Judge sets aside rape charges so ex-athlete can "enjoy a college experience" - Polidicks

[QUOTE=taipan;50935381]I understand where you are coming from. [B]Let my explain my view: [/B] The nature of the relationship with the victim can and in my opinion should influence the severity of the punishment. [B]Example:[/B] A guy who plucks a random women off the street and rapes here in the bushes while she is screaming for him to stop should receive a way heavier punishment than this guy. Who seems to be close to the girls as they drunkenly fell asleep together on the bed together, at which point he touched her with his finger. The judge [I]"probably rightfully in my opinion"[/I] recognized this grey area and came too the sentence mentioned in the news post. Meanwhile, people in this thread can only seem to see the extremity's of the case: IF > VERDICT == "ANYTHING SEXUAL"( VICTIM == "SCREWED FOR LIFE");[/QUOTE] Nah. If you rape someone, regardless of if they're hurt or if they were drunk and unconcious, you deserve the same punishment as any other rapist, because you still raped someone There isn't "worse" rape or "better" rape. It's all rape, it's all disgusting, and it all deserves a long term in jail and being marked as a sex offender

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;50934640]courts don't have to assume the accuser is lying, that's ridiculous. cases would be inherently biased against the accuser if that was true, and not just concerning rape claims. the only thing they have to assume is that everyone is innocent before proven otherwise.[/QUOTE] Its biased following the rule "innocent until proven guilty" The court system is not trying to make the accuser fail, they just need to prove their case

[QUOTE=hoodoo456;50935400]Nah. If you rape someone, regardless of if they're hurt or if they were drunk and unconcious, you deserve the same punishment as any other rapist, because you still raped someone There isn't "worse" rape or "better" rape. It's all rape, it's all disgusting, and it all deserves a long term in jail and being marked as a sex offender[/QUOTE] I wholeheartedly do not agree with this. And it worry's me that so many people seem to think this way. But it is in line with my general view that a lot ([I]not all or even most[/I]) Americans are extremely black and white when it comes to anything sex related. [B]By this same logic:[/B] Slapping someone in the face should net the same sentence as breaking someones arms and legs with a baseball bat. Do you agree with the above statement as well?

[QUOTE=taipan;50935427]I wholeheartedly do not agree with this. And it worry's me that so many people seem to think this way. But it is in line with my general view that a lot ([I]not all or even most[/I]) of Americans are extremely black and white when it comes to anything sex related. [B]By this same logic:[/B] Slapping someone in the face should net the same sentence as breaking someones arms and legs with a baseball bat. Do you agree with the above statement as well?[/QUOTE] No, because that's a fucking stupid statement Slapping someone doesn't do the same amount of physical or mental damage as being severely crippled with a blunt instrument. Being raped is always extremely mentally harmful, regardless of how, who, conciousness of the victim, drunk, anything. It will always cause severe mental harm.

This judge should be removed.

[QUOTE=hoodoo456;50935437]No, because that's a fucking stupid statement Slapping someone doesn't do the same amount of physical or mental damage as being severely crippled with a blunt instrument. Being raped is always extremely mentally harmful, regardless of how, who, conciousness of the victim, drunk, anything. It will always cause severe mental harm.[/QUOTE] I dont think getting touched by at the butt area, by a person you know and fell asleep next to. Nets the same mental damage as getting forcibly raped for half an hour in the bushes by a random guy on the street.

[QUOTE=taipan;50935457]I dont think getting touched by at the butt area, by a person you know and fell asleep next to. Nets the same mental damage as getting forcibly raped for half an hour in the bushes by a random guy on the street.[/QUOTE] Again, it doesn't matter who did it. Do you think it's more comforting or something that your friend/husband/brother raped you or something isntead of a stranger? like "oh, well I [I]was[/I] violated against my will, but at least I knew him"? Also, being groped isn't rape and I never argued that it was. It still deserves a pretty serious punishment, though.

[quote]Palmer District Court Judge Thomas Estes on Aug. 15 ordered Becker’s case continued without a finding for two years, and he was sentenced Monday to two years of probation. During that time, the former East Longmeadow High School student was ordered to avoid drugs and alcohol, submit to an evaluation for sex offender treatment and stay away from the two 18-year-old victims. Becker, a three-sport athlete at the school, will be permitted to serve probation in Ohio, where he plans to attend college, and will not be required to register as a sex offender. No conviction will appear on his record if he complies with the terms of his probation.[/quote] So hes still on the hook for it. Bet he'll still violate his probation

[QUOTE=hoodoo456;50935400]Nah. If you rape someone, regardless of if they're hurt or if they were drunk and unconcious, you deserve the same punishment as any other rapist, because you still raped someone There isn't "worse" rape or "better" rape. It's all rape, it's all disgusting, and it all deserves a long term in jail and being marked as a sex offender[/QUOTE] no lmao of course there are different grades of terrible wtf

[QUOTE=hoodoo456;50935474] Again, it doesn't matter who did it. Do you think it's more comforting or something that your friend/husband/brother raped you or something isntead of a stranger? like "oh, well I [I]was[/I] violated against my will, but at least I knew him"? [/QUOTE] I really would rather get raped by my girlfriend than a random woman on the street. And im 100% certain the first case would net me less mental distress than the second. [QUOTE=hoodoo456;50935474] Also, being groped isn't rape and I never argued that it was. It still deserves a pretty serious punishment, though.[/QUOTE] Well according to the article he touched her with his finger. So probably no rape, just sexual assault. From the vibe I get in this thread, both me and my Girlfriend should go to jail around 3 times a month if we lived in the USA. As trying to get the other person in the mood when me or she is not into it yet consist of playfully groping.

[QUOTE=hoodoo456;50935437]No, because that's a fucking stupid statement Slapping someone doesn't do the same amount of physical or mental damage as being severely crippled with a blunt instrument. Being raped is always extremely mentally harmful, regardless of how, who, conciousness of the victim, drunk, anything. It will always cause severe mental harm.[/QUOTE] A little hyperbolic there. Keep in mind a 16 year old having sex with their 17 year old boyfriend or girlfriend is rape.

[QUOTE=Cliff2;50935537]A little hyperbolic there. Keep in mind a 16 year old having sex with their 17 year old boyfriend or girlfriend is rape.[/QUOTE] According to the majority of people in this thread. This case should get the perpetrator 8 years in jail and a sex offender status for life.

[QUOTE=taipan;50935526]I really would rather get raped by my girlfriend than a random woman on the street. And im 100% certain the first case would net me less mental distress than the second. Well according to the article he touched her with his finger. So probably no rape, just sexual assault. From the vibe I get in this thread, both me and my Girlfriend should go to jail around 3 times a month if we lived in the USA. As trying to get the other person in the mood when me or she is not into it yet consist of playfully groping.[/QUOTE] You think getting raped by someone you loved and trusted with your life would net you less mental distress than a stranger?

[QUOTE=Levelog;50935589]You think getting raped by someone you loved and trusted with your life would net you less mental distress than a stranger?[/QUOTE] Yes I [U]think[/U] so. In the first case I mainly imagine me being angry and breaking up afterwards. If I got raped by a rondom on the streets I imagine it would totally sap my self confidence and make me feel unsafe and dirty for a time.

[QUOTE=elowin;50935497]no lmao of course there are different grades of terrible wtf[/QUOTE] It's basically the Richard Dawkins argument again where a few people aren't able to parse that X being worse than Y doesn't mean that Y isn't bad.

[QUOTE=taipan;50935631]Yes I [U]think[/U] so. In the first case I mainly imagine me being angry and breaking up afterwards. If I got raped by a rondom on the streets I imagine it would totally sap my self confidence and make me feel unsafe and dirty for a time.[/QUOTE] Except getting raped by someone you know - especially someone you trusted enough to be romantically involved with - would break your trust in other people you know. It's a matter of "I'm not safe if I'm ever alone in X areas" versus "I'm not even safe around my friends". Both are terrible. [QUOTE=Thlis;50935653]It's basically the Richard Dawkins argument again where a few people aren't able to parse that X being worse than Y doesn't mean that Y isn't bad.[/QUOTE] Especially since two people can have different reactions to the same terrible thing. People don't always act the same to rape, even if it happened in a very similar way. There's no real objective way to say that one type of rape is worse than another. Sure, there are instances where the person is kidnapped or tortured or murdered in addition to the rape, or where they're raped repeatedly. But those cases are technically multiple crimes being committed, so of course those are worse the vast [I]vast[/I] majority of the time. On another note, I do think it's okay to be more lenient on the accused if both they and their accuser are drunk. The entire point of "sex with a drunk person is rape" is that you can't properly control yourself when you're drunk. To say "they still should have known not to have sex" is almost the same logic as "you were going along with their advances, who cares if you were drunk". On the other hand, you still need to take into account the differences in how drunk each person is. If both people are stumbling around and slurring their words, it would be a double standard to say one is a rapist who needs jail time. If one person is kind of buzzed and the other is fucking unconscious, then yeah, there still needs to be a punishment, although it may be just marginally lighter than if the perpetrator were sober. Although you also have to take into account that there's no objective "you are this drunk" sign, two people can have the same number of drinks and have completely different sobriety levels. And then you also have to take into account that people act differently to being drunk, some people get violent while others don't. Furthermore, some people are seemingly less drunk than they actually are, given blackout drunks. ANYWAY, we obviously don't know the full details of this case, but I'd say it's pretty goddamn likely that he's being let off way too easy. On one hand, he was awake while the other person was unconscious. On the other hand, they said they all drank and fell asleep together, so they were likely similarly drunk. Back on the first hand, he was awake and the other person was unconscious, and he admitted as such. Back on the other hand, he admitted it and had acknowledged what he did was wrong. Back to the first hand, he admitted it.

[QUOTE=axelord157;50934453]And people will still say consent education is useless, jesus on a fucking burning bicycle.[/QUOTE] It is, and the only people who need it are socially inept or idiots. Then again, it's hard to find someone who isn't one or the other in America.

[QUOTE=PrusseLusken;50934379]not like the girls' lives most likely are screwed up forever by this either..? attorney should go fuck himself.[/QUOTE] They woke up to find him sexually assaulting 1 of them, and he even went about apologizing for it. If anything I would call it a life lesson rather than "their lives being screwed up forever". I have full on respect for those who are taken by force, and end with brutal scars for life (mentally and physically).. .. but getting drunk at a party and waking up with a sweaty lad humping you, is literally a slap away from safety.

[QUOTE=Tools;50939002]They woke up to find him sexually assaulting 1 of them, and he even went about apologizing for it. If anything I would call it a life lesson rather than "their lives being screwed up forever". I have full on respect for those who are taken by force, and end with brutal scars for life (mentally and physically).. .. but getting drunk at a party and waking up with a sweaty lad humping you, is literally a slap away from safety.[/QUOTE] I don't know man, being raped shouldn't be a "life lesson". On the other end, sex offender register is meant for people who will most likely do it again. And this dude apologized to the girl so he probably won't make this mistake again.

We just had a statement from some higher ranking police officer that for example school bullying should be reported more. In fin But the officer actually didn't talk about the illegality of bullying per-se, but physically assaulting. Pushing someone is an assault, and an assault is a crime. By not reporting such cases, she said that schools and teachers are essentially protecting criminals, from a legal standpoint at least. Meanwhile in America, a court literally chose to let crime go unpunished, so that's even worse imho.

[QUOTE=Tools;50939002]They woke up to find him sexually assaulting 1 of them, and he even went about apologizing for it. If anything I would call it a life lesson rather than "their lives being screwed up forever". I have full on respect for those who are taken by force, and end with brutal scars for life (mentally and physically).. .. but getting drunk at a party and waking up with a sweaty lad humping you, is literally a slap away from safety.[/QUOTE] A "life lesson?" A life lesson about [I]what?[/I] Some dude molested them while they were unconscious. That's not just "boys being boys," that's straight up sexual assault. You're victim blaming unconscious girls, lmao.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;50939903]A "life lesson?" A life lesson about [I]what?[/I] Some dude molested them while they were unconscious. That's not just "boys being boys," that's straight up sexual assault. You're victim blaming unconscious girls, lmao.[/QUOTE] Life lesson for that if he wishes to "enjoy" his college life he could get off scot-free. But it's okay I guess, he did apologize after all.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;50939116]We just had a statement from some higher ranking police officer that for example school bullying should be reported more. In fin But the officer actually didn't talk about the illegality of bullying per-se, but physically assaulting. Pushing someone is an assault, and an assault is a crime. By not reporting such cases, she said that schools and teachers are essentially protecting criminals, from a legal standpoint at least. Meanwhile in America, a court literally chose to let crime go unpunished, so that's even worse imho.[/QUOTE] You do know he was both charged and sentenced right. It'd the sentence which people have an issue with.

[QUOTE=Code3Response;50939938]You do know he was both charged and sentenced right. It'd the sentence which people have an issue with.[/QUOTE] Yeah but he wasn't registered and his life wasn't essentially ruined. That's pretty unfair to all previous similar cases of rape. Also doesn't this basically set some sort of a precedent that a judge may arbitrarily choose not to list a rapist as a sex offender?

The story lacks details, it mentions rape in the title but in the article it mostly talks about sexual assault, so what exactly happened here? People in this thread seem to assume penetration or violence in some kind and how traumatized she must be, but where is that information? The article doesn't mention anything of the sort and the fact that the victim did said he didn't deserve jail time might be important to understand the judge reasoning. Raping someone is very different from grabbing a butt for instance. Not that he deserves sympathy, but there are degrees on how bad you are.

[QUOTE=bunguer;50940098]The story lacks details, it mentions rape in the title but in the article it mostly talks about sexual assault, so what exactly happened here? People in this thread seem to assume penetration or violence in some kind and how traumatized she must be, but where is that information? The article doesn't mention anything of the sort. Raping someone is very different from grabbing a butt for instance. Not that he deserves sympathy, but the victim did said he didn't deserve jail time and many people seem to ignore this.[/QUOTE] Oh ya, I don't think anybody was left neither mentally nor physically traumatized by this event. But it doesn't matter what the victim says imho. In the blind eyes of the law, the guy committed a sexual crime, and thus should be registered and have his life essentially ruined, so as not to treat rapists unequally.

[QUOTE=bunguer;50940098]The story lacks details, it mentions rape in the title but in the article it mostly talks about sexual assault, so what exactly happened here? People in this thread seem to assume penetration or violence in some kind and how traumatized she must be, but where is that information? The article doesn't mention anything of the sort and the fact that the victim did said he didn't deserve jail time might be important to understand the judge reasoning. Raping someone is very different from grabbing a butt for instance. Not that he deserves sympathy, but there are degrees on how bad you are.[/QUOTE] [quote]According to court documents, Becker is accused of penetrating the victims with his finger. [/quote] source: [url]http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/east_longmeadow_high_school_at.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;50940155]source: [url]http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/east_longmeadow_high_school_at.html[/url][/QUOTE] That does clear the situation, in that case I'm not sure what would be the appropriate outcome.

[QUOTE=bunguer;50940236]That does clear the situation, in that case I'm not sure what would be the appropriate outcome.[/QUOTE] A couple years in prison and being added to the sex offender registry

Happy to see some clemency in America's shitty justice system. The judge did the right thing, in my opinion.