Mitigating Circumstances

I'm really not one of the 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' mob. Honestly. I'm far more interested in restorative justice and rehabilitation than revenge.

And I agree wholeheartedly that the prison population here in the 51st State is larger than it should be and that -- by and large -- prisons aren't doing terribly well at the whole rehabilitation business.

But one can think all this and still find ironic the arguments of the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) that sentences for rape and domestic violence should be reduced. It strikes me as particularly dubious that part of the rationale for reducing sentences for rape appears to be to bring them 'into line' with proposals for "other violent crimes like robbery."

Yes, that's right folks. Robbery. Can we say 'Women are not property, so rape is not like robbery' three times fast? It's a bit of a tongue-twister, but I'm sure we'll all get there eventually. Take your time.

And that's not the worst of it.

Courts will be advised to "take into account mitigating circumstances" such as "sexual familiarity" between rapist and victim before the attack. Because everyone knows that if you said 'yes' once, well that holds good forever. And you can't possibly say 'yes' to smooching in the corner at a party without having also consented to -- well, pretty much anything and everything really. Robbery for starters. Oh sorry -- I meant rape. See how easy it is to confuse the two?

The SGC also has domestic violence in its sights. Apparently men convicted of domestic violence "could escape jail terms if they convince the courts they are capable of changing." Can't you just see it? One, two, three, let's all sing together now:

Some people say that I'm a bad guy..
They may be right, they may be right.
But it's not as if I don't try..
I just fuck up, try as I might

But I can change, I can change!
I can learn to keep my promises, I swear it!
I'll open up my heart and I will share it..

I've always felt a guilty sense of affection for that Southpark movie.

By the time men make it to court for domestic violence, they've usually become a pretty dab hand at persuading the person they've been beating that 'they can change.' They have the patter down. So expect an all-singing all-dancing and high-kicking in spangly costumes chorus of this one.

So -- I hear you say to yourself. If this comes in will it mean that mean fewer women will try and bring charges or rape or domestic violence? Yep. That'd be my guess.

The thing that's ironic about it is that the existing prison system doesn't do a great job at rehabilitation: what it does sometimes do is give the victims an opportunity to regroup and (often) relocate. So there is a huge need for rehabilitative work and for restorative justice to ensure that, when perpetrators are released, they are less likely to just go and rape and/or beat again. And, yes, to be effective, much of that work probably does need to take place in open prisons and/or in community settings. Fine.

But surely that can be done without allowing into the sentencing guidelines the dizzying array of self-pitying apologies and excuses that have novelty value in court only because the people there haven't heard it all before?

"I didn't mean to -- I just lost control. I'll never do it again."

Ad infinitum, ad nauseum.