Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are the preferred mediums through which information now travels, maybe, even faster than the speed of light. They have effectively replaced writing letters, then licking stamps to send information to other people at a snail pace that can usually take weeks, even months, especially if the recipients live on the other side of the planet.
With that said, social media have also been the platforms where some of the most devastating crimes are broadcast on a daily basis. Social media platforms, according to law enforcement departments throughout the United States such as Twitter and Facebook have live streaming platforms.
These are the most utilized mediums for streaming high-profile crimes while they are being carried out by criminals.
14-year-old charged with criminal assault - rape and pornography
One of the most recent violent assaults, which was broadcast live on Facebook shows a 15-year-old girl being raped by a gang of men and boys. One of the participants was a 14-year-old teenage boy, who has since been taken into custody for the rape of the Chicago girl in March.
According to Anthony Guglielmi of the Chicago Police Department, the boy, whose name was withheld because of his age was charged with several offenses, including aggravated criminal assault and the manufacturing and dissemination of images that display child pornography.
The main investigator, Superintendent Eddie Johnson will discuss the ongoing investigation at a news conference scheduled for Sunday, April 02, 2017. The incident happened on March 19 when the teenager had left home and went to a neighborhood store. After failing to return home, she was later seen on a livefeed on Facebook where five to six men were seen having sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old child.
The live feed was seen by over 40 individuals, even some of her family members, however, no one called the police to report the crime.
Victim's family harassed by social media users
Superintendent Eddie Johnson launched a search for the child after her mother approached him at a news conference and reported her daughter missing.
The distraught mother had collected screen shots of the rape and handed them to Johnson.
After reuniting two days later, the family received numerous harassing messages as well as taunts from social media users. However, the Chicago Police had reported that the State Attorney’s Office along with its law enforcement officials will provide protection as well as support for the family.
