Convicted Steubenville Rapist Returns To School Football Team

I want to make a comment on this, as a case I've both written about and followed closely since first seeing the initial reports in mass media. First though, I want to share something for a touch of context.

Mandatory Minimum Sentences are sentences to criminal convictions that, as the name implies, the Judge cannot go soft on and decide something mitigates the case to lower the outcome. If a prosecutor charges you with one covered by such a sentence and you get yourself a conviction? You get yourself the door prize on the chart. Here...are a few currently on the books and charged at different degrees of federal discretion:

Drugs:
1st offense, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to distribute, no death or serious bodily injury
10 Years (this has an * in the list, but not to be confused with hope for the accused...it just notes attempts & conspiracies to commit, do qualify as well)

Identity Theft:
Aggravated identity theft
2 year enhancement to add to existing federal charges on something else.

White Collar:
Embezzlement fraud, or false entries by banking officer
2 years. (The same as this kid did...for cooking books and lying on papers)
(Source: FAMM)

So, where is the entry for rape of a child in front of others? Where is the entry for molestation in front of a room full of people? There is a whole section for child sex and violence crimes, but nothing to cover this. That is wrong, to my thinking.

Why the same sentence for being a crooked banker as for very seriously damaging a young girl? Where is the asterix.....for conspiracy after the fact, as the article at The Huffington Post clearly suggests there would need to be in terms of coverup and obstruction allegedly starting from when it happened?

Justice wasn't simply blind here. It hit all three denials of those famous little monkeys, in my personal opinion. (His own lawyers statement in January just made it worse, as a side note.)

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: schadenfreude

Want to get rid of rape culture? Get rid of scantily clad girls and roided out football players.

Next time I go on a Red Shoe walk, I'll be thinking of you. It's never appropriate to blame the victim.

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: schadenfreude

Want to get rid of rape culture? Get rid of scantily clad girls and roided out football players.

Hi OuterSpace,

As you will probably note, I am new as a poster on the site, but I just could not let this one go. I will try to be as clear and pacific as I can with this. First, I would like to state that this is in no way a personal recrimination against you, but against what you stated. Nor am I trying to pass some kind of judgement on you based on what you said. I am, though, attacking part of your message. I do not know the US legal system nor how it contemplates rape or gang rape and I do not know exactly what the american football culture entails. From what some posters said and what you said, it seems to be a little of stardom in the head mixed with a system that allows and encourages it. Having said that, I can't let go the comment of "scantily clad girls". My sister was abused. My sister was abused by my ex step-father. My sister was abused by my ex step-father when she was nine years old. I can assure you that, at that age, she was by no means "scantily clad", nor "provocative", nor "asking for it". We found out after 10 years of the fact, when that SOB broke down. My sister never spoke about it until he collapsed and confessed, and when she did talk about it it was with a clear head, something that was of great relief to me, my brothers and my mother. She managed to overcome it and live a full life in a stable relationship and with one beautiful daughter and another one on the way. She is both strong and lucky. Now, let me explain why I tell you this and what is the link to your statement. After my family found out about what happened, I started to get involved in gender studies and social movements. My soon-to-be wife is the one person that helped me understand the whys and hows (bear in mind that in this type of cases the guilty feeling is something we all must struggle with for not noticing, for not reading the signals, for not intervening). She works with a non profit helping abuse victims to rebuild their life and with preventive information regarding violent relationships. What she made me understand during this time is that rape is really, literally, part of our culture. A sick culture but, by definition, something that can change and mutate if we correct the attitudes and prevailing thought system that upholds it. Little not very known data: most rapes occur at home, usually at the hands of someone the victim knows and who previously trusted. And most of them go unreported and during long periods of time due to the stigma a victim has to carry due to the fear of rejection and the feeling of being broken, used material, never enough to be loved. To state "get rid of scantily clad girls" actually contributes to rape culture. Why? Because you fall into one of the very worst arguments Rape culture uses to support itself: victim blaming. Victim blaming is the mechanism that both the media and society use to uphold what rape culture represents. It is not unusual (actually it is the most usual) with every rape case like this one (which has actually gone around the globe as a clear example of rape culture) to hear things like "well, look at how she was dressed, she was asking for it" "she was drunk and did not resist, I thought it was ok", "She did not say no", or one of my favourite best from the media "what was a girl doing at that place with those dudes?". That kind of reasoning changes the focus from the culprit and puts it solely on the victim. Rape is not about sex, and it is definitely not about games. It is about power. Never, never, never put the blame on the victim. We as a society encourage rape changing the focus from the culprit to the victim. In doing that we are saying "it is ok, dude. You are a guy and look at how she was dressed. What can a man do? What should a man do?" (that in and of itself is actually sickeningly ironic, because it actually puts men in the position of retrograde beings without an ounce of self-control). Funnily enough, when it is summer and we men go out happily without a t-shirt because the heat is too much, we do not have to worry about being raped, touched, or groped right? That is the message a rapist receives when everybody is talking about the victim, her clothes, or customs. "It is ok to rape, because she did this and that" is what a rapist hears. Neither the clothes nor the customs justify a rape.
Again, not personal against you. Just stating something that I thought should be addressed.

Cheers!

originally posted by: Iamthatbish

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: schadenfreude

Want to get rid of rape culture? Get rid of scantily clad girls and roided out football players.

Next time I go on a Red Shoe walk, I'll be thinking of you. It's never appropriate to blame the victim.

With Red Shoe are you talking about the Slut Walk? That is precisely the movement of which my soon to be wife is an organizer of =D

a reply to: YodaCoda

Not according to Google. But its good to hear about more people getting involved to support basic rights!