Found out someone I'm due to 'work' with tomorrow has a rape conviction

[UrsulaPandress]

I am scheduled to help out at an event tomorrow and I found out today that one of the organisers was jailed for rape a few years ago.

I am so not sure how to react. I don't know him well, but he has pissed me off on the odd occasion I have met him so I was not looking forward to spending the day with him, but this revelation has left me reeling.

I am not aware that I have ever met a bona fide offender before so I am searching my soul to see if I believe that someone should be presumed to have served their sentence and allowed to get on with their life. Or should I spit in his coffee every opportunity I get?

I'm afraid you're going to be out of your depth studying criminal law, because there is no place in it (on either side) for idealism.

Thanks for that. My dad is a very senior criminal QC who has been a silk for over 10 years and thinks I'll be a very good QC thanks!

stitch we have no idea where OP got that information though, do we? for all we know she could have heard it from Susan next door, who heard it from her cousin Betty who thinks Sam from the Bingo said it once. thats no kind of fact. I'm simply saying that a) we should hold our horses and wait until the OP tells us where she heard it,and b) OP might need to hold HER horses depending on that.
If he IS a convicted rapist, then she is, of course, free to decide she doesn't want to workwith him, and inform his boss.

Well if daddy says you'll be good at it, thats all the endorsement needed.

Really, that's the case for all murderers? Someone may correct me but I don't think that's the case.

Also in this case , he may have been deemed safe for release. We don't know.

"If he is"

Oh dear. Even when a man gets convicted of rape, we have to "hold our horses".

Absolutely not true. No murderer leaves after their minimum term. Most serve way beyond the minimum life sentence and all have to satisfy numerous parole board hearings they're safe for release.

Um. You've got your facts wrong here. Many are paroled the first time around.

Well if daddy says you'll be good at it, thats all the endorsement needed.

Yeah well I've had work experience in chambers and impressed a few barristers, I'm sure that'll help, thanks for the patronising though. So offensive, really, you're doing such a good job at knocking my confidence

Um. You've got your facts wrong here. Many are paroled the first time around.

No I haven't.

Please don't say I'm "fitting a narrative". I just disagree with you. I'm very sorry for what you went through and admire how you've dealt with it but don't assume all others who've gone through it feel the same

you absolutely are twisting words to fit your own version of events.
I assume nothing about anyone. You might want to try it some time.

Thanks for that. My dad is a very senior criminal QC who has been a silk for over 10 years and thinks I'll be a very good QC thanks!

Most dads think the sun shines out of their kids' asses.

I had classes with people like yourself. Most did not make it beyond the first year of study, as the reality shattered their illusions. Neither prosecutors nor defence attorneys are in the "better position" all of the time.

But best of luck. I remember being idealistic at 17 too.

Also in this case , he may have been deemed safe for release. We don't know.

What like this rapist? www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/02/groom-admits-raping-stranger-hours-marrying-pregnant-partner/

I've had to work with a convicted paedophile more than once, but where I was helping them with a something they are entitled to in this country and quite literally someone had to do it.

I wouldn't go to an unpaid event and work alongside a convicted rapist and be civil (i.e. pretend we are equals and that I'm okay with it). I wouldn't be making up any excuses as to why I wouldn't be doing it either. I think whoeverer is running the event should know that people don't want to work with convicted rapists.

No I haven't.

Yes, you have.

Yeah well I've had work experience in chambers and impressed a few barristers

Sure you have.

I had classes with people like yourself. Most did not make it beyond the first year of study, as the reality shattered their illusions.

If thinking rapists are awful people is an illusion I hope I do fail in your eyes.

Sure you have.

Yeah...I have.

Oh dear. Even when a man gets convicted of rape, we have to "hold our horses"

precisely my point about twisting words. You've proved my point quite nicely.

(he is entitled to, not they are)

If thinking rapists are awful people is an illusion I hope I do fail in your eyes.

You can "think rapists are awful" as much as you like, and you'll be in the majority, but that's fundamentally irrelevant in the law. No one thinks "Yeah, murderers are great", but that's got nothing to do with the process at all.

Says the poster who is twisting my words and passive aggressively posting about me.

Actually it does given how much juries have an input into verdicts. Part of the reason the rape conviction rate is quite low even in cases which go to court is victim blaming juries who sympathise with the accused, which obviously doesn't happen in murder trials.

Would anyone say you should act "professionally" around someone who had "served their time" for murder or paedophilia? I doubt it. Of course you are not being unreasonable for feeling uneasy.

I still despair at how crimes against women are seen as just one of those things. 😕

Actually it does given how much juries have an input into verdicts. Part of the reason the rape conviction rate is quite low even in cases which go to court is victim blaming juries who sympathise with the accused, which obviously doesn't happen in murder trials.

Uh no, they don't generally "sympathise with the accused". The problem is that proving a rape happened is difficult to do beyond a reasonable doubt.

And there are acquittals a many in murder cases too.

Would anyone say you should act "professionally" around someone who had "served their time" for murder or paedophilia? I doubt it. Of course you are not being unreasonable for feeling uneasy

1. you can feel uneasy and behave professionally at the same time, these are not mutually exclusive concepts.
2. Yes, I would say if you want to work at the event and the person was convicted of those crimes, i'd give the same advice i've given the OP here. Go and behave professionally, or choose to not go.Inform management if you think they might not be aware.

We can only go on what the op has told us. If she says he's a convicted rapist then we should give advice based on that information only, speculating about whether he actually is a rapist or not isn't helpful.

I bet if op had said he was convicted of theft or fraud no one would be doubting her validity. The way people fall over themselves to defend rapists is truly baffling.

There is no reason to doubt his conviction though. OP seems sure about it. There's a fuckload of minimising going on in this thread. Maybe he made a mistake, maybe he was a teenager who had consensual sex, his record should be wiped clean now, OP shouldn't be such a vigilante.

Well convicted rapists deserve to feel like shit and unwelcome at events and in society in general. So many rapists have cheerleaders defending and making excuses for them, sadly often other women. No wonder so many victims don't get justice. Even the ones that do then see their convicted attackers excused and defended.