nickie on 8/8/2014 at 19:59
(
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28701619) Chatroom rape fantasies woman jailed for six years.
I can't quite get my head around this. It's a 'new-to-me' crime but probably been done before in a slightly different way.
Quote:
A woman who used internet chatrooms to try to arrange for strangers to rape a former work colleague has been jailed for six years.
My initial reaction was that 6 years wasn't enough although I'm not a massive fan of long prison sentences for certain crimes. Rape, regardless of the gender of the victim, isn't a crime you recover from and the fact that it didn't actually take place is, to me, besides the point. On the whole, it seems to still be the case in the UK that if you're a woman, you tend to get more severely treated by the courts if you're single, a single mother or divorced. But in this case, it seems to be lenient. And because I'm also female and believe in female solidarity, it seems even more inadequate. So I accept that my reaction is biased.
And as this place is mostly full of men, I'd be interested in a male perspective though other female opinion would be good too, even if there aren't many of us around.
DDL on 8/8/2014 at 20:13
It's an interesting one, certainly. Kinda weird watching the legal system struggle to keep up with humanity's amazing gift for taking every new cool toy and promptly weaponising it. Revenge porn is another that springs to mind.
How do you come up with sentencing guidelines for something that's clearly...wrong, but wrong on terms we've never established?
I guess 6 years sounds appropriate to me, coz this was clearly a fucked up thing to do, but nothing actually came of it (something that restores a bit of faith in humanity: as I recall, one of the guys came round and pretty quickly worked out that her response was NOT a roleplay preamble, but a genuine WTF, so he called the police...which probably took quite some chutzpah). Well, apart from constant panic attacks, I guess.*
The important thing is it sends the message that this is not only wrong and fucked-up, but also actually a jailable offense, and like, not revolving-door jail, either. 6 years (even though it'll probably be 3) is still a hefty chunk.
*though having finally done some jury service I'm now assuming almost everything victims say is substantially exaggerated either for the press, because that's what lawyers are for
Sycamoyr on 8/8/2014 at 20:17
All that because she might have held a grudge against her co-worker after loosing her job? This goes way beyond petty, the victim either really screwed her over or she is actually insane. What an awful thing to do to someone in revenge; she should have gotten ten years of jail-time and mental treatment at least.
Renault on 8/8/2014 at 20:19
It's an unbelievably horrible crime, in that you wonder how one woman could do that to another, no matter how much they disliked each other. But I agree, considering nothing actually happened, it would be hard to put someone away for 10 years or more on something like this. I'd be interested to know what types of charges and penalties would be incurred for other "planned" crimes that never pan out (conspiracy to commit murder, etc.).
Phatose on 8/8/2014 at 20:28
I'm simply curious whether there was a law against this kind of behavior specifically as a result of surprising foresight by the legislature, or as a reaction to someone else pulling this stunt successfully and not having anything to charge them with, or if this is a more general law they've been able to use to charge her.
WingedKagouti on 8/8/2014 at 20:43
Quote Posted by Phatose
I'm simply curious whether there was a law against this kind of behavior specifically as a result of surprising foresight by the legislature, or as a reaction to someone else pulling this stunt successfully and not having anything to charge them with, or if this is a more general law they've been able to use to charge her.
More likely, it was something like an "encouraging a crime"-law that came into play. Rape is a crime and encouraging others to perform a crime is generally illegal in civilized countries.
Pyrian on 8/8/2014 at 22:02
Quote Posted by Phatose
I'm simply curious whether there was a law against this kind of behavior specifically as a result of surprising foresight by the legislature...
The actual convicted charges are listed in the article:
Quote:
Berry was convicted at an earlier hearing at Maidstone Crown Court of putting a person in fear of violence, assault with the intention of committing a sexual offence, common assault and attempting to cause a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
So, apparently there is a law against that very specific crime? But it wasn't entirely necessary that there should be. The law does not generally excuse your behavior simply because you were creative about how you went about it. If they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were attempting to get an illegal deed accomplished, no amount of Machiavellian shenanigans in between will count in your favor.
Tony_Tarantula on 8/8/2014 at 22:21
Same basic idea as "SWATing" someone. Use the internet to get other people to do your dirty work.
You think this is bad, take a look at the darkweb. One example is that Crowd-funded assassinations are a real thing.
SubJeff on 8/8/2014 at 23:19
No they're not.
R Soul on 8/8/2014 at 23:59
It sounds more like a kickstarter spoof video, with soft focus and gentle music.
