07 June 2010

Rape treated lightly, yet again.

The Kelowna rapist got 5 years. Convicted of raping (pardon me, "sexually assaulting") 9 women, and got 5 lousy years. No dangerous offender designation. 6 months each. For random attacks that will haunt those women for the rest of their lives.

This is NUTS! What in hell is wrong with our justice system?! Oh, that's right, they don't give a shit about women or children. Crimes against us are treated like property crimes.

The crown should have charged him with break and enter too, and maybe gave him a few years for that shit too.

But of course, this is the same judge who gave Tom Ellison, the asshole who raped teenager after teenager, house arrest.

When in hell are we going to start demanding that they lock up rapists?! I do not believe in revenge justice. I do believe in protecting people. Rapists will continue to rape. They need to be kept locked up. Hell, release them after a few years, and put shock collars on them like mean people put on dogs. Leave the house, get a shock that'll knock you out.

And don't give me any shit about how he's going to get raped in prison. I don't want to hear it. I am not a fan of that kind of "justice". Not by a long shot. All that does is make another rape victim and another rapist.

Rape is NEVER okay.

5 comments:

MgS said...

Hmmm...where to go with this?

I can't argue with your foundation argument - there is no excuse for rape, and there should be no excusing it either.

But, I can't say I'm comfortable with "lock 'em up and throw away the key" justice in these cases, either.

I personally think that there is a legitimate need to make a sincere effort to rehabilitate any criminal - and that includes rapists and others whose acts I cannot even begin to understand. That said, if during the course of rehabilitation it becomes clear that the offender is incapable of rehabilitation, then yes, by all means make them subject to dangerous offender status.

I very much doubt that a serial rapist is going to be successfully rehabilitated ... but we should at least make the effort.

Luna said...

Yes, that is fair, and I agree. I definitely thing rehabilitation is a good goal. How do we know if someone is rehabilitated though?

MgS said...

That's a tough one - especially since you are trying to prove a negative.

As I understand it, the therapy processes involved in situations where harmful drives are involved (rape, child molestation etc.), the idea is not to excise the drive but to help the patient develop coping skills that enable them to get through the times when the drive is at its most overwhelming.

Trying to excise the offending drive is already known to be impractical given current methods of treatment, and techniques like so-called "chemical castration" are also of dubious value.

That leaves it very much in the hands of psychologists and the offender (who has to be a willing participant in the process) to mitigate the risk as much as is possible.

I am of the opinion that it is a matter of tight supervision once released, with the constraints on that supervision only removed with demonstrated long term stability.

Breaching the terms of release, or even the slightest hint of instability should result in a return to tighter controls, or even back to incarceration.

Repeat offenses, after treatment and controlled release, should result in incarceration. (At which point a determination should be made as to whether rehabilitation is practical or not - an automatic dangerous offender evaluation, in essence)

The unfortunate part here is that because we are trying to prove the absence of an offending behaviour, we can never be completely sure that it will not resurface - which does raise the prospect of future victims no matter what we do.

It's one of those "acceptable risk" calls that has to be made on a case by case basis.

chasong said...

Hi.

I'm just a friendly christian and upcoming blogger passing by.

You have very 'strong views' and even stronger ways of expressing them...well, one more of God's children, innit?

My blog is http://chasong.blogspot.com/ and if you do have the time, do come by and give me tips on making it better.

Maybe one day, I'll grow up to be like you

cheers

Luna said...

LOL Chasong. I find it hilarious that you would aspire to be loud and opinionated. :)

I looked at your blog, and I suspect we won't agree on plenty, but you're welcome here anyway.