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Title: Judge Sentences Rapist to Community Service at Rape Crisis Center
Source: Reason.com
URL Source: http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/02/j ... -sentences-rapist-to-volunteer
Published: May 2, 2014
Author: Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Post Date: 2014-05-02 17:55:14 by Lorie Meacham
Keywords: None
Views: 256
Comments: 2

A judge in Texas has sentenced a rapist to community service...at a rape crisis center. Not only is the sentence atypically light, but, somehow, sending a convicted rapist to work with the victims of sexual assault and abuse didn't seem at all absurd or cruel to Judge Jeanine Howard.

"There are rape cases that deserve 20 years," Howard told The Dallas Morning News. "Every now and then you have one of those that deserve probation. This is one of those and I stand by it."

So what made this particular case—a case in which pepetrator Sir Young actually admitted to the rape—one of the latter instances? Howard said it was because the 14-year-old victim "wasn't the victim she claimed to be."

Howard doesn't dispute that Young forced the victim to have sex with him at the high school they both attended. But in Howard's book, you apparently can't be a real rape victim unless you're a virgin who's had zero prior contact with your rapist. From The Dallas Morning News:

Howard said she made her decision for several reasons, including: The girl had texted Young asking him to spend time with her; the girl had agreed to have sex with him but just didn't want to at school; medical records show the girl had three sexual partners and had given birth to a baby; and Young was barely 18 at the time.

The victim's mother said she has never been pregnant, but that's really beside the point, isn't it? The undisputed facts in this case are that the victim repeatedly told Young "no" and "stop." He didn't. The fact that she texted him previously, may have been willing to have sex with him in the future under different circumstances, or has had sex in the past is totally irrelevant. I can't even believe this is a point of contention.

Ultimately, Young was sentenced to 45 days in jail (plus spending the anniversary of the rape in jail for the next five years), five years probation, and 250 hours of community service. But the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center (DARCC), where he was sentenced to serve, said thanks but no thanks.

"It flies in the face of logic," Bobbie Villareal, executive director of the DARCC, told the local CBS station. "First of all, in that you would ask someone to do their community supervision for the population that has been directly affected by the exact crime. That's like saying a pedophile should do their community supervision helping at a preschool."

Besides, DARCC doesn't accept volunteers with criminal backgrounds. Judge Howard's court coordinator told the Dallas Observer that she'll modify the conditions to give him community service hours somewhere else.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a staff editor at Reason.com.

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#1. To: Lorie Meacham (#0)

gotta love that the center at which he was to do his community service said, "thanks, but no thanks."

To question is to value the ideal of truth more highly than the loyalties to nation, religion, race, or ideology.

christine  posted on  2014-05-02   19:22:06 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Lorie Meacham (#0)

That sounds like rape but a low level rape. Therefore, the penalty, although mild, was not inappropriate.

So many things are defined as rape when uninvited sex would be more appropriate. In one case, in the middle intercourse, the girl said, "I have to go home" and the guy replied, "Just a minute." The court ruled that was rape. See caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1330844.html

It is worse than it sounds because the facts indicate it was forcible rape or that the girl clearly said she was unwilling but for argument sake the initial act was considered consent. That is, withdrawal of consent is rape.

The worse rape is rape by a stranger with threats perhaps with a knife and of course the thousands of rape by American solders of Iraqi and afghan girls. Also very severe is rape using the date rape drug.

Fifty years ago, men were often taught that No means maybe and Maybe means yes. Very often that is the case but to be safe, No should be taken as No. Although, even though they say No and force is used, sometimes like the scene in "Gone With the Wind," after the fact, the women are very happy that they were raped since they take it to prove they are desirable and man loves them. Other times the women are very traumatized and find it to a horrible experience.

Since the women, let alone the men, often don't know how they are going to react, men need to assume that unless the woman gives consent, verbally or implied, the men should control their impulses and not have sex.

DWornock  posted on  2014-05-04   7:14:45 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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