Judge calls children "the aggressors" in sexual abuse case with adult man

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canad ... CEH-_8sV54

A US judge has found that two girls, aged 13 and 14, were partly to blame in a sex abuse case involving a 67-year-old man - and reduced his sentence.

[Yukaphile]

I'd say the parents have one hell of a lawsuit if they can get hold of the ACLU or other such human rights organizations.

[Madner Kami]

A̶)̶ ̶T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶j̶u̶d̶g̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶d̶i̶o̶t̶.̶
B) The parents of the kids in question should be put under investigation for child neglect.

*I changed my mind on A, as a different article paints a different picture of the case.

[LittleRaven]

Judges are occasionally idiots, but it's more rare than people generally assume.

The judge said the girls went to Soden's house voluntarily and had taken money for sexual favours.

"They were certainly selling things monetarily that it's against the law for even an adult to sell."

I realize we continue to infantilize our society, but at 13 you should know better than to be selling your body to old men. That doesn't mean he shouldn't go to jail, and he IS going to jail, but I can see it being used as a sentencing factor. Especially since we don't know how many marbles the old man has left. Some men reach 67 and are still perfectly sharp - some are considerably less competent than most 13 year olds.

[LittleRaven]

Ok, I found a better article.

Oh man. This is SO MUCH MORE screwed up than Fuzzy's article implied. And I don't mean the judge - I mean, maybe he's messed up too, but I haven't managed to find his actual written opinion yet. This whole scenario is a nightmare though.

In Soden’s case, the judge cited as reasons evidence that the 13-year-old and 14-year-old had voluntarily gone to Soden’s house and had taken money for sexual favors.

Soden’s lawyer, Clinton Lee, had requested the lower sentence, saying that giving Soden the prison time called for in the guidelines was essentially a death sentence.

The defense attorney also noted that the girls allegedly tried to have someone rob Soden and that their older sister had been the one who arranged for them to meet Soden.

Soden knew the girl’s mother and paid her for chores around his house, according to statements at the sentencing hearing. Through that connection, he knew the woman’s older daughter whom he described as the “pimp” for her younger sisters.

The judge took those things into consideration in the sentencing and cited other factors, including Soden’s age, poor physical health and low intellectual functioning.

Good luck finding good guys here. The older sister is pimping out her siblings with the mother's knowledge, while they're trying to hire people to rob a guy who's suffering from senility and paying teens for sex. And nobody wanted to show up in court for any of this. (big surprise there!)

Yeesh.

[Madner Kami]

Yeah, the link Fuzzy supplied implied that there was quite a thing going on with those teenagers, even though it didn't give any details. You don't just go to an old man as a 13 year old girl and then get payment in exchange for intercourse, when there's nothing deeply wrong with you. It doesn't excuse the actions of the old man, assuming he has all his mental faculties intact, but it certainly shows that there's no regular victim in this particular crime, but that the more important crime scene is in the home of the children in question.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

That doesn't mean he shouldn't go to jail, and he IS going to jail, but I can see it being used as a sentencing factor.

Why?!

[Madner Kami]

That doesn't mean he shouldn't go to jail, and he IS going to jail, but I can see it being used as a sentencing factor.

Why?!

Why not? Let me guess, those sweet innocent 13 year olds, their pimping older sister and their clearly failing parents are only the victims, right? They did nothing wrong by making themselves readily available to a person who lacks control over his basic sexual urges.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

That doesn't mean he shouldn't go to jail, and he IS going to jail, but I can see it being used as a sentencing factor.

Why?!

Why not? Let me guess, those sweet innocent 13 year olds, their pimping older sister and their clearly failing parents are only the victims, right? They did nothing wrong by making themselves readily available to a person who lacks control over his basic sexual urges.

How does the behavior of 13 year olds relate to the sentencing of a man who fucks 13 year olds? Seriously, the whole "they were no angels" thing is...kinda irrelevant, because we aren't talking about the punishment of the children, but the punishment of the kid-diddler. The child fucker. You don't need to be pure as the driven snow to receive justice, and no amount of moral failings on the part of the UNDERAGED GIRLS makes what this man did any less illegal or immoral. Comprende?

I swear, rape is the only crime where the temptation to commit it is viewed as a mitigating circumstance.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

If this was a spelling bee, I might ask the judges to use aggressor in a sentence.