Life Behind Bars

Was a life sentence the right punishment for a child molester?

On January 28th, Matthew Rausenberg, an ex-Olentangy elementary teacher, was sentenced with 76 years to prison plus two additional 15 years to life terms.

He was found guilty of all 41 charges,34 of which were counts of gross sexual imposition, 4 counts of kidnapping, and 3 counts of pandering sexual oriented materials.

Rausenberg was also found with video evidence on his cell phone. The video showed him him holding down a victim inappropriately and unwillingly on his lap.

During his sentencing he had felt great remorse and began shaking his head at each charge that was read off. No one had felt bad for him, the jury and parents were all in disgust.

The students range from second grade to about 17 years old. It had taken one of the victims about 6 years to come forward and protest against Rausenberg, but she had finally stepped up.

According to an expert witness that had testified earlier, victims of sexual assault don’t often tell anyone and can also have difficulty understanding what they had went through.

Parents felt guilty and just downright sick after finding out their child had Rausenberg as a teacher.

Schools must take precautions and more actions toward this kind of behavior. Schools have had many tragedies, cameras or even other tools could help prevent these problems from happening.

This tragic incident has come to a conclusion, that sentenced to death is the right punishment. Many others along central Ohio were also disgusted, and ashamed because people aren’t always made out to be the way they seem.

What can the community do to prevent problems like this from happening?