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.
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6 mo
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.
If a rape victim commits suicide what should the penalty be for the rapist, their actions directly resulted in the suicide?
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JayParris | 1.1K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
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.
Agape93 | 6.8K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Master
6 mo
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.
TallAnon | 1.3K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Master
6 mo
The same as any rape.
If I tell someone they're a piece of filth and the next day they hang themselves, that's not on me. Like it or not, they decided to do the suicide, not the rapist. At the end of the day, we're still responsible for our own actions. The rape is one action, the suicide is another.
That's just my opinion anyway. This is a pretty emotional subject, I'm just approaching it as logically I can.
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AllThatSweetJazz | 3.1K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
No change. Suffering should not be the measure of a sentence. Especially when it can be inflicted on oneself. The public's penchant for vengeance should not be indulged.
Your okay with a victim having a lifetime sentence but the perp gets out and goes to live life like nothing ever happened?
I personally disagree, I think how well a victim is doing should be the measure of when the criminal can get out. The more severe the crime the less likely a victim can recover. It has nothing to do with vengeance but fairness, a criminal should serve a longer sentence than their victim.
Plus if a rapist gets out, and a victim is still alive, that is a major traumatic event right there.
Victims can and do get over things. And criminals can and do regret their reactions for the rest of their lives. So I disagree with your one-sided framing.
Basing it on the suffering experienced by a victim is literally vengeance. Just saying it’s not vengeance doesn’t magically fix that.
What’s been happening is that victims are encouraged to feel terrible and never recover. They’re taught to fixate on it and further inflate anything remotely perceived as suffering to bolster the sanctity of their victimhood. Feminists speaking about rape are particularly guilty of this.
Healthy encouragement would mean they’re not freaked out by rapists who have done their time being released. Acting like these victims are forever going to be too delicate to live outside again is the toxicity, that’s the problem. It’s being cruel to the victims by convincing them that they’re forever damaged and then using that as justification for cruel excessive vengeance on these criminals.
Rape victims don't really ever get over it, it just gets buried and they try to carry it their whole life. There is no greater trauma or crime. To say they get over them is disrespecting all of them and what they have been through. Downplaying it like it was no big deal.
Other crimes people can and do get over, I'm not referring to those though.
The reason is the rape culture, there is stigma to being a victim. Many people here said they would never even date a rape victim, even though they know its not their fault. Many guys will not see them as wife material, just easy sex cause rape victims often become promiscuous in a attempt to gain control over their sexual lives again.
If he gives her HIV, do you know many guys that would want to marry someone with that? If she was waiting until marriage and now men do not want her, or she was engaged and he ended it cause he see's her as not a virgin anymore.
All these things and countless more I won't list, contribute to the suffering and mental issues directly caused by the attack that make it impossible to move on.
Men in society think of rape victims as unclean, even when they know it isn't their fault.
If "Basing it on the suffering experienced by a victim is literally vengeance." that is the way we should do it then. No reason the victim shouldn't have a say on when they can get out. In fact that would be ideal, they cannot get out until the victim says it is okay. That would be perfect and fair. Don't hurt someone if you know they are the ones who will have to forgive you, in order for you to get out.
The reason victims freak out about them being released is because they literally stated they would KILL them or rape them again if they turned them in, so how should a victim feel when they get released? they going to hunt them down to finish the job and live up to their threat?
AkshiJanjua | 347 opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Yoda
6 mo
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
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FunkyMonkee | 2.9K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
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!
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exitseven | 6.3K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
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.
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loveslongnails | 3K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
This would be a horrible can of worms to open up. I wouldn't be for adding additional charges, but I'm also against soft sentencing for rapist IF it's a rock solid case.
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.
It's tough. The problem is when the jury is wrong, it's tough to go back on. I know that's why they purposely drag these cases out. It's hard for who ever is lying to keep their story straight.
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CrazyGirl2 | 289 opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
Probably the Rape, and add an involuntary manslaughter charge.
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Razp_Sorbet | 244 opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Xper 7
6 mo
Rapists don't even get convicted, let's start with that issue first
@Razp_Sorbet When you eat 7000 calories a day you start to lack common sense. If the rape wasn’t even reported then how do they know that the rape happened in the first place.
That seems to be the consensus is that the sentences just need to be longer then no worries for this but sentencing can be so light, that its traumatic if the rapist serves no time or little time and then gets out can trigger a victim to take their own life. Sounds like the solution is not so much enhancements, just life time sentences for rapists.
I don't think they should serve more time than they would have already.
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Pohjolan | 154 opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Xper 5
6 mo
No, a rapists shouldn't get punished less because their victim has the mental fortitude to keep it together nor is mental health something that we can measure objectively.
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jahaims | 1.7K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
Even without the victim committing suicide the rapist should at the very least be in prison for the rest of their life.
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OddBeMe | 14.1K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
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6 mo
Tough one. I think rape should be up there with murder anyway. But not sure there’s legal standing to blame the suicide on the rapist. Just being academic. I’d stone the rapist myself.
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SmokinAces2000 | 2.3K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
Explorer
6 mo
If a rape victim commits suicide then the rapist should go to jail for rape but not for the death of the rape victim because they made a choice to commit suicide
What about when a drug dealer sells drugs to an individual that ends up taking their life they’re charged with murder why shouldn’t it be the same for a rapist who caused the mental collapse of an individual?
A drug dealer is directly causing that persons death by selling them drugs, a rapist isn’t directly causing the suicide of a person, it’s messed up but it wouldn’t make sense for them to get a murder or manslaughter charge
Unless the drug dealer forced the drugs down the person's throat or held them at gunpoint and forced them to take the drugs with threats, the drug dealer is NOT responsible.
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