This weeks @bloghomework by @missy @lyxzen and @rambo is "If you ruled the world, what are the first 3 laws would you pass?"
At first I thought I had nothing for this topic, but then they came to me. All 3 laws came to mind reading and discussing horrendous situations surrounding rape. The Standford rape case has been a major topic of discussion between my girlfriend and I, as well as myself and some other friends.
1. My first law would be this (updated after some very good points from @sosbanfach ):
If a person is convicted of rape, the victim determines prison term. By that I mean the person stays in jail until the victim recovers/is able to move on. The victim of rape lives with that incident for the rest of their life. Until that person can move on, forgive the attacker, etc. that attacker shouldn't be able to either and rots in jail. If the victim can't live a "normal" life due to the attack then why should the perp? If a victim of rape/sexual assault commits suicide well tough luck, the perp gets jail for life. This would avoid inexcusable severe under punishment such as what has happened in the Stanford rape case.
2. This one ties in with no. 1
If a the victim of a rape commits suicide, the rapist is then tried for murder. The actions of the rapist directly lead to the death of the victim, therefore they should be held accountable for their role in that person's death. This country seriously need to treat rape and sexual assault like the disgusting unforgivable unjustifiable crime that it is, and treat it with the seriousness that it deserves.
3. I struggled coming up with a 3rd. But then it came to me....
Any official, faculty, or police officer involved in the cover up of a rape or sexual assault shall be tried as an accomplice to the crime. This came to mind with the Baylor scandal having recently been exposed as well as my conversations with my girlfriend about the Stanford rape case. She told me while in college at St. Mary's (the all girl's sister school of Notre Dame) she had a friend who was raped by a Notre Dame football player. She reported the rape and the school backed the rapist, covered it up, and completely destroyed the girl who was raped. She ended up committing suicide shortly after while the football player stayed on the team, played the season, and ended up in the NFL (I can't remember his name, or she didn't mention it). So under my rule all the school officials and police who learn of rapes and sexual assaults and assist in covering it up or take no action become accomplices to the crime and can and will be tried as such upon being discovered. Several staff at Baylor actively helped cover up multiple sexual assaults even going so far as to threaten students who would attempt to report them.
Well this blog is a bummer of a post but I needed to get this out. Rape and sexual assault shouldn't be marginalized and it is sad that it is in our society. I thought about having a law banning "victim movies" (see this blog post if you aren't sure what I mean) but that would be censorship and whatnot so idk about that lol. If this post was too serious for you and you are now majorly bummed out I suggest watch any of the following movies:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Saving Silverman
Nacho Libre
Superbad
Trading Places
Young Frankenstein
Until next time.
