A judge's decision not to jail three teenage boys for gang rape because he wanted to avoid 'criminalising' them has sparked public backlash and a referral to the Court of Appeals. Commentators argue this reflects societal decline and the influence of online pornography, while victims describe lifelong trauma.
A judge's decision not to jail three teenage boys for the gang rape of two girls because he wanted to avoid 'criminalising' them shows just how far British society has sunk, Sarah Vine has argued.
Last week it emerged that three boys, two aged 14 and one 13 at the time of the attacks, had been spared prison by Judge Nicholas Rowland, who cited their age, their good behaviour during the trial, their low intelligence and one boy's ADHD diagnosis to justify his decision. The boys had lured two teenage girls to meet them, then raped them and filmed the attacks on their phones, with a knife used during the second assault.
The sentences, handed down at Southampton Crown Court, triggered a public backlash and a referral by the Attorney General to the Court of Appeal over concerns they were 'unduly lenient'. Podcast All episodes Play on Apple Spotify A judge's decision not to jail three teenage boys for the gang rape of two girls because he wanted to avoid 'criminalising' them shows how far society has sunk, Sarah Vine has argued Speaking to her co-host Peter Hitchens on the Daily Mail's Alas Vine & Hitchens podcast, Vine described the sentence as 'extraordinary' and said the boys' actions were yet more evidence of the corrosive effects of online porn.
'The judge seems to have prioritised the boys' wellbeing over the wellbeing of the victims, who are very young too', the columnist said. 'They will have to deal with not only the act itself, but also the fact that it has been widely shared and therefore, they have been very roundly humiliated and abused. This is a thing that will follow them around for the rest of their lives.
Read More Girl, 15, raped by traveller boys says 'I can always feel their hands on me' as they are spared jail 'I think a lot of society's problems stem from the unfettered access we allow children to very violent online porn. If you drill into this case and you look at the children's behaviour, you can see the behaviours and norms that exist in the world of online pornography.
'I think if you are old enough to rape someone, you are old enough to go to jail for it and I hope, when they review this case, that they do all get custodial sentences. 'This is absolutely an example of how things are just completely collapsing, not only in our justice system but in our society.
' In an interview with BBC Newsnight, one of the victims, now 15, said she can 'always feel their hands' on her and 'can't sleep at night'. Her parents are now calling for the attackers to be jailed, with her father saying the case will have a 'lifelong impact' on his daughter and the family and amounts to 'a life sentence for her'. Hitchens broadly agreed with Vine, describing Britain's criminal justice system as 'street theatre'.
Alas Vine & Hitchens: What's the big idea? Get the Mail's new politics podcast, hosted by columnists Sarah Vine and Peter Hitchens, wherever you listen to podcasts now. He said: 'This is one of those flashes of lightning where the actual nature of the system is revealed.
'The justice system doesn't really affect an awful lot of criminals at all, most are never detected, never prosecuted and never punished. 'The Roy Jenkins revolution of the 1960s replaced what used to be called the due punishment of responsible persons… with a social work approach where crime is the result of an unfortunate upbringing, bad housing conditions and abuse. There's always an excuse for it.
'Rape is a crime that the left quite rightly reviles as much as the right… there are many other cases of hideous crimes, where defenceless people have been treated horribly by criminals, where those criminals have been let off in a similar way. 'It's not just this - as I said, this is a flash of lightning over the landscape that for a second, allows you to see how horrible the system is.
'If political conservatism had any sense, it would have tackled this years ago. ' To hear Vine and Hitchens arguments in full, search for Alas Vine & Hitchens now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Judge Teenage Rapists Gang Rape Southampton Crown Court Lenient Sentencing
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