Compensation pay outs cut for rape victims who had been drinking.
By nancyrowina
@nancyrowina (3850)
August 12, 2008 8:13am CST
I nearly choked on my tea with rage when I read this one, it seems that the British Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) have decided rape victims who were drunk when they were raped deserve less compensation it's been cut by 25%.
This makes me mad as it panders to old silly prejudices and misconceptions like women who are drunk are "asking" to get raped. And also what message does it give to potential rapists, it sounds like they are saying "make sure your victim is drunk and you're less likely to get found guilty anyway and you'll pay less."
I'm also thinking maybe it's some kind of effort to curb women binge drinking which has become a big problem with both men women and teenagers in this country, but in the name of sanity why let rapists get away with paying less to their victims? It's sick.
Read here for the full story:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080812/tuk-rape-payouts-cut-for-drunk-victims-6323e80.html
7 people like this
14 responses
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
13 Aug 08
thats so wrong!! its just like when people say that its the woman fault if they she skimpy clothes.. no one cares about the victim.. heaven forbid the rapist it handled rudely or something
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
13 Aug 08
It sounds crazy doesn't it? So Victorian, you wouldn't think it was 2008!
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
13 Aug 08
I agree it gives it a totally wrong message to anyone who is thinking about committing rape, and makes women more fearful of reporting a rape if she was drunk at the time. In this day and age it's a crazy state of affairs.
1 person likes this
@Humbug25 (12540)
•
12 Aug 08
Hi there nancyrowina
I too was spitting feathers when I heard this on the news today it is absolutely disgusting. They have now gone from blaming the victim for what she was wearing to what she was drinking and either way it appears to be her fault somehow or like you say asking for it. No woman asks to be raped for goodness sake. I am lucky enough to have never been in this situation but I can imagine how traumatic it must be and my heart goes out to victims of such crimes!
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
13 Aug 08
It is crazy, as I said earlier I can only imagine it is a way of discouraging binge drinking amongst women through fear. It says in the article that one woman got it over turned and received the full compensation so maybe now things will start to change. But having said that I heard several years ago the way rape cases were tried was going to change, at the moment the rapist has to be proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt so the victim is teated as if she is lying when being examined by the rapists defence lawyers. They said they were going to turn it around so the rapist had to prove the victim gave consent beyond reasonable doubt, as far as I know that hasn't happened yet either.
1 person likes this
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
12 Aug 08
A woman drunk or not should not be raped, simple as that.
This news is not right. It will only encouraged the rapist
to rape more especially if the women is drunk. Ironic as it is
it has also a positive impact on the women drinker. Maybe they
will not drink anymore that much because of fear.
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
13 Aug 08
I think that's the idea to help stop women drinking so much, but it's such a sick way of doing it surely they could have thought of a better way?
1 person likes this
@3cardmonte (5098)
•
12 Aug 08
thats horrifying,the judicial system is clearly out of date and out of touch with reality as are the people enforcing it.These people have no idae how terrifying it is to walk down the street,even at 8 oclock at night and hear footsteps coming up behind you..These people dont give a damn about how this can ruin a womans life and the violation that it is.One of the biggest reasons that i dont drink at all anymore is that i hate feeling out of control and unable to defend myself,that is not to say that a woman shouldnt drink,they should be able to drink and have fun without the fear that,god forbid,if something should happen then it would be seen as 25% her fault.Over 47,000 women are raped every year in england and wales and only 5.3% of cases result in a conviction.That is shocking and how can they not care at all about this?
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
13 Aug 08
And imagine how many of those cases involved drink, I bet normally if the woman was drunk the man gets away with it anyway, it's just a slap in the face to the few women who do get their attacker convicted even though they were drunk that they get less compensation.
1 person likes this
@lossforredwords (3620)
• Philippines
13 Aug 08
what!!!
...how come they can come up with this kind of decision, haven't they realized what are the consequenses of this decision..just like what you said.. it might just get the criminals more motivated.. its like the law was on there side.. man.. what happens to human kind..
...how come they can come up with this kind of decision, haven't they realized what are the consequenses of this decision..just like what you said.. it might just get the criminals more motivated.. its like the law was on there side.. man.. what happens to human kind..1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
16 Aug 08
That is horrible and wrong. I remember when the only way a rape victim was believed as if she was either a Nun, a virgin, or wore a dress or skirt and blouse that covered her up to her neck and part way down her calves, and she was not that pretty to boot. And not only that, it had to show the victim was helpless, tying them up, and beating them senseless, and there had to be bruises on it. And of course, bad girls or girls with a bad reputation were never raped. They asked for it.
Now with this law, they seem to be going back to the bad old days. What is to stop a man from plying a girl with drinks and then raping her in order to get a lighter sentence or have his conviction thrown out of court. This should be struck down! Having one too many is not an invitation to rape.
1 person likes this
@Foxfire1875 (2010)
•
12 Aug 08
This is getting ridiculous soon the victims will have to apologize to the criminals for being in the wrong place. What kind of message are we sending out these day, that it is okay to commit crimes. I don't agree completely with compensation as it makes it easy for people with a lot of money to just pay off their victim and then go do it again.
What kind of message are we sending out these day, that it is okay to commit crimes. I don't agree completely with compensation as it makes it easy for people with a lot of money to just pay off their victim and then go do it again.2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
12 Aug 08
I hope they don't decide to reduce the prison sentences for rapists who's victims were drunk too, that really would be insane. I'm assuming the rapists still go to prison as well as paying compensation at the moment anyway.
2 people like this
• Canada
13 Aug 08
no person on earth has ever asked to be raped,whether drunk or not.Male nor female would ask for this.A few years ago Ontario women were allowed to go topless,if they get raped it shouldn't mean that they were asking for it.Women are PEOPLE to and deserve the same respect as men do in business and life.I can't believe the British Criminal Compensation Authority,were they drunk when they decided this?
@bamakelly (5191)
• United States
12 Aug 08
This is a new one to me. I believe that this is kind of a crazy new law myself. How does being a woman who is drunk and raped make her any less violated. As a matter of fact it looks worse on the rapist himself.
I could never really understand the saying that a woman asks for it. Anybody who is taken against their will is being violated. It is no stretch of the imagination to say as much. It is a shame that this compensation has been cut. Doesn't seem fair, does it?
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
12 Aug 08
It's the message it gives out that bothers me, it tells the women they deserved to get raped more for being drunk and deserve less compensation than a woman who wasn't drunk. I agree it looks worse on a man who rapes a drunk woman as she's more vulnerable and less able to defend herself, I think they should pay more if they pray on vulnerable drunk women.
1 person likes this
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
11 Apr 10
I think this compensation thing is really good. Let the rapist pay the whole amount and send him to jail for the rest of his life. I just hate rapist they are the lowest animal I can ever think of. If it happen to my sister or even to my own daughter someday I think i could kill somebody for that.
I agree that women who are drunk is not a reason to raped them. I guess some men were just pure evil and no feeling of remorse at all. But advice for those women drinkers be careful of what you are drinking especially during parties and most in the crowded clubs.
@Haylie2610 (582)
• Dominican Republic
30 Aug 08
I think its totally ridiculous, I mean... they should give them 25% MORE because, when you're drunk, you dont have as much strenght as you would have sober...
Maybe we should go straight on and pay the criminals. We would be done with this "justice" issue...
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
30 Aug 08
I know it's mad, there's almost no point taking a rapist to court anymore as he'll probably walk free anyway, and now this.
