n a video posted earlier this month, 16-year-old Crystal looks like any other teary YouTuber, except for one small detail — she’s pleading for help in getting Florida to prosecute her alleged rapist.
Crystal lists media outlets she’s solicited for help in her case, and says she’s turned to YouTube in hopes of getting justice.
"I need help, and don’t know what to do," she sobs in the four-minute clip, embedded right. "I’ve turned to posting a video on the internet for someone to hear me."
Videos of teenagers in their bedrooms, delivering confessionals woefully into the camera, are a dime a dozen on YouTube. But Crystal’s video is part of a new trend in which victims level accusations and seek a kind of internet justice. Like the angry wife who lashed out at her husband in the "YouTube divorce" video, Crystal is clearly upset — and operating in uncharted and potentially dangerous territory.
Scott Berkowitz, president of victim’s advocate group RAINN, told CNN it’s not uncommon for victims to post details of attacks on YouTube. "A rape survivor’s intention may be to reach out, and we encourage that, but this is a dangerous way to do it," he said.
In the clip, Crystal describes being raped and drugged by a 23-year-old man, and says she now lives in fear of him coming after her. The video, which had 11,000 views Thursday morning, has jumped past 25,000 views.
"All I’m asking is for anyone watching this to please help, call the governor," Crystal concludes before powering down her camcorder.
According to CNN’s report about Crystal’s video, authorities charged the alleged rapist with "assaulting [Crystal] with lewd or lascivious battery." Court documents show the prosecutor concluded Crystal and the man had consensual sex and, although Florida law states that a 15-year-old can’t legally consent to sex, her case wasn’t prosecuted because she was just a month shy of turning 16 at the time of the incident.
[via Jezebel]
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