To be absolutely sick of excuses being made for men's disgusting sexual behaviour? Trigfer warning. Hugh Edwards sentencing.

You may think it’s a pathetic comeback…..but it’s how it is. I am glad you wrote to your MP, we should all be as politically engaged as we can be.

Sorry, you’re right. Better to complain on MN instead.

I’d better go and inform the magistracy that I should be looking after my children and elderly parents more and I no longer have the time to attend court. The patriarchy will be delighted!

Oh, OK - I guess women just aren't trying hard enough to solve sexism and male-violence, then.

I'm off to "will" a new reality for us all. Thanks!

I'd also like to point out to people posting on here who do work in the system (and thank you for that, it is always useful to see) that there is a lot of disagreement in the general population about some of the publicised sentencing decisions.

Why is that? often, of course, it is media sensationalisation. But as people pointed out on twitter there was ONE journalist in Rotherham last week when that gang were sentenced to hefty terms. One.

And i am betting that all media/news outlets are all over the Edwads sentence. So that tells me we also have a huge communication problem. If the people working in the system tell us the people involved in CSA are being effectively handled, and public perception is that they are getting off scott free.

So how do we fix that?

It’s a shame you feel that way, as I can assure you that you are quite wrong. As it stands, I manage to work, volunteer and study in the field so where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Stop defending him by saying "it's women too"

This issue is a man charged with indecent images of children.

A MAN!!!!!

Mitigation isn't about excusing and offence though. It might be about someone expressing remorse versus someone who hasn't, or engaging with therapy versus someone who hasn't. That's relevant.

It's not about excuses, it's context. The court is trying to build up a picture of what this person is like and the circumstances of the offence. There's nothing that makes sexual offending ok. There might be things that suggest what sentence is appropriate.

I don't care how the law works, it's a bullshit system and it's the women and children who suffer, who have pick up the pieces after these nonces get caught, the children whose lives are ruined because they were abused for these filthy paedophiles to get the images in the first place, the children who can't see their fathers becuase he's on "the register" , the kids who get bullied because their dad/uncle/granddad/big brother is a nonce.
Then there's the women who have to deal with all this as well as the fact their partner/husband or close family member is a nonce and they have to keep the children safe. The women who suddenly find out the last however many years have been a lie, the women who will forever worry whether that nonce of a family member abused her child. All the while these vile nonces get a slap on the wrist and are free to go wreck some more childrens lives. It makes me sick!

@Haroldwilson you’ve given a perfect example of false equivalence.

i have dealt with females, males, and those that self identify.

Thanks for this thread OP.

This is yet another signal to paedophiles that this is no big crime. Absolutely sickening.

In a male dominated world, the laws and judiciary are defined by male standards. Sexual crimes against women and children? No biggie. The amount of stories I've read over the years for custodial sentences for a lot less FFS😡

FWIW i do think there is a more general conversation to be had, with our MPs when they are up for election for eg, about what we expect from our justice system.

I want to see people who are convicted of posession of child sex abuse to see a minimum of 1 month in prison, just so they know what they are facing.

I want drunk drivers to face much harsher penalties, involving prison time if they harm/kill people. I want them doing very visible community service and have at least 10 years driving ban if they just cause property damage. for eg.

I want rapists to do much more time. But i don't necessarily want to see people jailed for non-violent one-off crimes. Mitigation in a lot of crimes is really important. CSA isn't one of those, usually.

I’m angry that Edwards gets to use his own poor mental health as mitigation when he obviously didn’t care an iota for the mental health of his victims. And he’s had suicidal thoughtts? Only after he was caught and exposed, though. This is yet another case where the maxim of ‘blind justice’ is bastardised in favour of the abuser. Sickening.

There will be plenty of restrictions as he will doubtless have been given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to run alongside his other sentence requirements. This will contain a list of things that he can and cannot do including conditions relevant to internet use etc.

First of all you need to prove that being abused makes it more likely that you will abuse children. Seeing as many more girls than boys are abused as children but the vast, vast majority of child abusers are men, your excuses for this behaviour don’t add up, therefore, irrelevant.

I was surprised at the suspended sentence, not in a good way

There needs to be more easily accessible help for those experiencing worrying sexual thoughts. We need to be less permissive about certain kinks and sexual behaviours, all too often shielded under the umbrella of consenting adults.

Wouldn't these two things be contradictory? If someone has worrying sexual thoughts (I presume you mean paedophilic thoughts, given the topic of this thread) surely they'll be LESS likely to seek help if we are less permissive about kinks and sexual behaviours?

I get where you're coming from with everything else, so much surrounding sex and the raising of boys is a shitshow.

It literally is “whatever”. I deal with the individual and behaviour in front of me as well as considering the wider context.

@Haroldwilson I edited my post because I agree with you re the examples you're giving above. Some crimes, there should be (properly funded) practical, psychological, and financial support provided instead of prison.

Not when it's child abuse though. There's no justification for that - and it's offensive to the many women and men who suffered child abuse, when an abuser uses that as an excuse.

nah mate, i did my bit and now it is for other people to do it.

that's a pathetic comeback, don't you think? I volunteer elsewhere, because that is where my skills lie.

But. I am a citizen of the UK and it is perfectly normal for me to be able to express the direction i think our criminal justice system should go, and i do occasionally write to my MP about some of it.

I was just reading them, actually. I understand them perfectly well, and think they're utterly ludicrous. You seem to have zero interest in actually examining the axes of oppression going on here, and imagine that women can conjure up spare time out of nowhere to overhaul a male-dominated "justice" system that's actively stacked against women and children.

I understand 'mitigating factors' being brought into crimes such as driving offences, burglary, shoplifting, even manslaughter. But I cannot imagine a single mitigating factor into a man, making and obtaining images of children, actual small children and then wanking over them. There is not a single mitigating factor that makes that crime any more 'understandable'. Mitigating factors should not come into child sexual abuse.

Whilst-ever we can incarcerate individuals for Facebook posts then we can incarcerate individuals for downloading images of children.

Very good point ☝️

I am quite aware of the bigger picture thanks. Have you actually read any of my comments? You don’t seem to understand them.