Again: If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride; unicorns would fart rainbows; and rape wouldn’t exist.
Wishes aren’t horses. The victim ended up in jail instead of hospital; she was incarcerated with her own rapist; she was beaten by at least one guard. Should she have been waterboarded also? How about if she were white?
You Americans see the injustice when this sort of crap occurs in countries like Saudi or Pakistan. Why can’t you see it when it happens in your own country?
TL;DR:
I support the death penalty* in principle* but not in America where it surely leads to the deaths of innocents, usually black.
I support the notion of material witness in principle but not in Texas: OP demonstrates that that state lacks the decency and humanity to implement it in a civilized fashion.
There are really two issues here. First is the impact of the specific treatment meted out to this particular unfortunate victim. The second is the impact of compelled testimony of witnesses generally.
For the first point, there is no doubt - abuse of the sort experienced in this story is undoubtedly bad for the system of justice, as well as for the victim. I don’t think anyone denies that, but you guys can continue beating on that straw-man if it pleases you.
For the second point - it’s a reasonable concern to raise. Compelled testimony certainly has costs that have to be weighed in the mix, and one of those costs is that it may have a tendency to discourage witnesses from coming forward in the first place.
Though if you think about it, you will realize that this is not a very significant or weighty concern: most witnesses come forward in the expectation that they may be testifying in court. It would be a small minority of witnesses who are overly concerned that they may be deprived of the choice as to whether to testify or not.
Second, I have no problem with your stated position. Though I don’t pretend to know enough about Texas to claim that one incident = the whole system of justice there is irredeemably rotten.
Not worth the trouble for me to look it up for you. Maybe you are new here?
I was raked over the coals for thinking I had any right to have any input in my post about the appropriate punishment of not only my raped sister but the murder of my daughter.
Over the years here, I have repeatedly been told & seen other people told that victims are too close to the event to have the right to advocate for an punishment, it should be done by those can be … dispassionate or something.
As to those particular persons and the mistake/sloppy work habits, etc., Plus some DA’s in general, work in various cases I knew quite a bit about to be almost/actually criminal IMO.
You are free to have your own opinion of course and now that I see this, it reminds me of things and opinions that predominate here and it is better to never let them out.
Glad to be of service as an example for what not to do. Have a great day.
Well at least we as a society have evolved from the days of having the rape victim raped by the entire village, including women and children and donkeys and pigs, before letting her unleash her vile slander on the poor helpless man she is accusing of raping her.
Was it a money issue that caused the DA to decide prison was the only option, as opposed to a hotel room guarded by cops around the clock? Prison is already paid for, after all.
Does that sort of arrangement even exist? I can’t imagine that a hotel would be equipped to deal with someone who was being confined in a room against their will.
Yeah, unsurprisingly this has not convinced me of your implausible assertion that most of the generally thoughtful and respectful people on this board think that victims and those close to victims should have “no value or right to comment”.
It seems more plausible that people may have said that someone who is indiscrimately angry at everyone maybe shouldn’t be the sole arbiter of policy or punishment.
