While American Feminists are otherwise occupied, a report was released detailing Britain’s disgusting treatment of rapists, child molesters and other assorted degenerates who deserve death but are coddled by the English “justice” system which treats hardened criminals as if they’re victims. From WaPo:
LONDON — After Linda Davies reported to police that her 15-year-old daughter had been raped, it took three months — plus two dozen phone calls and a threat of legal action — before police questioned the suspect, a 28-year-old neighbor.
“I gave police his name, address, mobile phone number, car registration — everything but his passport,” said Davies, 44, a strong-minded mother of two daughters. “I was basically begging them. He lived five minutes away from us.”
The suspect was finally arrested but acquitted at a trial in which the judge told the jury that he was “in a way a man of good character” because his previous criminal convictions, for possession of stolen goods and marijuana, did not involve violence.
Davies was furious at the judge, who also instructed the jurors to ignore the victim’s young age, and at police, who lost cellphone records that contradicted the defendant’s account.
“This has shattered us,” Davies said. “We felt like the whole system was against us.”
Davies said she was stunned to learn that her daughter’s case was the rule, not the exception. According to government statistics, only 5.7 percent of rapes officially recorded by police in England and Wales end in a conviction.
“What are they saying?” Davies asked. “That 95 percent of women that come forward are telling lies?”
In Britain, a nation whose justice system has been used as a model around the globe, government officials and women’s rights activists agree that rape goes largely unpunished.
Solicitor General Vera Baird, who oversees criminal prosecutions in England, estimated that 10 to 20 percent of rapes are brought to authorities’ attention. According to government figures, 14,000 cases a year are reported and 19 out of 20 defendants walk free.
Re-read that last part to get the full effect. Only one or two out of every ten rapes is being reported and even less than six percent end in convictions. Horrible. But it gets worse:
A 2005 report commissioned by the police found a “culture of skepticism” in the justice system when it came to rape cases, and recommended shifting the focus from seeking reasons not to believe the accuser to gathering evidence to support the charge.
Lisa Longstaff, spokeswoman for the London-based group Women Against Rape, said rape cases are “not a priority” for busy police and prosecutors and, as a result, “so few rapists get locked up that those who do feel unlucky rather than guilty.”
This Story
Even some cases that do end in a guilty verdict stir outrage. Last year, a judge sentenced a 24-year-old man to two years in prison for having sex with a 10-year-old after concluding that the girl had “dressed provocatively.”
Patricia Scotland, England’s first female attorney general since the job was created in the 15th century, appealed that sentence. It was increased to four years.
That’s not the first time I’ve seen a story in which a pre-teen was said by an English judge to be “asking for it.” I assume our American Feminists will be rallying to support these girls any day now. Meanwhile the article hints at the problem being in part Britain’s insistence on multiculturalism as opposed to assimilation as a societal goal, leading to a sizable portion of British subjects clinging to primitive beliefs about women’s sexuality:
Kerim Fuad, a barrister who has defended more than 100 men accused of rape, including the defendant in the Davies case, said most of the time the defendant and the accuser know each other and the jury must decide whom to believe.
A woman always has a right to say no, he said, but when she goes into a man’s bedroom late at night after they have both been drinking, juries may have a hard time voting to send a man to prison.
Fuad declined to speak about specific cases, but he said he has been surprised by some “not guilty” verdicts. He said jurors have been shown compelling evidence — such as blood at the scene or internal injury to the woman — and still not returned a guilty verdict.
It is illegal in Britain to interview jurors — even after a verdict. But public opinion polls show that a sizable proportion — a quarter to a third — of Britons say a rape victim is responsible for the attack if she is drunk or wearing “sexy” clothes.
“As many as one in two young men believe there are some circumstances when it’s okay to force a woman to have sex,” said Conservative Party leader David Cameron, citing studies.
In my mind,” he said, “this is an example of moral collapse.”
Ya’ Think?
The article claims we in the U.S. have only a 13% conviction rate, which crime bloggers will note seem low since every day there are literally hundreds of stories of some pervert getting sent to the joint. This DOJ crime sheet on juvenile rapes has different numbers, though still embarrassingly low. It also shows that child rapist are more likely to be arrested than someone who rapes an adult.
The problem in England, and here in many states, is the acceptance of society at large of criminals mitigating their crimes. The current trend toward medicalizing sexual sadism and claiming it’s a treatable condition is having the same effect here as it does in England. Of course unlike England our crime rate is down so we are not confronted with news of a violent assault every time we turn on the TV. Continued “liberal” policies toward crime will no doubt change that.
