I am raging and just need a huge rant - warning contains links to nasty crimes

[ImSoNotTelling]

About sentencing and crimes against women and men.

Just saw on the news this report some people have been jailed for 30 years for beating a man and throwing acid over him.

30 years

Immediately thought of this case where a woman was raped and doused with acid - 16 years and

this case where they gang raped and doused with caustic soda and received between 6 and 9 years.

6 and 9 fucking years.

I just get so ANGRY and this latest case just seems to reinforce that when terrible things are done to women the courts etc simply do not give a fuck.

Sorry that was a rant I had to get it off my chest. My personal bugbear. I get so worked up inside about this.

No need for real replies.

Will rephrase that I'm trying to get out of using this passive voice thing or whatever it's called.

I'm so sorry to hear what that man did to you.

""Also, if you add on the 6 yrs given to the acid thrower to the 16yr minimum for the rapist, it's 22 years so time served will be approx the same."

Is this the reasoning behind gang rapists getting light sentences? That if you add up all the sentences for the different people they come to a larger number?""

No- completely different reasoning. In your example, the gang rapists all did the same crime. In my opionion they should all get a full sentence. In mine, there were 2 men who did 2 different although associated crimes to the same victim. One got 16 yrs for rape, the other 6 years for assault (acid attack). If they'd both been involved in both incidents, they both should have got 22 yrs.

Oh I see what you mean.

If one had done both crimes though, we don't know that the result would have been 22 years. But I see what you mean.

I'm probably going to get flamed here.
I agree that the sentances in the rapes mentioned were risibly low, but I think that the 30 year sentance wasn't because the victim was a man, I think it was because it was an 'honour crime', and the courts have been instructed to come down hard on honour-based violence.

I'm not going to flame you!

OK then.

How can we get the courts instructed to come down hard on crimes against women?

In Canada, feminists were successful in getting gender-aggravated crimes recognised in the same way as racially aggravated crimes are recognised here. I think. Am not v. well informed about it, but certainly their campaign at the v. least raised consciousness about it and I think needs to be the way to go here - the recognition that sexual hatred is as abhorrent as racial hatred.

Imsonottelling - yeah, I agree there's no way of telling that the rapist/beater would have got another six.

I think sentencing generally is too lenient in this country. Either we need a penal system that genuinely does rehabilitate or we need longer sentences so that by the time these people get out they're too old to do much damage. Yeah, I know I sound like a DM reader. ho hum.

I suppose my key point was that if you're going to argue that there is a gender bias in sentencing then you have to choose two directly comparable cases with the same judge (i.e. the only diff is the gender of the victim). I'm not saying that there's not a gender bias, and if there is and it's proveable, then it should be eliminated, just that the OP hasnt proved one in the examples she's chosen.

Also, I'm not that convinced that motivation for a crime should affect sentencing. It wouldnt really matter to me if I was beaten up what the motivation of the attacker was. I'd want them "sent darrrrrn"

Thebride I agree - who cares what the motivation is? The law should not police people's thoughts, only their actions.

"I suppose my key point was that if you're going to argue that there is a gender bias in sentencing then you have to choose two directly comparable cases with the same judge (i.e. the only diff is the gender of the victim)" - but that would be almost impossible wouldn't it?

"I'm not that convinced that motivation for a crime should affect sentencing" The logic of this, I should think, is that if a crime has a personal motivation - murdering someone because they want to inherit money, say, or punching someone in the face because they insulted you, it (theoretically) makes the criminal less of a risk to society. If someone is going around hurting people because they are black, or because they're female, it makes them a risk to all black people, or all women.

Also causing harm to someone because of what they are, rather than what they do, is a sure sign of an utter bastard.

There are some pretty horrific crimes perpetrated against men and children as well that don't get the sentences they deserve. Or even the reporting.

That's true, blueshoes. And there are big biases against reporting on/dealing with crimes against various sectors of society, non-white people, prostitutes (although that often mixes with violence against women issues obviously), homeless people etc. But I think that looking for justice for any one of these groups can only help to encourage and support campaigns for justice for others. We need people to recognise that the way justice is done in this country is far from blind, and many are still not protected as they should be.

Rape and other sex related crimes though are quite singular, in that it is generally so catastrophic for the victim, it is enormously under-reported, and successful prosecution is rare, and even then the sentences seem frequently to be scandalously light.

I don;t know how these crimes are treated when they are against men or children though, I can't find any sentencing stats for men being raped, and crimes against children like this seem to follow a similar pattern to those against women.

I cannot think of a different but similar crime against men to compare it to, IYSWIM, can you give an example?

ISNT, the case against a man I had in mind I only saw a brief mention in the Metro, the London morning free paper. It was not reported anywhere else, so I cannot give you a link.

It will be too upsetting to give the details, but it was a sexually motivated violence against a loner man who was dumped in a bin where he died of his injuries.

Like I say, i think there is a general problem with the treatment of sex crimes and sex related crimes in this country. These crimes are commited mainly against women and children but I would not be surprised if the theme of under-reporting and light sentences etc applied in the case of men who are assaulted in this way as well.

I was more trying to think of something without a sexual motive that was comparable IYSWIM.

OMG!!

Okay, after a proper read, I hope that the difference is because the man was stabbed i.e they tried to kill him, whereas the girl wasn't...they just want to rape and maim her....but her attackers still should have been given longer sentences!