Should their conviction be enhanced, they gave their victim a lifetime sentence of mental health issues. What if they gave them an incurable STD? Should these all enhance the penalty received?
Victims often have trouble with their life, holding jobs, relationship problems, trust issues, increased drug usage, and becoming promiscuous.The justice system does not seem focused on victims, there is a high concern for the rights of the accused (which everyone supports) but little concern for life-long effects for victims. Even when the offender is released from prison, the victim still suffers immense fear at the fact they are now out and will come for them.
Sexual Violence Can Have Long-Term Effects on Victims The likelihood that a person suffers suicidal or depressive thoughts increases after sexual violence.
94% of women who are raped experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the two weeks following the rape.9 30% of women report symptoms of PTSD 9 months after the rape.10 33% of women who are raped contemplate suicide.11 13% of women who are raped attempt suicide.11 Approximately 70% of rape or sexual assault victims experience moderate to severe distress, a larger percentage than for any other violent crime.12
Should the long term effects on a victim not mean a higher penalty for the perpetrator? Should that not be considered or do you think it is okay to leave the victims high and dry and say, so sad they killed themselves.
Updates
+1 y
Victims are often bullied, pressured to retract their claim and this is a perfect example.
Had they believed her, there would have not been any additional victims. Those that think she could of gone to prison for filling a false police report, would of made a rape victim a victim of the system.
Unfortunately, this is a great example of the slippery slope argument. If you start convicting rapists of murder/manslaughter because of suicide, you open the door to convicting (ex) wives, girlfriends, employers, etc for it because of suicides they caused. Or making them pay for loss of future earnings due to drug addiction, depression, anxiety, etc, in civil court. It would just snowball into an even more litigious culture where saying something that offends ANYONE could get you thrown in jail or paying through the nose because "you made them do something they wouldn't have otherwise done".
I support harsher penalties in general for rape, though, based on the mental health health effects associated with its aftermath. But there would need to be criteria for when enhanced charges would apply. Forcible rape caught on camera with the accused clearly identifiable, and DNA evidence matches? Death penalty. He-said-she-said, drunk at a party hookup? Not at all. But if we're gonna enhance the charges on the basis of ruining someone's life, then we need to enhance the charges for knowingly false accusations, too, because that involves suicides, drug addiction, depression, and anxiety on the part of the falsely accused. Not to mention loss of family and friendships, future earnings, and a lot more.
Second and third order consequences (and beyond) need to be weighed heavily. Careful what you ask for
Unfortunately, capitalism causes people in the United States to be extremely violent and competitive and to have absolutely no mercy on other human beings. Think of it as a feature not a bug of our economic system.
If the attacker gave them a terminal STI/STD that should be considered killing them. If they end up killing themselves it should also be considered for manslaughter. Mental health damage is just as serious as the physical damage, if not more in many cases.
People like Audrie Potts, Rehtaeh Parsons, or Daisy Coleman are perfect examples. All anyone has to do is search for rape victims who commit suicide as a result of the rape or bullying afterwards. That should all be part of it, to double their sentence.
Looks like a couple of rapists downvoted you, but your spot on. Giving someone HIV or a deadly STD is a slow death. The psychological damage often leads to suicide, even years later. We don't get over it, we carry it with us forever.
@msc545 Those two are good enough for me, if the others are curable I'm good with that. If incurable it should be enhanced still at time of sentencing, not necessarily later. As that makes the victim a additional victim when no man will want to be with someone who has a incurable STD. There is already a stigma on dating rape victims as it is.
Syphilis is curable if treated, and HIV, while not clearly curable, is now very treatable and controllable. As for the rest of them, you've heard of antibiotics, right? They work.
Rape victims that commit suicide may do it because of the rape, or because of other things, or both, but you want to portray them as being perfectly fine until they get raped. That is complete bullshit.
@msc545 I portray them as fine until the rape unless otherwise proven they were not. You could be right they weren't but if they weren't the rape only made it worse for them. Those that had issues before hand, the attack makes it worse and they are more likely to end it, which is still on the rapist.
Who pays for them to be cured from those STDs, if the victim cannot afford it? What man is going to want to be with a rape victim who has HIV? these are all things the rapist did to her to ruin her life.
@msc545 How many men do you know that would want to be married or with a women who is HIV positive when they are not? Maybe you should post a question on that here to see the results.
Same as I've always suggested, but skin them alive even slower, over days, kept alive by doctors the whole time. Let him suffer for longer before dying.
There will be difficulty in linking it back to the attack but studies have shown over many years that victims of crimes like this suffer immense mental anguish. I have often said depression is like a disease, (even though it isn't) and some people die from it, like any other disease.
It is not something people just snap out of it, PTSD and other issues are found in almost all victims of a crime, sexual crimes are by far the most traumatic and life long. I have yet to meet a rape victim who even decades later did not still have issues with it.
The problem though is how long after should it be allowed? I can see allowing it for the first 5 years. While, hopefully the system gives good help to try and recover. Hopefully the attacker is still in prison and it just enhances it so they stay there longer.
The down side to that is, even after 5 years and if things seem to be going good, a simple trigger can cause a spiral downward. I know this cause I've dated a couple of rape victims and saw first hand the damage done, years after their rapes. My 2nd wife is a rape victim, having lived with seeing the effects.
It would be simpler to just give life sentences for it, like many here are saying.
I mentioned this a while back on a question about abortion.
A girl I knew was raped and became pregnant.
Her parents being religious would not let her have an abortion.
she managed a few years but having to look at her child, just became to much in the end.
She eventually committed suicide as she could not live with it all.
I personally blame the parents as she was getting counselling, however it’s a bit like those who have been abused and have to face their abuser daily, it was a constantly reopening wound.
Sorry babe, I’m just going to have to blame the rapist here! The parents didn’t CAUSE the trauma, they may have exacerbated the situation, but the rapist, on the other hand, directly caused the trauma which resulted in her sadly taking her own life.
Should it, sure. But there is much bigger issue. Charges for child molestation and crimes related to it are still far too low. Take it from someone that went through that. The effects of child molestation are much worse and last much longer simply due to it happening so early in a persons life. Also I'll be honest it seems like the rape issue is seems to be hogging the stop light. Because molestation can be much harder to talk about. So it's past time when the topic of rapes comes up the topic is changed to molestation. That way people have to talk about it.
All sexual offenses like child molestation and rape need drastically higher sentencing, they cannot be rehabilitated and should never be let out. Society also needs to support them with unlimited resources best it can.
I’m not sure but I believe victims and others make impact statements. It’s part of the courts role to evaluate the I, part of the crime and then to pass judgement based on that assessment. A terrible thing to have to force someone to relive and then try and evaluate the personal impact. That’s near impossible. How can you know what life would have been like without the rape?
It’s an imperfect system and too easy for perpetrators to commit these crimes and escape justice. Small comfort for those that are suffering and have had their life and happiness taken away.
"How can you know what life would have been like without the rape?" Life would always have been better without the rape, that is a 100% guarantee. Rape messes up everyone's life.
I know life would have been better and it messes people up. My point was that a system that sentences based on impact statements is hard to achieve and bad for the victims. If I had my way, every violent rapist would be sent to jail, stripped naked, bent over something and be left as a plaything for the inmates. Everyone’s happy except the rapist. When they’ve had enough, end it for them.
I think far better support needs to be given to rape victims.. The victims also need to be given faith the culprit will be caught, and yes far stronger punishments need to be given out. As far as I'm concerned if there is a definitive open and shut case then if it were up to me, he would have his knackers removed and forced to wear a tattoo on his forehead calling him a 'rapist' Cases that are not so definitive I don't think the law should change, because miscarriages of justice do occur.
The convicted rapist should be given death penalty in any case whether the victim remains alive or not.
But at the same time, fake rape accusations should be kept in mind and no one innocent should be convicted of a crime like rape because it makes their life even worse than death.
Whatever the penalty for the original rape was. You're responsible for your own actions, not how others react to them.
Think it through: despite the histrionics around it (going to RAINN for objective sexual assault coverage is like going to the William Morris agency for objective tobacco safety data), rape isn't the only crime that can lasting psychological effects on its victims. The mugging victim who distrusts everyone they don't know, the attempted murder victim who carries a gun everywhere they go, even the fraud victim who lost their life savings and has to go back to working a job they hate- these people also have lifelong psychological damage.
Do you honestly a jury of twelve randomly selected people will reliably have enough experience in psychology to judge how badly shaken up a victim is? More emotional manipulation is the LAST thing our court system needs.
If a rape victim commits suicide what should the penalty be for the rapist, their actions directly resulted in the suicide?
Any sentence they received should be enhanced in recognition of the fact that their action drove the victim to suicide.
But this should also apply to women who have made a false rape allegation against a man, who subsequently committed suicide because of that allegation, at the moment those kinds of women walk away scott free or get a minor 'slap on the wrist' charge, even though they wasted the time of the police and courts and caused a death.
As long as it can be proven, the problem is many women are bullied and pressured, or forced into retractions then others say it was fake when it really did happen because she retracted it.
That's a hard question for sure. I dated a girl that had been raped and it still was hard for her 15 years after it happened. I have a good friend that has been raped too and it's something she struggles with often. It's a lifelong sentence for the victims so I think penalties for rape should be more severe, and if the woman that is raped commits suicide I think at least a manslaughter charge is warranted. If the act was particularly heinous maybe a murder charge.
I believe in a death sentence of rapists regardless on whether the victims commits suicide or not. That's provided the evidence we have regarding the rape is valid beyond reasonable doubts.
as for the what "should" be... if it were for me, all rapists should be six feet underground, no exceptions... cremate them actually, the "more gone" they are, the better
Make the sentence harder like life imprisonment or death penalty. But it's difficult to prove if that was the direct consequence of it. In most cases victims don't really get justice they deserve. Falsely accusing of rape is also a big issue that makes people question legitimacy
At least a life sentence but, I don't see why our tax money should be used to clothe, house and feed someone that'll never get out and can never be able to walk amongst society ever again. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!
12.8K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Rape should be considered a more serious crime no matter what the consequences. It is hard to gauge the fallout of the assault because every case is different. I would lock them all up for at least 20 years in general population.
In most cases, it would be hard to prove that the rape was the cause of the suicide. People who commit suicide usually have several issues they're trying to deal with. Though it's sad the woman committed suicide, the rapist should be charged with rape, nothing more.
That's better than it currently is, but many victims could happen years later. Such as when their attacker gets out and they simply can't handle it. They decide they are going to be finished off by the attacker and the threats they made to leave on their own accord.
The problem is proving there's a direct link, court systems want proof that there's "something up". they won't throw charges without proof, how does one prove the suicide was due to that predicament. they can't prove it cause the suicidee is dead.
Its true, direct links are hard but there is numerous studies from many countries showing rape victims are higher risk and more likely. The best idea seems to be to life time sentence for them, nothing to enhance then. At least that is what many are saying here.
Home > Society & Politics > Questions > If a rape victim commits suicide what should the penalty be for the rapist, their actions directly resulted in the suicide?
Most Helpful Opinions