cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/26913983

Comparisons were quickly made with - and expectations tied to - last year’s Pelicot mass rape trial in southern France and the massive global attention it garnered.

Instead, the trial of France’s most prolific known paedophile, Joel Le Scouarnec - a retired surgeon who has admitted in court to raping or sexually assaulting 299 people, almost all of them children - is coming to an end this Wednesday amid widespread frustration.

“I’m exhausted. I’m angry. Right now, I don’t have much hope. Society seems totally indifferent. It’s frightening to think [the rapes] could happen again,” one of Le Scouarnec’s victims, Manon Lemoine, 36, told the BBC.

  • lud@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    Keep in mind that giving out the highest possible sentences to crimes that could be worse (like murder) essentially gives someone that’s committing the lesser crime (rape in this case) free range to commit any worse crimes because the sentence can’t be worse anyway.

    If someone is fucked up enough to rape someone, chances are that they will see it as a positive that they can kill the victim and leave behind no living witnesses and without risking a worse punishment.

    Even if rapists won’t kill anyone, they might still be less likely to restrain themselves to cause additional harm to the victim.