Book Review - Our Guys by Bernard Lefkowitz

Synopsis: In March 1989 a group of teenage boys lured a retarded girl into a basement in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and gang-raped her. Glen Ridge was the kind of peaceful, affluent suburb many Americans dream about. And although rumors of the crime quickly spread through the town, weeks passed before anyone saw fit to report it to the police.

First Line: "Ros Faber* didn't want to fret about her daughter, but she felt that familiar sense of uneasiness tug at her as she saw Leslie* running down the step in her sweats."

Random Quote: "When there is a moral void at the top, you find cheap cynicism down below."

Review: This book could have been sensationalist & pedestrian given the subject matter &, frankly, the tendencies of most True Crime writers (pump out that book quick before the media blitz stops). I would imagine that when you are writing about something like the gang rape of a retarded teenager by a group of suburban athletes, many of whom had known her sinc

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e childhood, it would be very easy to write something slick & prurient. Mr. Lefkowitz manages to avoid that.

Mr. Lefkowitz spent 7 years researching this book, not only interviewing (& re-interviewing) hundreds of people either involved in the case or somehow connected to the town of Glen Ridge, NJ where the crime occurred, but he also read most of the literature on rape and on gang rape, in particular, that was in print prior to the book's publication. He obviously has a point of view - he finds this crime shocking, horrible, & unforgivable. Perhaps more importantly, though, he has curiosity. How could this happen in a place like Glen Ridge, NJ?

Anyone who has gone to high school in America will recognize elements of the culture of this slice of suburbia, although this town takes some of those elements to extremes. Most high school societies favor jocks & achievement in male-dominated team sports over anything else & either ignore or actively punish anyone who steps outside of the accepted box. In Glen Ridge at the time of these events (1989) this norm was taken to an extreme with extreme consequences.

This was a school system where jocks were lionized & encouraged to preen - their transgressions & bad behaviors ignored or rewarded (boys will be boys). By creating a hypermasculinized culture where the mythos of the gentleman athlete was prioritized above all else, the young men who perpetrated this crime were schooled in their own privilege. The victim, a young girl with the intellectual capacity of an 8-year-old in a 17-year-old's body, was socially isolated & chose compliance with her attackers in the vain hope of social acceptance.

Other outrages:

• Many people in the community - from local teens to school officials - had knowledge of this crime for at least 3 weeks before it was reported to police by only one student.
• It took 3 months to arrest anyone & another 6 months to indict.
• Once convicted, these individuals were out on bail throughout their appeals process & only began to serve their (limited) time in 1997, almost 10 years after the crime was committed. Contrast that with the Central Park jogger case and then tell me that race & class don't matter in the justice system.
  
• The defense attorneys in this case attempted to use a "Lolita" defense, arguing that the girl in question essentially asked for it.
• If you do a random search on the Internet for this you will find comment after comment from individuals who are to this day justifying the behavior of these poor wronged boys - much as the majority of the community did at the time.

This book contains some very graphic material & is not suitable for younger or squeamish readers. At times Mr. Lefkowitz' bias shows & at times his analysis is somewhat simplistic, but these times are few & far between. This is an excellent & compelling book that should be read & discussed.