I watch a lot of true crime content. And not much surprises me these days. But The Betrayed Girls shook me. The subject matter is quite heavy. So heavy, in fact, that I had a tough time sitting through it. But I am glad I persevered to the end of the doc because the delicate subject matter is handled respectfully and the story at the core of the film is one that needs to be told.
The Betrayed Girls chronicles a harrowing crime wave that began in the early ‘00s in Rochdale, England. Near the beginning of the 21st century, marginalized young girls were systematically befriended by boys close to their own age and subsequently introduced to adult men that would ply the adolescent girls with alcohol and drugs and proceed to sexually assault them. In some cases, young women were assaulted by multiple men in a single evening. Because the predators were primarily Pakistani (in a post-911 world where racial tensions were already running high) and the victims were predominately white, the issue came to be viewed as something of a sticky wicket by the British government. As such, the abuse was allowed to continue into the 2010s.
The lack of legal action that followed early reports of sexual assault against minors allowed the abuse of marginalized young women to continue without any recourse. One of the involved parties profiled in the doc even admitted that she was called racist for pushing the issue and went on to liken the ordeal to an extreme case of political correctness gone mad.
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I certainly understand that this is a sensitive issue and should have been dealt with accordingly. But to turn a blind eye because of the optics is nothing short of unthinkable. Moreover, sex offenders come from all walks of life and all different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. As such, approaching the case through that lens would have been far more effective than looking the other way to avoid the perception of racism.
The judicial system was so leery of appearing racially motivated that they opted to release a suspect who was tied to the case via DNA (and physical evidence). That’s hard to swallow. It’s one thing to see a criminal evade justice due to a lack of evidence. But it’s quite another to see a predator allowed to go free when more than enough evidence exists to sustain a conviction. It’s even more crazy-making when stopping to consider releasing that suspect allowed him to carry on abusing young girls, almost as if he had the explicit blessing of the British justice system.
I can appreciate that the local legislature didn’t want to demonize the Pakistani community. And they certainly shouldn’t have done so. But the idea the government only seemed to see race led to a gross miscarriage of justice. I can only imagine how helpless those poor young girls and their families felt when dangerous men were left free to roam the streets and continued to prey upon children without consequence.
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In addition to regularly inducing outrage, the doc also manages to be quite compelling. One of the most powerful aspects of the film is the profiling of the brave individuals that spoke up in a respectful but truthful manner. It’s unthinkable that the grooming was allowed to go on as long as it did. And it’s troublesome that the onus was put on civilians when it should have been on law enforcement, social services, and the judicial system. With that said, hearing those that spoke up recount their determination and decision to expose the truth at all costs is nothing short of compelling.
I was also impressed that the doc does a commendable job of keeping the focus on the victims and the impact the acts of violence and the lack of urgency had on them. We hear stories from the survivors and their family members. Director Henry Singer paints a heartbreaking portrait of the helplessness those involved felt. Noticeably absent from the film are any attempts to humanize the perpetrators. In fact, most of them aren’t even named. They are barely a footnote, as it should be.
If you’re curious to check out The Betrayed Girls, it isn’t readily available via the usual suspects. It is, however, free to stream on YouTube (as of the publication of this post). If you’re curious to check it out for yourself, you can do so right here.
Tags: The Betrayed Girls
Categorized: Editorials True Crime
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