Harsh ruling or fair?

[VFM Addict]

Returning to the OP, no jury properly directed as to the law could have done other than convict and in that 2 years is pretty much the minimum sentence any judge can pass without the CPP/DPP appealing the sentence then this gang got off very light.

As regards Rape the law is clear. If the jury is of the opinion that the accused acted with reckless disregard for whether or not the victim was consenting (and that includes being old enough to consent) then it must convict.

I don't think anyone here would dispute that this gang acted recklessly.

I tend to believe that one must now adopt the rule used by supermarkets and 'Challenge 25'. Unless one knows for certain that the potential sexual partner is over 16 its probably wiser to ask for ID, crazy as that may sound.

 

[bitslice]

Legality is just that, it doesn't mean it's moral or immoral.

I'm not making any moral points?

Yes it is crap because you're basing a person's ability to think and act for themselves on a number you've arbitrarily assigned to them.

How are you going to determine if someone is reponsible or not? It's easier just to say that people under 16 don't know enough about the world to make a sensible choice - it's not a personal insult, it's just being pragmatic to go for the lowest common denominator.

so surely your example is pointless because despite you saying it's abnormal, it'd be "fine" if they were actually 16 rather than just looking like they were.

My position was that if a teenager was willing to gangbang a stranger that behaviour makes them somewhat depraved in my opinion, I'm implying that that attitude probably makes them unpleasant people anyway IMO.
It's the sort of thing that jaded 50 year old swingers do.

You clearly do have a problem with "unusual sexual behavior"

No, really I don't

If the men are animals, so are the girls,
---- if the men are punished, so should the girls

Their behaviours was shameful, yes agreed. But our society works around men not doing whatever they feel like regardless of provocation. Just like I can't ram BMW's off the road whenever they tailgate me (which I really should be allowed/encouraged/paid to do ).
I can't see how you could categorise shameful behaviour though, measure skirt hemlines in inches???

It's strange how people get their morality from the legal system...

tongue-in-cheek

we used to marry at 12 in this country I believe
you are fertile at 12, which was the entire point I think.

not that I'm bothered if it was raised to 18, people have sex way too young now and I don't buy that they are any more mature than kids were 10/20/30 years ago. There's just more media/peer pressure on them to be aware of their sexuality earlier.