What punishment do you think the British legal system would deem appropriate for someone who rapes a 5 year old?

[Mintyy]

I'm not going to link because I saw this in the Daily Mail. But, really, am truly horrified.

I think it would have been relevant to mention in your OP that the abuser was also a child.

Having said that, it seems astonishing to me that something more isn't being done - not just in the sense of punishment, but also ensuring that he does not do a similar thing again!

Oh poor thing, he didn't plan this, he just acted on impulse. He couldn't help himself.

I can't believe the words of the judge. Rape apologist.

A 14 yo may be a child, but to find a little child sexualy attractive makes him clearly disturbed & warped & vile and what is more worrying is that he could do it again as he is now walking the streets.

I believe that rehabilitation should be the basis of our judicial system, particularly when dealing with children. A 5 year ban on watching porn isnt rehabilitation. The 14 year old needs intensive psychological therapy and serious behavioural therapy and education. He should be in a juvenile facility with access to qualified educators, therapists and psychiatrists before any contemplation of his release. He should be looking at a long-term ban on using porn in any form which includes restrictive access to the Internet. Upon his release and as part of his parole, he should be required to continue intensive therapy (daily if needed) and remaining on the sex offenders registry for years. I'd also be asking how he accessed porn because that, in and of itself, is a child protection issue. this what stewie said!

and with regards to whoever mentioned 'impulse' control and the fact that it was said the boy lacked impulse control, this it not an excuse but actually impulse control is one of the last parts of the cognitive brain development and in some people, particularly boys apparently its not fully developed until their early 20's! i had a discussion about this with a paed through camhs who had some interesting info on it. my own ds2 has issues with impulse control, he is just 10 and getting much better but its taking a lot of work. there is some research to say that actually the age of criminal responisibilty should be raised, partly because of the fact the brain is still developing and childrne are still learning. however that being said nay child of 14 (unless sn) should KNOW that rape is WRONG, my 10yr old certainly does!

the issue is what has happened to make him think this was ok, and yes porn is a huge issue, as the mother of 4 boys i am actually hugely concerned about the influence of porn on teenage boys. yes i have safety controls on my pc and we got my ds1 a phone that cant access the internet!! and i dont let him on fb (he is almost 13) but i am not naive enough to think that his friends wont be looking at stuff on their phones, ipads etc and stuff gets passed around (in the same way that magazines used to) we are trying to be open with our children, talk about sex etc and that includes porn and i want my boys to know that it is not reality and also the realities of the porn industry so they can make an informed choice as they get older to look at it or not, i am pretty sure that they will look at some at some point, most teen boys do! but what can we do about it and the affect it is having on our children? i wonder if that should be another thread actually, as i said its something i have been thinking about a lot, just as my eldest is almost 13 and he is totally not interested in sex etc at the moment but he IS growing up and i worry about peer influences and what happens outside of the home, i can moniter the home environment, i cant choose his friends and their influences.

I certainly don't think 14 is too young to take any responsibility or makes the crime less serious, but I still find it a bit odd that the OP would not mention this fact, as most people would consider it relevant to the question of appropriate sentencing. Which was the question (s)he asked...

Though I guess most of us have heard or read about the case by now.

So no male under the age of 20 can be held responsible for their actions?

that is NOT what i said, but the fact that the way the brain develops and impulse control imparticular takes longer to develop is something that needs to be thought about. ie how can we HELP our children to develop this, with my own ds2 he would lash out if wound up by other children, we have taught him coping strategies and to give himself time out.

this boy obviously had other issues as well, which combined with poor impulse control may have influenced his actions, its all part of the bigger picture and needs looking at IF he is to be properly rehabilitated and its something that the justice system needs to look at as well when deciding what to do with young offenders. yes they can be sent to juvinile detention centres etc, but if they are not given help and support whilst there then it wont do any good.

I get the impulse to jump from a great height....I don't do it because im not stupid.

Acting on impulse should never, ever be a defence.

Well regardless of age or lack of impulse control anyone that easily influenced and unable to control impulses they knew were wrong illegal and harmful is still a danger to society and 14 is old enough to wanna do something but also know it's wrong! He had a choice he chose to commit a crime while in possession of enough facts given they teach it at school to know what he was doing! Last time I checked there were no five year olds in porn movies!!!

i am not saying its a defense! i am saying that as part of the bigger picture it is one factor in why this boy may have acted as he did.

and yes he is a danger to society, so part of rehabilitating him would be to help him gain better control, along with a whole host of other interventoins.

but talking about the legal system in general with regards to young offenders, many are known to the system and repeat offenders, so again its something to look at and if necesary offer these children the support so that they can learn not re reoffend, part of rehabilitation needs to be support and therapy that looks at why they have offended and to help them not to repeat the same mistakes, looking at managing impulse control can/should be part of that. that is NOT saying they shouldnt be punished, yes they should but we also want to rehabilitate, the two need to go hand in hand if there is going to hope especially for young offenders, who may have had/be getting a poor upbringing etc,.

and depending on the poor movie i would imagine that there are children, evne 5 yr olds in some illegal porn obviously, we have no idea what type of porn he had access to and what images he saw.

ALOuise - I agree with you . There have been so many cases recently where male perpetrators of sex crimes against females have been dealt with leniently to the point of virtually excusing them altogether. This case appears to be another example of this.

"My hormones took over" - oh yeah? I wonder how many times his barrister had to coach him until he'd learned that line off by heart. And for the Judge to then say - oh, OK then, in that case just don't watch any hardcore porn for three years. Words fail me.

Frankly I couldn't give a shit WHY he did it - surely it should be about the fact that he DID it full stop.

The law is indeed an ass and also totally , completely misogynistic as far as I am concerned.

One would still hope he knew it was wrong! :( the fear is that society constantly tries to justify/ explain everything and misses the point that a crime (serious one at that) has been committed. Plenty of other kids his age woulda seen just as much unfortunately and yet do not go and do these things just like most normal people would look at something and not be influenced by it. Monkey see, monkey do is no excuse!

The fall out will now be oh the parents shouldn't have left him with her or his parents shoulda restricted what he did and saw and the maker of the movies shouldn't have posted it or the teachers shouldnt teach sex Ed basically blaming everyone but the boy who CHOSE to do it knowing it was WRONG!

will he just go back to school then? surely as a convicted child sex offender he should be on the S.O register and not allowed contact with other children? If I had a year 7 child in the same school I would be seriously freaking out about it.

again its not about excuses but part of our justice system is rehabilitating offenders so they can go on and lead a normal, productive life, so looking into why they acted as they did and then working on that and helping them to change for the good has to be a positive thing.

i have no idea about school, i think he should be made to move, is it true he lives NEXT door the the family of the little girl :( it seems they have been far to leniant in this case.

by trying to find out why a young offender has acted in a certain way that shouldnt be to excuse it or to diminish the mangitude of the crime they have commited more that we do want to rehabilitate the offender and also so we can see if there are patterns as to why some children offend etc and what we can do to stop this happening in the future.

i do think some people ARE just evil tho tbh. But for many children/teens that offend there are triggers and issues in their own childhood nad parenting that need to be addressed and society as a whole needs to think long and hard about the whole porn issue and how it is so mainstream and accepted, you even see it on mnet when someone complains about their parnter looking at it, its all 'oh they all do it' well no they dont actually! the widespread nature of porn and its ease of access if having huge repurcussions on our youth and on many families, i think i read something tha tin america it is one of the leading causes of family breakdown and divorce! it CAN create huge problems in relationships between adults so godknows what it does to teens who are still developing and learning about sexuality!

If he is known to be a rapist then he will not go back to his school, more for his own safety than anyone else's. His victim will never be in the same school as him given the age difference but word gets out. Other schools do accept managed moves. We had one out of area for a 16 yr old who had an inappropriate relationship with a 12 year old in the same school (have deliberately used 'inappropriate' that was the term used). Rapist's parents might find a private school that will take him (some parents who can afford it whisk them off either in the UK or abroad) or there may be terms attached to his sentence so he attends a PRU.

There are plenty of serious sex offenders in schools. They have to go to school somewhere.

Personally I think he should be in a severe EBD boarding school were hopefully the ratios of staff to children is enough to prevent sexual assualts.

My personal opinion on this without reading the other comments on the thread is that a 14 year old isn't technically an adult, but they sure as hell know right from wrong!

I don't know what an appropriate sentence is, but can't perverts/peaodophiles be castrated or something permanent to kill any sexual feelings?

If an adult did this I would say definitely lock them up for life, they shouldn't be treated as human beings because what they've done isn't human.

Bloody hell. Have just found this thread, having been reading the other one in in the news.

To summarise, a brief google supports my belief, namely that

this

judge

always sympathises with

paedophiles

wellies

FUCKING HELL AT THAT JUDGE

HE NEEDS STRIKING OFF

This is very telling.

Surely the parents of the 5yo could argue that it isnt a fair trial.

And that judge needs his computed checking.

That's shocking Wellies

Its so shocking that i also made a thread about the same story as it has not only sickened me to the core but i am horrificly shocked the judge has set him free!!!
Surely he is a danger to all children?
I hope the parents of the little girl get a re-trial as surely the judge is corrupt as this isn't the only case the judge has been lenient on
Maybe there is a petition somewhere we could sign to get this 14yo locked up?-does anyone know?

this is what i was saying. they language used by the judge is the shocking part. that he deems that acceptable is outrageous. maybe this should be challenged as part of the we believe you campaign?

this judge is just perpetuating myths.