Here is the link to the video of the attack: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2aFQARjIChA
I'm sure you have all heard by now about the six teenage girls in Lakeland, Florida that attacked another girl. They filmed the attack and had two boys standing lookout outside the house. All of this was put together to garnish YouTube fame. All eight are facing felony battery and false imprisonment charges.
With 17 seconds left one of the girls is heard saying, "There's only 17 seconds left, make it good." Some of the girls joked about the attack in their holding cells. One girl wanted to know if she would be out by the next day for cheerleading practice. One girl giggled when her bail was set. One of the accused girls' mother made defensive comments saying the victim had it coming and taunted the girls via MySpace.
This is just as bad, if not worse, than the third graders plot to attack their teacher. The victim is reported to have vision and hearing loss, though it is not expected to be permanent. The girls lured her into the house, only one of them in sight, the rest hiding in a back room. Then one girl slammed the victim's head against the wall, knocking her unconscious. When she awoke all six girls were surrounding her and one or two proceeded to beat her.
There are also claims that the victim was bragging, at work, that she was going over to the house to get in a fight. This seems unlikely, because when the girls challenged her to fight back she showed no desire whatsoever to get into a physical altercation (of course this might be because there are six girls around her). The whole situation is completely disgusting. The girls are being tried as adults (or the prosecution is at least attempting to do so) and face up to life in prison. I don't know about life in prison, though I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, but these girls need to be made an example of. Not just the girls, but the boys too. I don't know what I think the boys should be convicted of, as they neither held the girl inside against her will, nor beat her. However, they knew both were going on and intentionally aided the girls. I think all of these kids (and the third graders mentioned earlier) should be dealt with very sternly. These children are all very vicious and cruel and need to be punished accordingly.
Also, I just found out two teachers were attacked in a high school in Baltimore. The attack was also caught on a student's cell phone. Apparently that's the proper response, whipping out your cell phone.
This situation reminds me of something that happened a few years ago in a high school close to my home in Chicago.
I'm sure many of you have heard of the hazing at Glenbrook North High School's "Powder-puff" football game between junior and senior girls that made national headlines in 2003. The annual touch football game turned sour when senior girls began physically assaulting the junior girls. Feces, urine, and fish guts were also thrown at the victims. Several girls ended up in the hospital.
Following the GBN hazing incident, the surrounding neighborhoods (including my own) were glued to the television. Having hit so close to home, I can remember being completely awestruck. I saw some of the footage caught on camera, and I couldn't believe my eyes. I know that several of the senior perpetrators got in trouble with the law, but I'm pretty sure they did not get a severe punishment.
I agree that the boys and girls in Florida who attacked these innocent people need to be penalized by the law in order to understand the repercussions of their actions. No matter how many times I hear stories like these on the news, they never cease to disgust me.