AIBU to think these boys should have been incarcerated?

[newrubylane]

BBC News - Teenage boys sentenced for raping lone girls
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clypg68e2neo

I've never started an AIBU before, but I'm genuinely really shocked. I'm just not sure how this sentence is justifiable. Their actions were premeditated and deliberate, they were carrying a knife and they filmed themselves. They're obviously a danger to women/girls, and probably to other boys too.

If anyone knows how and why this sentence might have come about, I'd be interested to hear it.

You're confusing mitigating factors in sentencing with justification or excuses for the crime. They are not the same, as I suspect you know.

There are both mitigating and aggravating factors, both of which will be taken into account for determining a sentence.

What about justice for the victims?
I don't usually agree with criminalising children but these cases are horrific. The girls deserve justice and the rest of society needs to be protected. This was premeditated, there can't have been any real remorse for them to post it online and offend again. They are dangerous boys who have probably destroyed the lives of two girls and the victims parents too.

And their mothers are relieved they won't get a prison sentence????

Form completed.

I am so angry at reading the details of the case.

Criminalize children?

Im sorry, but if you are old enough to rape girls and invite your friends to come rape with you, you are old enough to face the consequences.

These boys will have experienced what a joke the criminal justice system is, and they will go on and hurt others. And people like you will have enabled it

Where have you seen this, please? I haven't seen any commentary to this effect.

I did not say it was ok. I made a factual observation.

Shouldn't crimilalise children??

They are guilty of premeditated rape????

For a crime like this I truly believe there shouldn't be room for mitigating factors. It literally doesn't matter.

It wasn’t a deterrent to stop them in the first place was it? They surely knew rape comes with a jail sentence they certainly didn’t know what their outcome would be

Criminals are usually low IQ. So this is no surprise.

I wonder where they are from.

I have also submitted a form. This is utterly horrific and there is no way the offenders will not go on to commit more gang rapes against children

LBC news.

Truly horrific on every level, horrific premeditated crimes which the vile perpatrators filmed, horrific ordeal for the victims who endured the attacks and then have been totally betrayed by the criminal justice system and horrifically inappropriate sentence. This is one of the worst things I have read in a while

Feels like teenage boys have just been given a license to rape teenage girls, as there aren't going to be any consequences for them 🤷🏻‍♀️

https://www.cps.gov.uk/wessex/news/three-teenage-boys-sentenced-after-two-girls-raped-separate-attacks

The CPS statement about the case.

A 13 year old rapist. Christ almighty. He's barely hit puberty.

Those poor girls deserve better.

These boys were 14, 14 and 13 when they gang raped two separate young girls in premeditated attacks.

To my mind they should receive a pretty severe sentence where they are essentially locked away for a good few years. I'd be in favour of them receiving rehabilitation and education while they are there, in the hope they can re-enter society.

But they cannot be seen to just get away with this with almost no consequences. Those poor girls.

This, absolutely. If a boy is too young to be imprisoned after ruining a girl's life in this horrendous way, then send both parents to prison, as though they had committed the rape themselves.

Society is raising a generation of boys for whom there are no consequences (I would consider a loss of their freedom the least amount of punishment they should have received). And raising a generation of girls who know that boys can act with impunity, while they suffer lifelong whatever those boys decide to inflict upon them (while, at the same time, learning that "no" isn't kind and, besides, doesn't apply to boys).

And people wonder why society is in the mess it's in.

But judges do sometimes get this wrong. Sentencing guidelines are not always correctly and consistently applied. That’s why we have a system in place to request a sentence review.

I have submitted a review request because I think the judge may have been too lenient in his application of the sentencing guidelines. As is my right as an adult citizen of the UK.

Link has been posted above - I just put the rapists in Fordingbridge case (anonymised due to their age). You don't need the case ref but the court is Southampton and the date of sentencing is today - it doesn't ask for any other identifying info.

I understand the rationale behind wanting to keep under 18s out of prison but their poor victims were the same age or younger and will be suffering a life sentence - the rapists being "heavily supervised" is not a punishment.

I wrote on one of the other threads about the judges remark "I should avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily and understand the effects of their behaviour and support their reintegration into society."if you've been convicted of a crime, doesn't that automatically make you a CRIMINAL? No "unnecessary" about it.

I have a little bit of experience with criminal cases so usually give outrage over lenient sentences the benefit of the doubt but this has really enraged me. I think it's the fact it happened twice. AND they filmed it AND shared it after.

How does that indicate remorse or potential for learning and growth? why would we want people like that being reintegrated into our society, particularly with the idea that they can get away with the same behaviour again without being punished?

Peer pressure made them do it, apparently. Well surely a nice spell in a YOI would spread the word that rape isn't the one. That poor victim, writing a poem about not being afraid of dying now, having to see the boys basically get off with it.

I have seen many boys sentenced to long prison sentences for rapes with fewer aggravating features.

Frankly I’m astonished, and the judges comment re ‘criminalising’ makes me think he has missed a step somewhere. These boys will always be convicted of rape, it will always be disclosable. Presumably he means he must avoid unnecessarily punishing them, but that probably didn’t sound very good.

God that’s awful.
I have submitted an undue leniency form.
@Swiftie1878 , I just put ‘I don’t know’ in the box asking for names, and identified the case in the free text box.

Truly hope this is appealed. I can’t quite fathom what I’ve just read to be honest. What would the boys actually have had to do to be jailed? Killed the girls? Is gang rape and assault not enough now? The judge should feel ashamed. Those poor girls and their parents too.

This also should be shared with teenage girls so they can comprehend the dangers of meeting strangers from Snapchat and similar.