Rape victims in Scotland should not be prioritised over those of their attackers [under 18s]

[Imnobody4]

Can't see any plans to actually test the success of this approach.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/e22f7037-2d22-4356-99b8-491f8ddca56a?shareToken=967dbf1f184499ca7fea33671c548200

Dorothy Bain, the lord advocate, ordered a review in 2023 into the so-called diversion from prosecution policy after teenagers claimed they suffered fresh trauma following decisions to refer young alleged rapists to social workers for counselling rather than to prosecute them.

However, the new policy states that prosecutors must still treat the interests of the alleged attacker as a “primary consideration” when deciding whether to proceed with a prosecution.

Archived; archive.fo/gkVvy

I saw this in the Times. It’s awful. I was listening to Jo Bartosch talking about the impact of pornography on boys on the Inciteful Sisters podcast recently. She gave a horrific stat on the rapid rise of rapes committed on children by boys <18, often older boys assaulting younger children. I can’t remember the exact figure but it shocked me. This is absolutely not the time to be removing legal sanctions from boys. It leaves girls and younger children of both sexes completely unprotected and will do nothing to stem this abuse. Is the Scottish Govt so stupid they don’t think adolescent rapists go on to become adult rapists? Idiots.

Is the Scottish Govt so stupid they don’t think adolescent rapists go on to become adult rapists?

They don't care.

This is hard to understand - I have no problem with treating children who offend differently from adults.

But two things puzzle me: first of all, does this 'presumption against prosecution' apply to all offences? stealing cars, knocking people over and stealing their money, burning down buildings..?
Are we just focusing on sexual offences because that's what we discuss here?

Secondly, I don't see the logic of treating a 13 year old who rapes [they do - there have been several cases of boys that young raping - it seems that as soon as they can, they do] and a 16 or 17 year old who rapes.

The interventions needed to stop the adolescent rapist going on to be an adult rapist are surely very different for a 13 year old, who is still a child, and a 17 year old , who is just one year off being a legal adult and at that age could already be a soldier in the British Army.

It's worse a diversion from prosecution doesn't go on your criminal record and can't be used as corroboration for the next rape so in Scotland you not only get the 1st rape for free but now you get all the rapes you commit under 18 for free and a reduced sentence for any committed under 25.
Oh yeh but juryless rape trials will improve the number of rape prosecutions according to our illustrious Scottish government and the lady Dorothy bain (who is both a member of the Scottish government's and the head of the judiciary)

@MarieDeGournay diversions from prosecution were originally ment to only be used for minor crimes like shoplifting and graffiti etc and were for anyone under 25 however they are now used for all types of offending except murder for under 18s and were being used for some rapists aged 18-24. They claim that the UNs rights of the child demands that they have this policy along with the 1 which gives a reduced sentence to anyone under 25 for all crimes including murder.
Now the thing is the UK has not signed up to that particular set of rights which is why when the Scottish government put them in a law called the rights of the child it was struck down under a section 33 order as the Scottish government doesn't have the power to sign up to international treatise or create human rights laws. This is why they created diversions from prosecution with the promise that they would only be used for minor offences and then as soon as they got it through expanded it to cover almost all crimes until the daily record got wind of rapists including those accused of strings of rapes getting diversions and went to town over it so now they're rolling back just a little to only under 18s get them as standard for rape unless serious injuries are caused or drugs or a weapon is used. Even when they are prosecuted they get extra time off or in the case of 1 18 year old who repeatedly raped a 13 year old community service because under 25s aren't fully developed so aren't as culpable as an adult (yes I know your an adult at 18 or.in Scotland it's 14-25 depending on the issue).
The whole thing is an unmitigated disaster and there's literally no consequences for anyone under 18 and the kids know it because its taught in school and it's why there's so much violence in schools up here.

The Scottish Government is stupid enough to believe that men magically turn into women and never ever ill treat women. Not that they care much when proved wrong .

So in Scotland when it comes to rape, boys aren't fully developed so aren't as culpable as an adult.

Yet when it comes to being trans, children are fully able to make decisions from as young as age 10.

Have I got this right?

I'm not sure what I find worse here: the selective inconsistent reasoning, the idea of 'free rapes' or the very clear sexism at play where in every scenario girls come off worst.

I was about to point out the same thing - the Scottish Govt will accept that a person’s brain hasn’t fully developed before 25 when it comes to culpability for many major crimes.

But doesn’t / didn’t see any problem in thinking that same child can make life-altering decisions around puberty and / or cosmetic surgery on their body.

Still, it’s mainly young women that are victimised by, and predominantly young men that benefit from, this policy… so nothing to see here, eh?

A friends daughter was raped by a boy in school. Her treatment was horrific, he is popular so she was called names by the other children. He got to carry on attending, she couldn’t hack it and left. It’ll be at least a year if it goes to court.

Thank you Hoardasurass for that detailed explanation. It looks like a really bad case of mission creep and over reach combined with misogyny.