Older sister deserves much of the blame in UK rape allegation

In scanning the news from the weekend, we were troubled by a story out of Lexington. And we hope and pray that this doesn't escalate to the stature of what happened at Duke University last year. (You do know you can't spell "Duke" without "UK," don't you?)

A 17-year-old girl, visiting her older sister at UK, was allegedly raped. A UK athlete was charged with the crime.

We’ll let the legal system sort this one out regarding the rape charge, but we believe that charges should be forthcoming against the sister of the accuser.

News stories indicate that the older sister took the accuser to an off-campus party and also to a bar. She also allowed the accused rapist into her room where the accuser was staying and where the alleged rape occurred.

We thought there were laws against 17-year-olds going into bars. And we also thought that older siblings, charged with caring for their little sisters, should know better than to take said little sisters to college parties where we’d be shocked, SHOCKED, to find out that alcohol was available.

While we are sure that the older sister feels terrible about what allegedly happened, the fact remains that she was responsible for her younger sister. She is the one who took the alleged victim to the party and to a bar. We are of the belief that the older sister should be charged with one or more crimes, possibly contributing to the delinquency of a minor or wanton endangerment. That might possibly send a message to other college students who might entertain their younger siblings that there are places they shouldn’t go and things they shouldn’t do while they have their kid brothers or sisters with them. Not only did she violate the law by taking her little sister to a bar, but she violated the trust her parents put in her to take care of her sister for the weekend.

In this case, it appears that the older sister allowed the younger sister to be put at risk. Punishing her via the legal system might serve as a deterrent against similar behavior in the future by others.