Last summer, 16-year-old Savannah Dietrich went to a party, had some drinks, and passed out. Then, two acquaintances sexually assaulted her, took pictures, and forwarded them to their friends. News of the public assault tore through Dietrich’s Louisville high school. Dietrich was forced to “just sit there and wonder, who saw, who knows?” The public humiliation culminated this June, when her assailants struck a plea deal on charges of felony sexual abuse and misdemeanor voyeurism that Dietrich felt amounted to a “slap on the wrist.” And the court had an order for Dietrich, too: Don’t talk about it, or risk 180 days in prison and a $500 fine.

First, Dietrich cried. Then, she logged online. “There you go, lock me up,” she tweeted to a couple hundred Twitter followers, outing her assailants by name. “I’m not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell.” These men had made their assault on her public. Now, they had convinced a court to keep it all under wraps. “If reporting a rape only got me to the point that I’m not allowed to talk about it, then I regret it,” she wrote in a note on her Facebook wall. “I regret reporting it.”

Public officials and victim’s advocates have long grappled with the question of why more than one-half of rape victims do not report the crime to police. Rape trials can be long, grueling, humiliating, stigmatizing, alienating, and ultimately difficult to prove. But as Dietrich’s case shows, the criminal justice process can also rob the victim of control over her own narrative. Reporting to official channels often means keeping quiet in social ones. Even when the story hits the press—as is the case of the local Louisville report on Dietrich, now 17—the accused rapists’ names often remain unpublished.

Now, young victims like Dietrich are “reporting” the assault directly to the people who need the information most—other women living in these rapists’ communities. And they’re risking their own names and reputations in order to bring their assailants out into the open. In 2010, 19-year-old American University student Chloe Rubenstein took to Facebook and Twitter to out two men on campus she said had victimized several of her friends (“ATTENTION WOMEN,” she wrote. “They are predators and will show no remorse for anyone.”) In 2007, a group of women at Portland’s Lewis & Clark College, led by sophomore Helen Hunter, created a Facebook group calling one of their classmates a “Piece of S— Rapist.” When the administration caught wind, it suspended the man for just a semester. But five years later? Google his name, and the online rape allegations still register as the fourth hit.

The tactic has its risks. Women who report rapes through unofficial channels can be shamed for making public claims that have not been proven in a court of law—or else for ruining the reputations of “boys” who have made “mistakes.” Dietrich faces jail time. Rubenstein fielded late-night threatening phone calls from her rapists’ friends. Victims with even less social clout—Dietrich is white and middle-class, and is speaking out with the help of her family and legal counsel—can expect even less support. But the costs of staying silent are high. In her Facebook note, Dietrich said that her attackers gave “people the impression that it’s okay to do that to me … making me look like a whore and increasing my chances of getting raped again.” We know that the majority of acquaintance rapists are repeat offenders. When campus and criminal processes fail to catch these predators, social media can provide a powerful patch.

Last night, Dietrich unlocked her Facebook page to the hundreds of strangers—myself included—who have requested to make her a “friend.” They have flooded her wall with offers of financial support and links to Change.org petitions calling for justice in her case. Of course, Dietrich is also fielding spammy notes from strangers with dogs for avatars (“since they took pictures isn’t this child pornography?”) and all-caps rants about the sex offender registry.

But here, Dietrich is the editor of her own story. She has the power to delete the comments she doesn’t like and promote the ones she does. Thanks to a few brave tweets, a 17-year-old rape victim is now curating an international conversation about sexual assault in America. She’s created a public Twitter account to represent her new online role. And she’s speaking out not only about the details of her own assault, but the ways that the justice system is failing others like her. “All I am hoping for out of this is to get not only justice for myself but to future victims,” she wrote in response to one commenter offering of financial support. “The laws that protect criminals shouldn’t cross over and take away victims rights. Victims rights should come first. And thank you.”

Finally from CBSNews:

Kentucky teen Savannah Dietrich spared contempt charge after naming attackers on Twitter

(AP) LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Kentucky teenager frustrated by light punishment for two boys who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her was spared Monday from having to face a contempt charge for naming them on Twitter in violation of a court order.

The case of Savannah Dietrich, 17, quickly gathered supporters nationwide who were upset that the victim of an assault could be punished for speaking out against her attackers.

The girl turned to Twitter after she said she was frustrated with what she felt was a lenient plea deal. The judge had ordered no one to speak about the case, which was in juvenile court.

On Monday, attorneys for the boys dropped their motion to charge her with contempt. David Mejia, an attorney for one of the boys, said the decision to withdraw the motion had nothing to do with public sentiment and online attention to the case.

He said the purpose of the motion had been to enforce the law that protects juveniles and their actions from disclosure.

“The horse is out of the barn,” he said. “Nothing is bringing it back.”

The Associated Press does not generally identify victims of sexual assault, but Dietrich and her parents wanted her story to be made public. She gave her account to The Courier-Journal newspaper in a story published Saturday. She has not responded to the AP for comment and her lawyer, Emily Farrar-Crockett of the public defender’s juvenile division, did not immediately return telephone calls.

Jeff Dion, deputy executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, said victims who feel cheated by the justice system sometimes file civil lawsuits in an effort to get information in the public, but social media has turned that on its head.

“It’s all about giving victims a voice,” Dion said.

In one day, an online petition on Change.org had garnered 62,000 signatures in support of Dietrich’s action.

“When I read it, I was appalled and outraged and thought, `Somebody has to do something about this. Who is going to do something about this?”‘ said Elizabeth Beier, 22, of Cockeysville, Md., who started the petition even though she doesn’t know Deitrich. “Everyone wants this girl to have peace and time to recover and not another trauma like jail time.”

Beier said the two women have not spoken, but she congratulated her.

“I think what she did was very brave by coming forward … and I think a lot of people who may have been victims or survivors of assault and didn’t get the justice they deserve probably see themselves in her,” she said.

Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said the motion to withdraw the contempt of court charge was “a huge victory not only for Ms. Dietrich, but for women all over the country.”

Deitrich told The Courier-Journal that after the sexual assault, the boys posted photos of the attack on the Internet.

“These boys shared the picture of her being raped with their friends and she can’t share their names with her Twitter community? That’s just crazy,” O’Neill said.

The Courier-Journal reported that the boys were charged with first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, and misdemeanor voyeurism, according to information in a court motion the newspaper filed asking Judge Dee McDonald to allow the paper to see motions filed by attorneys for Dietrich.

The teens pleaded guilty to those charges in late June, though Dietrich and her family told the newspaper they were unaware of the plea bargain and recommended sentence until just before it was announced in court. The attack occurred in August 2011.

Dion said the Kentucky law on gag orders in juvenile cases presupposes that information revealed came from reading the court record. In Dietrich’s case, he noted, she was the victim, and she had independent knowledge of the crime.

“And I think a restriction or gag order on a victim creates some First Amendment issues,” Dion said.

He added that prosecuting a victim “sends a terrible message.”

“We created victims’ rights out of a recognition that we need victims to come forward in order for our justice system to work,” he said. “Really, what do they get for that?”

Chris Klein, an attorney for one of the boys, said publicizing their names may create problems for them in the future.

“There’s always that possibility and in any type of scenario like this you run that risk,” he said. “Now whether both these boys can overcome those hurdles, it’s too early to determine that.”

Klein said it’s possible, but unlikely, that prosecutors would make the same contempt charge against Dietrich. Both sides will still be bound by the confidentiality of the juvenile court proceedings.

“I think her behavior will dictate whether it’s the end of it or not,” Klein said. “If all the parties abide by the confidentiality of juvenile court, then I think that’s the end of it.”

Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney’s office, said he could not comment because of the confidentiality on juvenile cases.

American justice is the worst justice system in any civilized nation on this globe.

Doubt that…..re-read this post.