( CNN ) -- The Steubenville , Ohio , rape case has made national headlines because it represents a perfect storm of inappropriate sexual conduct , high-school football heroes , social media and viral YouTube videos . The case reached some level of closure on Sunday as Judge Thomas Lipps handed down the juvenile equivalent of a guilty verdict and sentenced the two defendants to what could be years in a juvenile correctional facility as a consequence of their actions on August 11 and 12 of last year . Two teens found guilty in Steubenville rape case . This verdict is a consequence not only of the defendants ' actions that night , but also of decades of change in how society views sexual conduct -- and how the law has evolved in response to this change . In this case , a high school girl went to a party and allegedly drank so much that she began slurring her words and was occasionally unresponsive . Two football stars at the party are accused of taking advantage of her impaired state and engaging in sexual conduct with her . A few decades ago , this behavior would probably have been considered inappropriate or `` ungentlemanly . '' Today , it brings protesters into the streets and creates a nationwide outcry about sexual abuse . The law has evolved as societal norms have changed . Lots of sexual conduct occurs when one or both participants are intoxicated to some extent . The question that the law needs to answer -- but at times struggles to answer -- is at what point one person 's intoxication is so severe that she ( or he , in theory ) is legally unable to give meaningful consent . Ohio law , like that of many states , sets this line at the point at which the victim 's `` ability to resist or consent was substantially impaired '' by alcohol . But how impaired is `` substantially impaired '' ? In most cases , this question will be answered by a jury . ( In the Steubenville case , the question was decided by the judge because the case was in juvenile court . ) This could in theory be a fine line , though after hearing from the witnesses in the Steubenville case , most people today would agree with the court that this victim was well over that line . Teens treated girl 'like a toy , ' prosecutor says . A second lesson from this case is how the ubiquity of social media affects the way criminal cases are investigated and prosecuted . The Steubenville case was a dramatic example of this phenomenon : The victim only knew that a crime had been committed against her because she was featured in online photos and posts . Much of this online material was inadmissible in court . ( For example , the infamous 12-minute video in which a person at the party jokes about the rape did much to increase public outrage , but would be rejected as hearsay in court . ) But the famous photo of the victim in which she is being carried by her wrists and ankles at the party was critical to establishing her level of intoxication . The prosecutor also admitted the texts in which one of the defendants stated `` she ( the victim ) was like a dead body '' and `` she could barely move . '' These texts went a long way toward establishing that the defendants knew that the victim was so impaired that she was unable to consent . ( Statements made by a party in the case are exempt from the hearsay rule . ) A generation ago , in a case that came to represent a different example of changing social norms , four police officers in Los Angeles were brought to trial for assaulting Rodney King only because a bystander happened to have a video camera with him and was able to record the abuse . At the time we thought : What a lucky coincidence for the prosecutor ! And what bad luck for the police officers ! But today we should all assume that anything we do could be caught on camera or video . Meanwhile , many of the things we `` say '' to others are actually communicated by text , e-mail or online posting . Digital communication is so commonplace , especially among the younger generation , that those who engage in it are often not aware that they are creating a permanent record of their impressions , opinions and beliefs which could later be used in court . In short , the Steubenville case has demonstrated how the rules have changed . Alcohol will still be present at parties and will still be an element in many sexual encounters -- but now prosecutors , judges and juries will impose their own standards for the acceptable level of impairment . And when we commit crimes , the world -- and more importantly , the future jurors in our case -- will be watching . rape trial focuses on text messages , cell phone pictures . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ric Simmons .
Case shows that the way society views sexual conduct has changed , Simmons says . Law struggles to define a car is too dangerous to drive , he says . Case also shows how social media affect criminal cases .