Petition to Deny Bail to Child Rapists

	Bail Out of This One

Exclusive (5/31/2001) One more bit of Armchair Activism tells the appalling story of the vicious rape of an innocent young girl, then begs you to take action to see that justice is done.

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT Subject: Rapists of the 6yrs old-sign it please Hi All, I'm sure you all know that I do not normally send or respond to these type of e-mails, however, this is an exception. Please add your names to this list. Dear Friends On Thursday, 01 March 2001 a seven year old baby girl was waiting for her sister to finish school when a group of men abducted her and dragged her to a nearby round, where she was raped by the six men. The baby girl, eventually managed to CRAWL to her sister who was still at school and informed the teacher and her sister ,who then took her to Addington Hospital. It was later established that one of the accused was the childs neighbour, and the two other men, aged 27 and 28 and the third man, a former POLICE CAPTAIN (recently medically boarded and also the neighbours brother)are to appear in the verulam Magistrates today, 5 March 2001. The other 3 suspects are still at large. If the citizens of this country don't voice their anger in this regard, then the governent will do nothing!!! THE QUESTION ONE SHOULD ASK IS " DO WE OFFER THEM BAIL ? " IF YOUR ANSWER IS " NO " ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST : *************send this to as many people as possible************** (57 names deleted) and the 100th person should send this to Thabo Mbeki, President & Private Secretary, Tuinhuis Stalplein X 83 ,CAPETOWN.or AndyD@dbn1.kzntl.gov.za GOD BLESS OUR LAND AND THE PEOPLE WHO GOVERN IT!!!!!!!!

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

It's hard to check the facts in this one, since it provides so few. What I do know is that it fails 7 of 7 checks for Armchair Activism (sponsorship, focus, validity, privacy, expiration, reliability, and integrity). There is no reason to believe that signing this petition will have any impact on the court's decision. There's even less reason to sign it.

The crime of rape against a child is one of the most heinous transgressions imaginable. The story in the chain above is carefully crafted to appeal to your morality and preys on your emotions. It may have been well-intended, but it was poorly executed and the risk it poses to your privacy far eclipses any positive effect it could have.

Category: Armchair Activism
References: None