Can't we combine the two and allow the victim to stab the twat who raped her?!
See, imo, this is the easy option and the wrong one. I was chatting with a mate earlier and he was telling me about his missus getting mugged recently and he described the empty impotent rage of not being able to retaliate at the people who had committed the crime, yet he also acknowledged that such feelings don't help you to move on.
As much as the instinct is to castigate and make these 3 lads "animals" and "scum" and "not like us", the bigger problem that no one wants to address is that they are like us, allbeit in a twisted and fucked up version that no-one wants to associate with whilst also enjoying recounting the nasty things that will/should be done to them in the name of retribution and justice.
Yet one could argue that the single most common predictor of males acting out such extreme and violent behaviours against a female will be the surrounding attitudes of the environment that they grow up in. And given that we are part of that environment, then we have a part to play, in challenging societal attitudes towards power and gender and choice; we have a part to play in shaping behaviour and belief and respect; and we have a part in trying to make sure that this type of horror-show doesn't occur again.
It's an awful crime and i would agree that their sentences appear lenient considering the situation - i assume the judge knocked off some years because the female concerned, who has learning difficulties and a mental age of between 8-9, went to the people involved willingly.
Yet if that's a mitigating circumstance, i.e. going along willingly, then the fact that these fucks have clearly taken extreme and violent advantage of her is without question and i don't think 8/9 years is sufficient as a punishment when you consider potential parole tbf. They'll get knocked up a bit i hope, but she's living with this for life, makes me really angry.
