Britain's Youngest.......

I'm sure you've all at least heard of "Britain’s Youngest Sex Offenders" by now, but just to catch you up to speed:

A pair of primary school boys yesterday became two of the youngest sex offenders in Britain after being found guilty of the attempted rape of an eight-year-old girl.

The boys, who are aged 10 and 11 and cannot be named, were convicted after a two-week trial at the Old Bailey during which the court heard how they had lured their victim to secluded spots near their homes in Hayes, west London.

They forced her to remove her underwear and tried to have sex with her. The defence claimed that the whole thing was simply childish sexual experimentation – "that age-old game, doctors and nurses".

But yesterday the jury disagreed. After little more than a day of deliberation they convicted the boys of attempted rape by a majority of 10 to two. They acquitted on the more serious charge of rape.

The boys, who sat next to their mothers in the well of the court – rather than in the dock – throughout the trial, showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered. One looked at his mother, but she stared straight ahead. They will now have to sign the sex offenders register. (Source, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/schoolboys-convicted-of-attempted-rape-of-eightyearold-girl-1981937.html )

Now, is this even possible? Can a set of children, who are, by law, not old enough to understand what sex is & everything that goes with it be charged with a sexual assault?? I'm not saying they didn't do it, but I'm also finding it difficult to say that they did. Things like "Kiss Chase" (Or Grope Chase as it was in my school) would surely fall into this kind of area. Is this all really worthy of them being put on the "Sex offenders" list? I'm just totally gazzumpped by the whole thing & was wondering what you all thought about it......

Not surprised this hasn't had a reply yet, where can you stand on this one

The kids that did this must have known what they were doing was wrong but did they know just how bad it really was? Should we throw adult punishments at them when perhaps some intensive counselling might provide a better result.

If they are doing this at their age then they do need a short sharp lesson to stop it but should they carry the shit that this will come with for the rest of their lives? Is anyone ready at 10 and 11 to make a decision that will stay with them for the rest of their lives?

Do you think it's the parents who should be brought to the dock over this?

Not at all. There are 2 things to consider:

1) As a society we are suppressing the natural urges of our youngsters. Naturally children are physically ready for sex much younger than 16. Nature isn't the one dictating mental readiness to us......

2) Children have sex education in school from about the age of 7 I think. Then they are told not to do it until they are 16! Put a kid in a room with a button & tell them not to press it......... Will they press it?

I don't think this is a unique case. I think the girl thought she would get into trouble so did what most kids do & claimed she was forced to do it, but didn't figure out the magnitude of the consequences from such a claim. I'd put my house on it that most children have their first sexual experience in the same kind of circumstances around the same age. It's surely a natural exploration of curiosity.......... You can't blame the parents for that...... Can you?

Well I know I had my first explorations around a similar age so I guess it's not hard to see the other side to the story........

I probably shouldn't admit to this but one of my first sexual experiences was at a similar age and bears a striking resemblance to this story.

We didn't go as far as the kids in this case did but we definitely engaged in a bit of I'll show you mine etc in the woods near where I used to live.

I think it's all part of the natural process of growing up. One thing that did disturb me about this case was the girl in question admitting in court that she lied when she said she was forced. If so...why were the boys convicted?

I thought that was a bit weird to, surely that's like saying the girl wasn't of an age to know her own opinion on the subject which would surely nullify the entire case wouldn't it?