# Have rape victims the moral or ethical obligation to prosecute their rapists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 21, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258 "2010-05-21T14:46:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/21 "2010-05-22T21:49:56Z")
Of course a victim of rape should report it. Rapists are scum. Even if the authorities don’t pursue the case, it’s then still there on file. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/22 "2010-05-22T23:31:39Z")
I’d just like to point out that forgiving the rapist and sending him to prison aren’t mutually exclusive. Just because you’re not out for revenge, doesn’t mean that you don’t want to protect society, or to try to rehabilitate the perpetrator, or to deter other potential rapists. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/23 "2010-05-23T01:14:24Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The words of Lord Jesus: > > The rape victim will continue to suffer until she forgives him, because unforgivness is a barrier to healing, forgiveness is something that the victim can do independantly of the rapist or the state, healing is totally in her hands. > Let him without sin cast the first stone. So there should be no secular justice system at all? It would result in anarchy and chaos which is something I doubt God would want. Paul recognized the necessity of supporting the government and justice system in order to maintain order. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/24 "2010-05-23T03:31:05Z")
**kanicbird** – if a man murders a family member, does that mean I should forgive him, and NOT report said man to the police? Because that’s pretty much the same thing. One can forgive, and yet still want to reassure that others are safe from harm. It’s not about “casting stones.” It’s about realizing that we living in a society of laws. And remember, “render unto Caesar?” :rolleyes: Should one NOT report a child molestor, even knowing that that molestor is likely to harm others? ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/25 "2010-05-28T02:18:31Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > IMHO the victim needs to forgive totally, and not prosecute, which is state sponsored revenge. Forgiving them totally will either help reform them or make their present path much much worse, revenge will help them continue in evil, even through this may or may not be evil committed in jail. > > Forgiving them will take the healing out of the hands of the state and their process, and place it in the victim’s. Disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/26 "2010-05-28T02:39:55Z")
**kanicbird** , Forgiveness is not about what happens to the perpetrator, it’s about what the victim does. It isn’t about letting him off the hook, it’s about her not holding that evil against him. She can still forgive and love him the way Christ would want her to, even as he’s being prosecuted for the crime he has committed. Justice is part of God’s plan, too. It just isn’t for her to take revenge. But that absolutely does not preclude the legal system doing it’s job. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258/27 "2010-05-29T11:51:55Z")
Kanicbird, promoting the ideas you do seems about as viscous as one could possibly be in an online forum. Is there nothing too fiendish for this lord to concoct? No message too cruel to spread? You’re making my head spin! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-rape-victims-the-moral-or-ethical-obligation-to-prosecute-their-rapists/540258.md?page=1)