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Dutch Olympian who raped a 12-year-old girl ‘is not a paedophile’, official says
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
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This is getting an unnecessary amount of attention. I won't defend his actions, but he was punished for it. You know how many ex-convicts participate in society every day? Heaps of them.
No, he in fact was not punished for it. He still owes society 2 years, 11 months.
Conflating the raping of a 12-year-old girl that he admitted to raping with other felons is insulting to the other felons.
This is not how the justice system works in progressive countries. It's not the goal to lock people up. One of the main goals is to avoid reoffending behaviour. And this is not avoided by locking people up as long as possible.
What also likely played a role in his shortened sentence is the fact that he was so young. At 19, people change really fast. So the judge and the psychiatrist may have believed him that he understood his lesson after 1 year and 1 month.
I’m sure the now 22-year-old that he admitted to raping 10 years ago feels relief knowing he’s learned his lesson and gets to back to being a superstar because he was just a kid who grew out of his phase of raping 12-year-olds.
I do agree with you that most people can learn from their mistakes, and should be given multiple chances for redemption. But I draw the line at rape, especially of children; it’s personal. I will respect your opinion, despite not agreeing with it, if you will respect mine, while not agreeing with it. 😊
Okay but if I draw the line at all crime? Why should I get to draw that line over you? That's why we just have to treat all criminals as rehabilitatable because the task of democratically drawing that line and being able to trace the required nuance is literally fucking impossible.
There’s the paradox. Your argument itself is drawing a line that excludes mine. So what do we do? Well, like you said, we be democratic about it. Get out and vote for the people and policies that best aligns with our values. We have civil discussions like this that challenges each other to think of the other side. Maybe we get upset once in a while. Maybe we change our minds (maybe we don’t). It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
But when you give fame and wealth to known child rapists like van de Velde, trump, or others who regularly appears in epstein's flight logs, they can use that fame and wealth to attract more victims and cover up their actions.
There's a difference between having a livelihood and being granted access to the power that nationwide recognition gives you.
13 months for repeated raping a 12 year old whom he was in contact with for months and knew her age. Yea, definitely did his time for this one. Did you know the victim self harms now? Meanwhile your boy Steven Van de Velde is going to the Olympics. Seems legit.
There’s lots of things in society you are excluded from doing, when being a convicted criminal. Even more when it’s a “rape of a child” conviction.
One the things you should be excluded from is the olympics.
13 months in jail for getting a 12 year old drunk and raping her repeatedly doesn't sound like proper punishment... Specially not when he has shown no remorse for his actions
You know how many rapists keep raping after their paltry sentence? Heaps of them.
Yeah. It totally depends on their behaviour after their sentence, and their attitude towards their crime. Since this person did not reoffend for about nine years, I would think he has improved. And he apparently was deemed safe for society upon release, otherwise he would not have been released early, and possibly not been released at all.