Dear Editor,

Hello, I am new to writing to a newspaper but I was reading an article on your web page, "Posting pictures 'destroyed' teen girl [Feb. 8, www.mrtimes.com]," and had a few thoughts,

This poor girl can not catch a break. Everyone who was charged either in the rape itself, one person, and the horrible people who distributed the pictures and video have gotten off lightly.

It's sad to see how still the woman gets blamed in the end.

I understand that young people, especially guys (no offence) do dumb things, and I have no doubt that friends persuaded friends to put it on the Internet, but that should not excuse those actions.

Those who posted the pictures helped destroy the girl's life. Why are the courts and police not pushing to have every-one charged who distributed the photos - everyone at her school and among the public? The police can see to whom the photos were sent, who uploaded, and who sent them out again.

I know it would be a lot of people, but where is the stand against rape and child pornography? This should be considered a case of rape of a child, and it isn't.

It seems like the courts are just saying to this victim, "Let go and move on."

Although they may have been teens who were involved in sending out the photos, stop treating them like they were kids who didn't know what they were doing. They knew and liked seeing this girl get tortured, and they all deserve to be punished.

A. Swain, via email