“…we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Martin Luther King Jr.
I love that Dr. King quote. The passion it evokes transcends his powerful yet peaceful message and becomes a declaration that the only acceptable response to harm intentionally inflicted upon a person is swift justice. Today we see justice, dammed up far too long, rolls down like a deluge in the sentencing of four men convicted of raping and murdering a young woman last December. NPR blogger, Mark Memmott, reports Judge Yogesh Khanna said, “[these] men don’t deserve the protective arm of the community.” This seems like a no brainer to many of us. Frankly I think wastes of human flesh that violate a woman should be immediately castrated, but I suppose the fact that these violators were convicted and sentenced to death for their crime within a year will have to suffice.
How long they remain on death row, eating, sleeping, watching TV is another matter.
The fact that this punishment is intended to serve as a warning to any would be rapists bears some scrutiny. As deterrents go, the death penalty is highly controversial. However, this post is NOT about the pros and cons of capital punishment. Instead it is about whether or not punishment for perpetrators of violence against women will continue to be inconsistent and slow moving. Reports of other cases, and this trial itself, are very telling about the attitude that what a woman is wearing, her so called respectability, or that she dare to be so bold as to walk in public unchaperoned somehow makes her responsible for being raped. This makes my blood boil.
Recently in Texas, a man accused of murdering a prostitute in 2009 was acquitted. FOUR YEARS it took for this to come to trial. Reports of the details of the case state that the retrieval of stolen goods, not murder, was the intent. A 23-year-old woman was shot with an assault rifle over $150. Surely the spirit of the law was not to allow this man to murder this woman for taking his money without performing a sex act with him first.
In court, the murderer remarked, “I sincerely regret the loss of the life of Ms. Frago. I’ve been in a mental prison the past four years of my life. I have nightmares. If I see guns on TV where people are getting killed, I change the channel.”
My question is this, who paid for him to watch TV for four years?
Women, be aware of your surroundings. Be aware that the law does not prevent an attacker from harassing us, assaulting us, violating us, or murdering us. The legal system may not even result in conviction or punishment for the scumbags who commit these offenses. No matter what knuckle dragging, mouth breathing troglodytes grunt and spew, no woman, even a prostitute, is asking to be violently assaulted or murdered. A system is only as effective as the people who participate in it. Violence against women is not a game. Don’t let the scumbags game the system. Defend yourself against rape and aggression. Find out about a system to help you here: http://www.rad-systems.com/
THE NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE AT 1-800-656-4673
THE NATIONAL TEEN DATING ABUSE HOTLINE AT 1-866-331-9474
Related Posts:
https://honiebriggs.com/2013/03/18/because-i-find-it-questionable/
https://honiebriggs.com/2013/06/20/shockingly-solvable/
http://oliotalk.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/and-they-lived-fearlessly-ever-after/
http://oliotalk.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/now-showing-rape-circus-across-india/
Honie Briggs 
I’m going cup half full on this one. In a country where women have traditionally been chattels, the conviction of these rapists/murderers is a milestone in the emancipation of Indian women. It may only be the first milestone, but it does send a powerful message to the millions of traditional, poorly educated men in India. It also sends a powerful message to the traditional, poorly educated women of India. To them it says ‘You /do/ have value. Change is possible’.
The only sour point for me is the whole capital punishment thing. As a deterrent I don’t believe it works. Surgical castration however is a visceral, visual punishment that /might/ make any man think twice about the long term safety of his dick, and that might save a woman from being raped. Sometimes living is harder than dying.
Agreed. Cup half full it is. And yes, what else could be such an effective deterrent as having to consider the long term safety of one’s dick? Well said.
🙂
There is a reason I prefer to call it a legal system rather than a justice system.
…by any other name would smell as disgusting. More and more I believe justice is not so much blind as she is confused.
You and I are of the same mind Honie. The inconsistency of justice in this regard is difficult.
Yes, yes it is difficult. Difficult to accept, difficult to comprehend, difficult to change.
Thanks for taking a stand and sharing it with us.
Our local police department offers RAD training. I attended my first class this week. It is empowering to know for certain I have the skills to protect myself against an attacker.
That is, as long as he doesn’t have an AK-47.