The University of Tennessee has granted a football scholarship to a student who participated in the brutal rape of his cousin at the age of 13.

(I’m putting this story behind a cut, as it contains details of the crime.)

In 2003, when Daniel Hood was 13 years old, he and a 17-year-old friend bound Hood’s 14-year-old cousin with duct tape and raped her with a toilet plunger. The rape took place in Hood’s bedroom.

A court later found that Hood had “shown virtually no remorse” for the crime, and that he had “placed the blame on the victim and on the co-defendant,” while minimizing his own role.

Hood now says he feels profound remorse, but describes himself as a witness to the crime rather than a participant. The court found, however, that he had helped to bind the victim with tape, and the victim testified the he laughed as her clothes were stripped off. Because her eyes were covered with tape, she was unable to testify in full as to what role he played in the remainder of the assault.

The executive director of the Sexual Crisis Center of Knoxville, Tennessee comments on the scholarship in this important article.

I learned of this incident via Feministing, where the comments thread on their story is shaping up to be a wide-ranging and thoughtful one.