In another scary moment in which white privilege trumps the safety of potential victims, a white male was recently given a very lenient sentence for a very serious crime.
Kraigen Grooms, now 19 years old, plead guilty to second degree sexual assault in April 2013 when he was just 16 years old because he had raped a 2-year-old girl and streamed the whole thing online, with at least one other person watching. Prosecutors determined that the act was premeditated and claimed that before he was caught for this disgusting crime, he was planning a similar assault on a 3-year-old boy.
When Grooms was initially convicted, he faced a 25-year prison sentence, but in July of this year he plead guilty to “a lesser charge of engaging in a lascivious act with a child.” Because of this reduced offense, a judge sentenced him to five years of supervised release and a potential 10-year suspended sentence if he breaks parole.
While County Attorney Gary Oldenburger said that he was likely coerced by people online to commit the sexual acts, forensic analysis of computers used in the transfer of video recordings revealed that Grooms found the incident “so hot” and was plotting a second attack. Photos of an unidentified male child around 3 years old were discovered with arrangements for online streaming and recording the assault.
The family of the 2-year-old victim had said that they didn’t wish for Grooms to be sentenced to significant prison time and Oldenburger said that this was the main motivation for giving him a light sentence with no prison time. However, an argument can be made that the safety of potential, future victims needs to be considered before simply letting Grooms out on probation.
He has undergone several mental health evaluations since he was first arrested, but if treatment doesn’t work, it’s likely that another toddler, or even several, could become victims of his horrible sexual plots. If he was convinced once to molest a toddler, perhaps he could be coerced again or even act on his own.
This light sentence in favor of a white defendant is only one in a long line of recent light sentences. Infamous Brock Turner was recently released from jail after serving only three months for digitally penetrating an unconscious woman near a dumpster. Last month, Austin Wilkerson was sentenced to only probation and a 2-year jail sentence after he sexually assaulted a drunk female victim that was in his care. Despite the victim asking the judge to “have as much mercy for the rapist as he did for me that night,” he gave Wilkerson no prison time. By comparison, black assailants are consistently sentence to 5-15 years in prison.
The judge, Randy Degeest from Iowa, is facing online criticism and online petitions have even been circulated to have him fired.
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