Tennessee teacher indicted after having sex with underage students

[News_Editor]

Tennessee teacher indicted after having sex with underage students

2011-12-16 06:13:11 GMT+7 (ICT)

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (BNO NEWS) -- A Tennessee high school teacher was indicted on three counts of statutory rape on Thursday after she allegedly had sex with three underage students, U.S. prosecutors said. She faces more than 50 years in prison.

Stacy Hopkins, 28, was arrested in early May after her ex-boyfriend contacted the Shelby County Sheriff's Office to report that her ex-girlfriend had sent inappropriate text messages to two Arlington High School students, where Hopkins worked as a teacher since August 2005.

Upon further investigation, police determined Hopkins had sent nude, sexually explicit images to two underage students and engaged in sexual intercourse with three underage students at various times in the course of a year. The victims were two 17-year-old male students and a 16-year-old male student.

On Thursday, the Shelby County District Attorney General said Hopkins has been indicted with three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure, which is a Class C felony, and two counts of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means.

If convicted on all counts, Hopkins faces at least 11 years imprisonment and a maximum of 57 years. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office previously said Hopkins had confessed to having sex with the students.

The age of consent in Tennessee is 18.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-12-16

[Ulysses G.]

A 28 year old woman and 17 year old boys. Poor guys.

[maidu]

Too harsh a sentence. Many boys start intercourse in their mid-teens. Those boys were older than mid-teens.

Stong reprimand for the woman, ok, but 11 years in jail - too much.

American 'justice' is too harshly puritanical at times.

[Ulysses G.]

American 'justice' is too harshly puritanical at times.

Agreed. This sentence is ridiculous.

[Credo]

I wonder what the responses would be like if it was a 16 year old girl and a 28 year old male teacher.

[Jingthing]

That isn't even pedophilia based on the ages. Those laws are just stupid as they make no distinction between the upper aged teens and prepubescent children. The USA has got a problem with too many people in prisons for too little. Of course, it helps the unemployment numbers look better:

Rough justice in America

Too many laws, too many prisoners

Never in the civilised world have so many been locked up for so little

As a proportion of its total population, America incarcerates five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany and 12 times more than Japan.

http://www.economist.com/node/16636027 Edited December 16, 2011 by Jingthing

[Credo]

That may be correct, but the problem here is that female offenders are treated differently than male offenders.

A second problem is the position of being a teacher. We might want to be a little more severe on teachers passing the goodie bag around.

[Jingthing]

That may be correct, but the problem here is that female offenders are treated differently than male offenders.

A second problem is the position of being a teacher. We might want to be a little more severe on teachers passing the goodie bag around.

Female offenders shouldn't be treated differently. I agree that being an authority figure makes it more serious and of course in this case she will never teach again. That said, 50 years, even potentially, that is totally INSANE.

[Credo]

She should be held in jail until she's about 50 (22 years). By then she should have lost her sex appeal and not desired by the younger ones.

Oh, and I am being sarcastic. A very long stretch in jail is over-kill.

[SAffer]

Why didn't I have teachers like that when I was in school?

Best I could manage was the librarian from Uni

[Jingthing]

She should be held in jail until she's about 50 (22 years). By then she should have lost her sex appeal and not desired by the younger ones.

Oh, and I am being sarcastic. A very long stretch in jail is over-kill.

I think a good punishment would be losing teaching credentials and a year forced labor in a nursing home servicing old men over 80.

[chinook]

I think the ex boyfriend that snitched her to the law needs a good slapping. Evil bastard.

[Jingthing]

I think the ex boyfriend that snitched her to the law needs a good slapping. Evil bastard.

Anyway, that's revenge on steroids. She'll be a lesbian soon ...

[maidu]

Where is the harm done? Is it going to permanently screw up the mind of a horny 17 yr old? At 17, a guy has a hard on about 30% of his waking hours, and would hump a wet telephone directory if he could get away with it. American justice in this case is leaning hard toward Sharia.

I was once in an American discount store and as I turned the corner to go down an aisle, a boy (about 13) was there reading a mag. I saw him suddenly, and nudged him with a barely perceptible touch on his shoulder, so I could step on by, on my way. Immediately, a very large mom scowled and called out loudly at me - insinuating I was a weirdo. It's not an anomoly. Many, if not most moms in the US are exceedingly protective about their precious offspring. It's gotten to where they teach their kids that all (and I mean ALL) single men are dangerous, if the men aren't celebrities or family. Ironically, if one of their kids gets fondled, it's most often done by a member of the kid's family. Sorry to stray off topic.

[monty1412]

Where is the harm done? Is it going to permanently screw up the mind of a horny 17 yr old? At 17, a guy has a hard on about 30% of his waking hours, and would hump a wet telephone directory if he could get away with it. American justice in this case is leaning hard toward Sharia.

I was once in an American discount store and as I turned the corner to go down an aisle, a boy (about 13) was there reading a mag. I saw him suddenly, and nudged him with a barely perceptible touch on his shoulder, so I could step on by, on my way. Immediately, a very large mom scowled and called out loudly at me - insinuating I was a weirdo. It's not an anomoly. Many, if not most moms in the US are exceedingly protective about their precious offspring. It's gotten to where they teach their kids that all (and I mean ALL) single men are dangerous, if the men aren't celebrities or family. Ironically, if one of their kids gets fondled, it's most often done by a member of the kid's family. Sorry to stray off topic.

Similar vein.. was recently asked if i would shift my seat on a Qantas flight as an unaccompanied minor was going to sitting next to me and Qantas doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to sit next to grown men... I was absolutely flabbergasted . Common sense prevailed that OK if this saved one child from being molested by some deviant than it small price to pay but too often now in Australia and US we are as males and adults either constrained by excessive laws or judged guilty by association.

[Scott]

We are talking about apples and oranges in some regards. First there is the psychological implications and the second is the legal one.

The boys may not have experienced any harm, but I am not so sure that that is true. Seventeen year olds should be learning the art of wooing and seduction of the opposite sex. They should be learning caring, respect and the importance of looking at someone as a person, not a sexual object. They are still students and they are still very much in a learning phase of life.

She, if she is normal, should have been getting her jollies down at the local bar, where she could pick up a few young stallions in their early 20's if that's what she likes.

This is the beginning of the victim-victimizer cycle and it's not a healthy situation. Let's remember one of the boys was 16. She did not enter into an emotional relationship, this was sexual exploitation.

As for the legal consequences, well, it's difficult to know, but she needs to be removed from society until a very, very good assessment of her level of psychopathology can be determined.

[Ulysses G.]

This is the beginning of the victim-victimizer cycle and it's not a healthy situation. Let's remember one of the boys was 16. She did not enter into an emotional relationship, this was sexual exploitation.

I used to pray to be "victimized" by a 28 year old woman at that age. I don't see them as victims at all.

[balo]

US laws are ridicilous . In my country it would probably have been no sentence at all.

The same goes with the death penalty , it really belongs to the stone age,

Edited December 16, 2011 by balo

[Scott]

UG, there are a lot of things we want, but not all of them are good for us in the long run.

I am not inclined to argue the point, because how the boys involved will cope with it depends on a lot of variables.

[RKASA]

Whats her name Jackie Battley? been happening for years -

I knew a kid in high school that was bonking the reading teacher - yes reading - he was in a class for those a little behind and getting more behind as a result. True story. but her name was not Jackie Battley.

[Ulysses G.]

I am not inclined to argue the point, because how the boys involved will cope with it depends on a lot of variables.

My guess is that it will involve a lot of bragging.

[TAWP]

In my home-country this would have been legal. And when I was 17 I would have welcomed it to happen to me...

[TAWP]

UG, there are a lot of things we want, but not all of them are good for us in the long run.

And yet it should be our own call to make.

[Scott]

And when we reach the age of majority, many of them are. Until then we have the state and our parents who have a say in the matter.

[koheesti]

This is the beginning of the victim-victimizer cycle and it's not a healthy situation. Let's remember one of the boys was 16. She did not enter into an emotional relationship, this was sexual exploitation.

I used to pray to be "victimized" by a 28 year old woman at that age. I don't see them as victims at all.

If the sex happened while she was their teacher back in 2005 then she would have been around 22 yr old. any 16-17 yr old guy would be lucky to get it on with a 22 yr old woman. Sorry, but I don't think men and women should be treated the same in cases like this. While older men should be kept away from underage girls (who get too emotionally attached and/or pregnant), there should be a school program hooking teenage boys up with older women who can teach them what to do and how to treat their girlfriends

[Payboy]

Where were all these teachers when I was at school?

[Scott]

Those teachers were probably around when we went to school, but if they were caught, they were judged by an all male jury. As this forum seems to indicate, the outcome would be vastly different.

If guilty, she'd only have to stay after school a little longer, I guess.

I wonder if she was the Biology teacher or was she exclusively teaching sex education?

[endure]

I wonder what the responses would be like if it was a 16 year old girl and a 28 year old male teacher.

Still waiting for an answer to this...

[mca]

but she needs to be removed from society until a very, very good assessment of her level of psychopathology can be determined.

Whereas in other parts of the same country there would be no reason to " remove her from society" as there would be no crime to answer for, merely bad judgement on her part.

[maidu]

In some Pacific islands, there is a cultural tradition of young boys being initiated in to the art of sex - by older women.

From another angle: Some of my American men friends have told me stories of growing up with abusive parents. The stories of abuse are staggering and far outweigh any psychological harm that may come from a 28 yr old woman sharing sexual pleasure with a boy in his late teens. I've heard talk of wicked beatings for the silliest/smallest of issues. Those parents who savagely beat their kids and/or psychologically torment them (as happened within my upbringing) are ok with authorities, because they happen within a family. Indeed, reporting such intra-family abuse would probably just ellicit snickers from state authorities.

I still say there is no justification for harsh penalty for what the OP reported. The only way I could see it justifying such a penalty, is if it was an on-going and abusive rape situation ("<deleted> me, you hard-as-a-rock teenage studmuffin, or I'll bind your arms and legs with rough hemp rope next time," she said, while sweat trickled between her ample cleavage ).