Rape: The Final Frontier

When we think of Safeplace, we think of abused wives. Still many of these wives and girlfriends have been brutally raped. Many will never tell their story, and many more will never live to tell their story.

That brings up a publishing conundrum. Some weeks ago, we offered a reader poll in which we asked if local arrests and accompanying photographs should be published. Out of approximately 200 who responded, 75% voted that such arrests should be published in some form. Currently both the ShoalsInsider and The Quad-Cities Daily post these local public records.

We've long held that crimes committed in the distant past should stay there. If there is one exception, it is crimes involving rape and child sexual molestation. These remain current news due to laws requiring the rapists/pedophiles to register with the state and additionally the fact that many experts say rapists can never truly be rehabilitated. Recently we've been sent a link to a blog concerning a brutal Colbert County rape that happened over 20 years ago. Is this something that we should add to the list of local blogs in our sidebar? We're going to offer a two-week poll and let our readers decide.

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We censor blog comments not only for language but for libelous statements. Recently a few have questioned if the latter is necessary. From Don Burleson Consulting:

Bloggers must also be aware of their responsibilities as hosts of discussions where comments are invited from readers.  Any defamatory comments made in other posts on the blogger's website may result in the blogger being held responsible for those comments and being sued for libel.  

Apparently, it makes no difference if you offer a disclaimer concerning comments of others, the blog publisher is still responsible for what commenters say. We prefer to err on the cautious side



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