus (& what exactly that means isn't described). He's also alleged to have undergone rectal exams himself.

And even if the boy indeed *did* put his finger *in* (rather than on, or near) that would not justify criminal charges against a six-year-old.

Witch hunts, not just for puritans anymore.

Also alleged:

The new federal lawsuit contends the whole investigation was biased because the girl's father is a "well-known political figure in Grant County," and her aunt a regional social services supervisor. It claims now-retired Grant County Sheriff's Sgt. James Kopp "waged a relentless campaign to discredit and embarrass and humiliate 6-year-old D," and that the entire process was unreasonable and unconscionable.

More recently, Riniker has tried to coerce D's parents into signing a consent decree by implying she will seek to remove the couple's children from their custody, the suit says. The plaintiffs contend the guardian appointed in the case thinks they are fit parents.

The lawsuit says the boy, who had ADHD, now also suffers from anxiety, depression, vomiting, crying and lack of sleep because of the investigation and prosecution.

The boy's mother did decline to let him be interviewed without an attorney present but says in the lawsuit that the boy denies the acts that would constitute first-degree sexual assault. That led to implications from social worker Jan Moravits that the parents were witness tampering, according to the lawsuit.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/box-6-caught-playing-doctor-is-accused-of-sex-assault-pi33ogg-134089743.html

[redqueen]

35. Did I say it justified criminal charges?

:wtf:

[WildNovember]

44. Did I say you said it justified criminal charges? wtf?

[KittyWampus]

21. It may be the only way to get the kid help -IF- something actually age inappropriate

took place.

Some young kids do act inappropriately and it can be a sign they are being abused by an adult somewhere.

However, the charges seem rather over playing the situation.

[Blasphemer]

37. I agree...

It was right to investigate the situation in case it resulted from adult influence or actions but children do simply explore their bodies so I don't see why the case would go any further if it was just a matter of children exploring.

[RC]

23. This has to do with preadolescence kids with some kind of supposed knowledge of sex.

So the proper response for too many adults is to blindly panic and psychology damage the kids involved for life, so they won't ever do whatever again. After all, anything to do with anything between the belly button and the knees is filthily and evil and dirty and children mustn't acknowledge that that area exist on others.

The proper response would have been for both parents to talk to each other, then talk to the kids involved. Problem solved.
But this being the USA, fat chance of that.

[WildNovember]

28. good post.

[WildNovember]

26. The MSM sure is feeding us a lot of sex stories lately. I wonder why?

Oh, wait, the economy is trending to double-dip, banks are failing in Europe, unemployment still at 9%, we're at war all over the globe and demonstrations taking place in every large city in the country.

What we need is a few more provocative sex stories.

[malaise]

29. I suspect my entire generation should be in prison

WTF????

[Blue_In_AK]

31. Good grief.

Didn't we all play doctor when we were kids, or is that something that just us old people did?

[saras]

39. Obviously some didn't. They're still shocked that kids have those parts, and play with them

[lonestarnot]

43. Oh for fucking shit sakes! What Idiots we have become!

[WildNovember]

45. I honestly think that it's the result of decades of purposefully promulgated sex scares --

and also a way to deflect from real fears. People are anxious, it gives them something to pin their free-floating anxiety on -- an enemy to combat, since they can't figure out who the enemy is.

[Logical]

46. What help do you think he needs??????

[lindysalsagal]

47. We teachers are getting sued by children daily.

Just call the law offices of "Make The World Fit My Warped Sense Of Relity."

There's one on every corner. Someone hurt your iddy biddy feewings? Call a lawyer.