It's perfectly legitimate to say that people accused of rape deserve a fair trial. This tends, however, to ignore that those accusing others of rape rarely receive a fair trial. While I agree that black men are often punished FAR, FAR more severely than white men in rape and violent prosecutions, I do not believe that the victim must sacrifice her sense of judgment just to prevent bad things from happening to her assailants.
Where Shinra went wrong was right out of the gate, saying
...the idea of the girl consenting to what occured the most outrageous concept in the world. This occured months ago and wasn't reported by the victim.
Which implies that unless a woman reports it immediately, she must have been asking for it. This ignores a history of rape-shaming in this country, as well as the humiliation that rape victims often feel. Usually they want the whole thing to just go away and be forgotten. There a great many rape cases which never make it to trial for just this reason.
But then to stick to his own foot in his mouth, he ends with
Something horrible happened to that girl, I have no doubt, but whether she was forced to do what she was doing, or she chose to do what she was doing - because of lack of judgement, the part of society she came from and her upbringing (or lack thereof) - remains to be seen.
Which, I just can't shake is almost like saying "Well of course she would have consented to sex, she's poor AND black! Come on, that's not ridiculous!"
But what really gets me is how much both the original article and the follow up town hall reek of "implied consent", the concept wherein unless a woman SPECIFICALLY says she doesn't want sex, then she is fair game because of how she dressed, who she associates with, where she hangs out or any other reason that basically avoids that she never said "yes".
None of us on here ever, ever thinks people should be punished for crimes they didn't commit. What we took offense to was the implication that somehow, someway, evidence must clearly fall on the side of an 11-year-old girl consenting to a gang rape.