The Phoenix police department has called it "one of the most horrific cases" they've ever seen. Two days ago, an 8 year old girl was lured into an apartment shed by four boys ages 9 to 14 with promises of gum or candy. For the next ten to fifteen minutes, they took turns raping her. A passerby dispersed them upon hearing the heart-wrenching screams.

Naturally, area residents are shocked. How could such a young girl be raped in broad daylight, by such young boys, and within earshot of neighbors? Worse, it seems that she knew the boys; according to CNN, one of the attackers may even have been a cousin. If the story ended here, it would be disturbing enough.

Yet it doesn't end here. The family, you see, is ashamed of the girl. Disgusted with her for 'allowing' herself to be raped. Embarassed to have attracted such negative attention. Worried about the tensions that this drama will create between themselves and their neighbors, who are all from the same refugee group. Her father was reported as saying that he didn't want her back.

She has been shunned. The Maricopa County Attorney has promised that its office will "seek justice" for the girl, who has already been placed with Child Protective Services. The oldest boy is expected to be charged as an adult.

Liberia. It seems so far away from Phoenix; most of us probably never give it a second thought. But now we are left with a puzzle that we can't solve. We don't understand what it means to be a refugee, or how that cataclysmic experience binds friends and families together with different rules than those that govern our neighborhoods. We don't understand the omnipresent threat of rape that previously pervaded their lives, and how that constant risk has made parents hold their daughters responsible for whatever befalls them. We don't understand what it means to have lived in a shame-based culture, and how that alters the individual's relationship to the whole. We don't understand how complicated the process of assimilation truly is, and we resent "these people" moving here with their "backward" ways and crimes against women.

And they don't understand us. They don't understand that they will NOT be shunned by American society because their daughter was raped, but only conversely if they disown the young victim. They don't understand that family issues can't be resolved according to the family patriarch; that domestic violence issues must be resolved in court. They likely don't understand that rape is prosecuted as a serious crime, or what it means to be tried as an adult. They see that things are spiralling out of control, that the media has invaded their small enclave, and that they are being shamed. It is only natural to close ranks.

Obviously, we have to take a stand. American society has made too much (although still not enough) progress on the issues of rape and domestic violence to start making exceptions for immigrant communities. We can hardly say, "Well, in your culture this is permitted, so go on ahead." In many cases, the US legal system is the only life preserver available to the victim; and if justice truly is blind then it must be applied evenly, regardless of a resident's cultural background.

Yet long term, I wonder if this hard line is going to benefit their community or ours. A young girl already severed from her homeland will now grow up without her parents or community. A young boy who may or may not have understood the gravity of his crime is going to be charged as an adult - perhaps as retribution for they community's decision to shun the girl. And the community itself will close itself off further, lessening its chances for the kind of assimilation that promotes social mobility.

From start to finish, it is a bitter tragedy. All that we can hope is that Phoenix and other major metropolitan areas will develop task forces to improve the ties with these communities - before another tragedy strikes.