Justice Trampled in Marcus Dixon Case

Photo credit: www.helpmarcus.com Marcus Dixon

The classic case rings all too familiar. Boy and girl have sex, girl cries rape, case is taken to court, boy found guilty.

This scenario has played itself out again, only this time in the life of 19-year-old Marcus Dixon. Dixon will spend the next 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of aggravated child molestation. Dixon was convicted after having sex with a white female when he was 18 and she was 15.

We believe wholeheartedly that the charge against Dixon did not fit the supposed offense. It seems as though the prosecutors would not stop until they charged Dixon with something. Georgia's statutory rape laws consider it a misdemeanor if teenagers who are less than three years apart have sex if one partner is less than 16 years old. Under this law, if Dixon had been convicted solely of statutory rape, he would have faced no more than one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. With this in mind, we do not understand why a boy who had consensual sex with his peer is being treated and sentenced like a horrible sex offender.

Dixon's defense lawyers believe that a large part of his sentencing had to do with the fact that he was a black male in a majority-white community and the alleged victim was white.

We can only wonder what the situation would have been if Dixon were white. But bigger than the race issue is the matter of mandatory sentencing laws. No two cases are alike. It seems ludicrous to slap the same sentence on a crime just because it fits under a blanket. As seen with Dixon, this can encourage prosecutors to bend the law and can lead to unfair punishments.

Last winter, Dixon was a senior football player with a 3.96 GPA and a 1200 SAT, set to attend Vanderbilt University on full scholarship. Today, his life as he knew it is over. As a black man with a criminal record, Dixon's options in life will be limited. We just don't see how the legal system administered justice in this case.

This editorial was written by the editorial board of The Hilltop at Howard University.

Posted Jan. 27, 2004