A Wisconsin teenager recently avoided a prison term after being sentenced for serious sexual assault charges. The terms of the sentence given to the teenager were 18 months in prison and 18 months of extended supervision, but the judge stayed the sentence and placed the teenager on probation for five years. The judge reprimanded the teen and advised him that if he violates the terms of his probation, he will be sent to prison. If he behaves and meets all conditions of his probation, the teen will not see any prison time — at least not for the latest sexual assault convictions (he was previously sentenced to a year in the Racine County Jail in another sexual assault case from Walworth County involving the same victims).
The teen was most recently convicted on two counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child and stood accused of having sexual relations with three teenage boys in Racine County. According to the boy’s lawyer, the victims also happened to be his friends. The boys apparently met when they were 10 or 11 years old. At the time of the alleged assaults, the accused teenager was 17, and the younger boys were 14 years old.
The boy had a good academic history and a clean work record, and the sentencing handed down appeared to have the family’s support. Unfortunately, the teenager will be detrimentally affected by this conviction for the rest of his life, as he is also required to register as a sex offender in Wisconsin. Although the specific allegations surrounding the case were not detailed in a local news report, it appears that the teenager made some mistakes which cost him dearly.
The boy garnered some sympathy because of the young ages of all the parties involved. Indeed, teenagers and younger children can sometimes make serious mistakes, but it seems there may have been questionable judgment on the part of each of the young persons in this particular case. The convicted boy will still serve one year in a county jail, but the judge in the case showed some leniency by staying the other prison sentence.
Source: journaltimes.com, “Teen sentenced for sexual assault,” David Steinkraus, Dec.20, 2011