8 Comments
author

Yes we don't bother looking at rape kits then throw the book at a high profile cases, the unfairness of which makes men and cops take rape less seriously at the day to day level.

Well also someway we'll resolve the tension between women's rights and criminal justice that = carceral feminism.

Expand full comment

Great points, all. Just came out of FCP Beaumont. There's two types of people there. Those that pled and got short sentences, and those that fought and got 10-25 years.

Expand full comment

(Posted on this topic the other day)

https://youtube.com/shorts/x5wWa2j4pSU?feature=share

Expand full comment

I don't see why folks see life imprisonment as substantially less cruel than the death penalty - then again I'm sure there are plenty of folks who'd say rape should be a capital crime, but I don't see how performative cruelty against a few high profile people leads to fixing the social system that enables rapists and abusers

Expand full comment

I don't have any particular comment on the evidence since I didn't follow it closely, but I do think that there's a couple of additional factors that warrant a little bit of caution: that it was a retrial, that the offenses themselves were from the early 00's, and that there's the potential that it was a compromise verdict given acquittal on one count.

There's a lot to be cautious about here in terms of celebrating, in addition to the trial tax that you note, and that imprisonment for decades on one-off cases still appears to be our only way to signal that we take sexual violence seriously (even if we don't take it seriously at all).

Expand full comment

I like your approach here, which feels different from many other strong voices on left and right, because you’re arguing from principle rather than the constant urge to demonize. Any time a smart and passionate person is encouraging us to focus on principle rather than the short term dopamine hit of burning villains, I’m happy!

Expand full comment

First degree murder should be an automatic life sentence, not 20 years. Full stop.

And when you squeeze the life out of someone for 15 minutes on a subway to where they defecate and stop moving and die, you should also get more than second degree manslaughter.

Now THAT is an outrage. So, let’s discuss Jordan Neely instead. This rapist isn’t worth the outrage. He is a terrible case study for too many reasons to get into here.

As the daughter of a victim of femicide, I’m fine with life sentences for murder and 30 years for rape. You are right - he will only serve a small fraction of those 30 years. Therefore, this is much ado about nothing.

Expand full comment

When a crime is committed there are two victims. The village failed the perp. And the village suffers along with the victim. I think the village should pay in resocilizing the perp. When successful released, and a portion of their income to the victim or family.

Expand full comment