They were not only Glen Ridge's finest, but in their perfection they belonged to all of us. It signified a man who made money and wielded power in his town and his house. And he argues, less convincingly, that affluence and privilege have corrupted these children by making them feel more important, more special, than they really are. Russell Banks is a novelist and a professor of humanities at Princeton University. The arrests shocked and angered residents of Glen Ridge, where rumors of a gang rape had been circulating for weeks.
Some trials shine a bright light on the chasm between morality and legality.
This is such a case. The three former Glen Ridge High School football players convicted in the 1989 sexual assault against a mildly retarded childhood acquaintance were taken to jail on Monday for the first time since they were found guilty four years ago.