Twelve-year-old Alberta boy admits to rewarding younger sisters with prizes and pop for having sex with him
A 12-year-old boy from southern Alberta(Canada) has admitted to having sex with his 2 younger sisters for the past year. The boy pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of sexual assault in a youth court in Lethbridge. A statement of facts in court said the boy created a game called "Sex Club" in the summer last year involving his sisters, who were seven and nine at the time. The boy "rewarded" them with prizes such as their favorite soda if they agreed to play the game. The sex games continued until July when the girls told their father, who immediately contacted police. A pre-sentence report has been ordered and the boy will undergo psychological and risk assessment before returning to court on November 19th.
Personally I believe that at the age of 12, still being a child, this should not be the type of games you come up with on your own. Where does a child hear or learn about this type of thing? How severely in your opinion should a child be punished for an adult crime(compared to an adult charged with the same crime)? Clearly the sisters were to younge to know better, but at what age should a child be expected to know better? should health class be taught at a younger age??
There are a lot of things wrong in this situation. A twelve year old boy should not be engaging in sexual activities, especially with his own sisters. Where are the parents/guardians when all of this is going down? How can they not realize their own children are having sex with each other. I beleive someone would have to be exposed to topics such as sex or sex games in order to come up with something such as "Sex Club". I don't view this as natural; there has to be some sort of influence on the boy.
I don't think the boy should be charged too heavily. If he was unaware or mentally not stable about what he was doing, then we can not sentence him to a full punishment. However, his course of action in this situation was wrong. Engaging in sexual activities, let alone engaging in sexual relationships with family members, is wrong at his age. There does need to be some form of repurcussions for his actions. He must know what he did is wrong, and there are real world consequences you must face if you participate in such actions.
The parents/guardians should be punished in my opinion. How is it possible to not know your children are having sex with eachother. Additionaly, they failed to prevent their son from being exposed to such topics as sex at such a young age. It is frightening to think that the only reason this came up was because the girls told their father. The care takers of these children are, in my opinion, insufficient. They need to adhere to the law for failing to act as proper filters for their children.
Children learn about these things very early. I heard this kind of talk when I was in elementary school for example. Kids learn about these kinds of things from media portrayals, television, and especially the internet. As a result, they will talk to other children and so on. Children will especially think that that kind of behavior is cool because it's "what the adults do." Children are trying to grow up too fast and it's very evident when they're dating in elementary school and their clothes seem to cover less and less of their bodies.
I think the boy definitely needs to be punished. I don't think he needs to be punished as an adult; a 12 year old and 43 year old are too completely different things when we think about the severity of this. However, he needs to be severely punished in some way and definitely be taught why his actions were wrong.
In my opinion, as soon as a child knows a little too much about that part of life, the child should know better. I think that because of the media, more and more children are being introduced to sexuality and that it adds to them wanting to grow up faster.
As a result of the media, health classes should definitely be taught to a younger age group. I've heard twelve year-olds brag about what they "did" over the summer. I don't think they realize how many problems that can cause in their lives if something bad happened, like pregnancy for example. It's sad to have to say it, but these younger age groups do need to be educated so that they can think about their potential actions.
(in response to Dylan)
I am curious as to why a 12 year old, 9 year old, and 7 year old were left alone long enough for this to take place. If it were going on for a year, how often were their parents away, or leaving them alone?? Clearly the parents were insufficient. Where does a 12 year old learn things like this? Is he learning from his friends/peers? The internet? Again, why did it take a year for the parents to be told? and why did they have o be told?I am pretty sure i still played with legos when i was 12.
Honestly, I feel like kids are naturally curious, about the world and especially about themselves. Going through puberty makes them aware that there are more differences between girls and boys than having "cooties." Puberty changes the body and that makes people curious when they go through this phase. I believe it's natural to around the age of 12 to want to explore the changes, but this doesn't mean I support incest. Given that girls go through puberty around 10 to 14 years old and boys 12 to 16, I think that health class should be taught at an earlier age most definitely. Also, I think it'd be a good idea for parents to, at least to some degree, be there to guide their kids through the changes that their bodies undergo (reassure confused kids, etc).
As for this 12 year old boy in the article, I think he shouldn't be severely punished or sent to jail. Sure it's still really bad what he did, tricking them by creating the game "Sex Club," It's not like he tied his sisters up and forcibly raped them. I believe that a proper punishment should be required treatment (i.e. rehab, correctional facility, whatever) based off the psychological and risk assessment that he'll be taking, and also be educated thoroughly about health and sex, etc. This may not be the best or even a good/fitting punishment, but i just don't feel like this kid should be charged on the level of an adult sexual offender (rapist, molester, pedophile etc.)-- adult offenders have known their body longer and also know what the implications and consequences of forced sex are, while a 12 year old going through puberty does not.
what is this 12 year old boy exposed to outside of the house? and why would he even come up with the game involving his two younger sisters? this is absurd. But as to what punishment this boy should receive is difficult to make.
The boy defiantly needs to be punished for his actions regardless his age. He is old enough to know exactly what he was doing.
Free birth control is offered to all kids twelve and up from clinics, with the promise of confidentiality. Children are becoming exposed to things at younger and younger ages. At the age of twelve, one would be in about 6th grade. sexual education begins around 6th and 7th grade. I do believe that he had to know that he was doing something wrong. I do think that he should receive some kind of punishment, along with counseling. Some blame should be given to the parents, due to the fact that they had no clue. I find it hard to believe they did not see some type of change in their children. Did the boy tell his sisters not to tell their parents? If so, this just shows that he knew it were wrong. there should be a boundary put up between his sisters and himself. He should not be able to spend unsupervised time with them, and should probably spend some time in a juvenile detention of some sort. The girls should also receive some type of counselling as a result of what they have been through.
Amber made some great points on where the boy may have been exposed. Kids have access to a lot of things these days with the internet. Not all of it is censored well either. I do think it is possible to have been exposed from friends at school, or to have even just seen it on the internet. This is something a parent/guardian should deal with though.
Going back to what I stated early, and as Christina responded to me with, where were those care takers?! It is astonishing to me that this went on for an entire year! Unbelievable. The care takers of these children should, and I hate saying this, be taken away in my opinion. Parents oblivious to actions such as these are not fir to take care of one, let alone three adolescents. These kids deserve better and need better than what they have experienced. Of course, this brings up other issues such as foster care and just the act itself of losing your parents. The amount of devistation already inflicted has well exceeded what any child should have to go through.
I do not find it hard to believe that a twelve year old can come up with this. the internet is so easy to access, and social media glamorizes and glorifies sexual activity.
I think that by the time kids are 12, the immaturity they are surrounded by just come up with every little thing they hear. If something is disencouraged to be told or said at that young of an age, they express it louder and louder. Kids at that age just want to rebel against everything that someone says to them. That 12 year old boy may have heard it from a friend at school and saw the attention he was getting because of it. (positive or negative, he may just seek any kind of attention.) Or even how the sexual promiscuity is always advertised. I don't find it at all surprising that he found out what sex was at that young of an age, I just find the extent it escalated to was far beyond what I think anyone's kids would do.
Even in this day and age, this is surprising and sad. He should be looked at psychologically, and his parents should be investigated. However, saying that he didn't know better is letting him off too easily. He isn't a toddler and if he is mentally sound, he should understand the severity of his actions. He doesn't need jail time. He needs counseling and appropriate discipline.
I tried to think of something intelligent to say but all I got is: Ew. He must have learned it from somewhere, but he is only a kid, easily influenced, he will probably grow up with a strong feeling of guilt. We live in a highly sexualized culture and we learn about the differences about boys and girls at very young ages.
I find this completely outrageous. But I also feel that this boy could not come up with this game all on his own. I believe his familial circumstances should be investigated to see where this negative influence is coming from. And because of his young age, I feel he should not be treated like an adult in this case, despite this generally being an adult crime. However, I do believe this boy should undergo psychiatric therapy, as even though he shouldn't know what sex is at his age, he certainly should know that doing anything intimate with a sibling is disgusting. That feeling of disgust should have arisen from a long time ago, and therefore it should have prevented him from doing it with his sisters.
I do think the sisters were too young to know what they were doing was wrong, and they are too young to know. However, I do think we need sex education classes earlier. The unfortunate fact is that inappropriate video's are easier to access in this day and age. So our education should acknowledge that. So while 12 is a young age to know about sex, I feel is may be necessary to have sex ed classes at that age. So at least children can have proper guidance and understand it, before they come across it one their own.
