The Stanford rape case & incarceration reform
So the letter read by the survivor of the Stanford assault case is all over my various social media feeds. Which it deserves to be; it’s important. (Although man, I cried when reading it and wince every time I see a link now; I hope the various survivors I know are tougher than me.) It sparked a couple of thoughts.
Because I’ve seen quite a few people talking about how he should be locked up forever. This reminded me of a realisation I had the last time I was talking about a shockingly lenient sentence given to a convicted rapist and athlete. (Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. That is the worst sentence.)
Cos I actually think incarceration is vastly overused in our - my - society (British) and even more so in America’s. Incarceration is expensive, is terrible at reducing recidivism or helping those with addiction and/or mental health problems, and the sentences have grown longer despite little evidence that it helps anything. Prisoners have also suffered brutally under the weight of tough on crime posturing even when that's been shown again and again to INCREASE re-offending. We had to have a whole campaign about not banning prisoners from access to BOOKS. What I read about in the Prison Reform Trust newsletter is simultaneously ludicrous and infuriating.
I think more compassion for criminals and those incarcerated would improve our society in a whole bunch of ways.
But the only time I ever see a lot of it extended is for those who commit sexual assault. Which is just really depressing. Suddenly there’s all this talk about the person's promise and potential (which is doubly annoying, because it’s so indelibly tied to race and class) and what’s to be gained from ruining their life? As if these aren’t the consequences of their own actions. As if there isn’t another life that’s already been changed.
IDK. It’s just weird and painful, and I keep nodding along with the first half of an idea about punishment for its own sake not necessarily being the action with the best outcome and then OH we’re right back to “and they were both very drunk.”
Besides, this is a case where I think incarceration to keep the offender away from people would not be the worst idea in the world. All his stuff about doing talks about alcohol overuse and sexual promiscuity, as though those things are what he did wrong. (And of course the victim-blaming implication that she was drunk and sexually promiscuous, she left a flirty voicemail for her boyfriend, she’s just as guilty. Yuck.) Dude, I’ve been drunk plenty of times and plenty of people would consider my history promiscuous and yet I am 1000% sure I've never raped anyone. A thing that helps with that? Not touching people too drunk to speak. Not seeing an unconscious woman as an opportunity.
I actually hope he’s lying to get around the judge, but I think it’s more likely that he’s telling the truth. That he’s learnt our cultural lesson that assault is about a no rather than the absence of yes (and the yes coming from someone cogent, old enough to consent, and not facing pressure). And that he actually believes that he was unjustly accused and convicted because she didn’t say no. (What with being unconscious.) I think it’s pretty likely that a lot of people who’ve raped someone genuinely believe they haven’t, horrifyingly. But then we come back to the idea that prison, especially paired with a solid re-education programme, can exist to keep others safe from people re-offending.
I don’t know if I have a point to this; it’s just really depressing to only see a glimmer of mainstream compassion for convicts in this context. It actually feels like a mirror-verse version of the Julian Assange case, oddly - because I do think this famous and successful man was pursued so strongly over being accused of rape because of his political activities, but that doesn’t mean the answer is that he’s somehow being framed or shouldn’t be tried, it means that other famous, successful men should be pursued more often and strongly. People using political ideas I believe in to make the argument that rapists should get off lightly is really depressing, and damages those causes.
I need to go and watch some Steven Universe.
This was originally posted at http://lokifan.dreamwidth.org/342212.html. Comment wherever you like :)
Because I’ve seen quite a few people talking about how he should be locked up forever. This reminded me of a realisation I had the last time I was talking about a shockingly lenient sentence given to a convicted rapist and athlete. (Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. That is the worst sentence.)
Cos I actually think incarceration is vastly overused in our - my - society (British) and even more so in America’s. Incarceration is expensive, is terrible at reducing recidivism or helping those with addiction and/or mental health problems, and the sentences have grown longer despite little evidence that it helps anything. Prisoners have also suffered brutally under the weight of tough on crime posturing even when that's been shown again and again to INCREASE re-offending. We had to have a whole campaign about not banning prisoners from access to BOOKS. What I read about in the Prison Reform Trust newsletter is simultaneously ludicrous and infuriating.
I think more compassion for criminals and those incarcerated would improve our society in a whole bunch of ways.
But the only time I ever see a lot of it extended is for those who commit sexual assault. Which is just really depressing. Suddenly there’s all this talk about the person's promise and potential (which is doubly annoying, because it’s so indelibly tied to race and class) and what’s to be gained from ruining their life? As if these aren’t the consequences of their own actions. As if there isn’t another life that’s already been changed.
IDK. It’s just weird and painful, and I keep nodding along with the first half of an idea about punishment for its own sake not necessarily being the action with the best outcome and then OH we’re right back to “and they were both very drunk.”
Besides, this is a case where I think incarceration to keep the offender away from people would not be the worst idea in the world. All his stuff about doing talks about alcohol overuse and sexual promiscuity, as though those things are what he did wrong. (And of course the victim-blaming implication that she was drunk and sexually promiscuous, she left a flirty voicemail for her boyfriend, she’s just as guilty. Yuck.) Dude, I’ve been drunk plenty of times and plenty of people would consider my history promiscuous and yet I am 1000% sure I've never raped anyone. A thing that helps with that? Not touching people too drunk to speak. Not seeing an unconscious woman as an opportunity.
I actually hope he’s lying to get around the judge, but I think it’s more likely that he’s telling the truth. That he’s learnt our cultural lesson that assault is about a no rather than the absence of yes (and the yes coming from someone cogent, old enough to consent, and not facing pressure). And that he actually believes that he was unjustly accused and convicted because she didn’t say no. (What with being unconscious.) I think it’s pretty likely that a lot of people who’ve raped someone genuinely believe they haven’t, horrifyingly. But then we come back to the idea that prison, especially paired with a solid re-education programme, can exist to keep others safe from people re-offending.
I don’t know if I have a point to this; it’s just really depressing to only see a glimmer of mainstream compassion for convicts in this context. It actually feels like a mirror-verse version of the Julian Assange case, oddly - because I do think this famous and successful man was pursued so strongly over being accused of rape because of his political activities, but that doesn’t mean the answer is that he’s somehow being framed or shouldn’t be tried, it means that other famous, successful men should be pursued more often and strongly. People using political ideas I believe in to make the argument that rapists should get off lightly is really depressing, and damages those causes.
I need to go and watch some Steven Universe.
This was originally posted at http://lokifan.dreamwidth.org/342212.html. Comment wherever you like :)