Gisèle Pelicot thanks backers after her ex-husband and his co-defendants are convicted in rape trial
apnews.com
Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and all but one of his co-defendants were convicted of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly a decade.

Summary

A French court sentenced Dominique Pelicot, 72, to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping his ex-wife, Gisele Pelicot, and arranging for other men to rape her while unconscious over nearly a decade.

Of the 51 co-defendants, all were found guilty, with sentences ranging from less than 10 years to 20.

The trial, marked by shocking evidence, spurred national debate on rape culture and consent laws.

Gisèle’s courage in waiving anonymity has galvanized feminist movements, with campaigners calling her a national hero for sparking societal and legal reflection on sexual violence.

  • rbn@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    511·
    10 days ago

    In Germany at least, jail time doesn’t scale linearly with the count of crimes or victims. Jail time isn’t primarily meant as revenge or punishment, but more as the time required to revisit the mistakes you did and to make you again a functional member of society.

    It won’t necessarily make a difference if you murder one person or 10 or 100. Typically, the sentence will be 15 years. If the judge thinks you’re too dangerous to ever be released again they can order you to stay in prison after the 15 years end (“Sicherheitsverwahrung”) but also this decision will be revisited at some point.

    • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
      261·
      10 days ago

      Jail time isn’t primarily meant as revenge or punishment, but more as the time required to revisit the mistakes you did and to make you again a functional member of society.

      Dear Americans;

      This is what happens when your prisons don’t rely on private profit motives to operate.

      Signed: The civilised world.

        • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
          111·
          10 days ago

          It’s crazy to me that they’ve set up a system that essentially requires recidivism in order to keep meat coming through the doors to function, and yet somehow think that that’s normal.

          • StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.worldEnglish
            61·
            10 days ago

            There’s this common myth that some people are ‘just born bad’. I think that might be true for some, but the majority of crime is due to circumstances. Americans as a whole just cannot seem to accept that, plus the lot of them seem to have massive schadenfreude boners over “law and order”.

            • dalekcaan@lemm.eeEnglish
              5·
              10 days ago

              But if they weren’t born bad, I’d have to contend with the fact that I’m not naturally morally superior to them!

      • flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        25·
        10 days ago

        Normally I’m 100% for this, it’s just that this particular case seems so evil and egregious…

        • rbn@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          31·
          10 days ago

          Well, I guess it depends on what you want to achieve.

          If just you let a criminal rot in jail forever without any perspective, that’s just an inhumane and expensive form of death sentence. If you desire revenge and torture that’s your way to go.

          On the other hand, I think 15 years in prison is a pretty long time to realize what you have done, to regret it and possibly change for the better. In a scenario without perspective you as a prisoner feel completely detached from society and instead of maybe having an epiphany one day, you’ll rather feel more and more hatred.

          Sure, if you’re still as bad of a person at the end of your sentence, then you can’t be released in order to protect society from you.

          If I were a victim, I’d probably feel better knowing that my offender is released from prison, feels guilty and deeply regrets the crime. At least in comparison to someone that is proud of what happened, full of hate and is just waiting for a chance to get at me again.

          • flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            2·
            10 days ago

            I was thinking of that guy who raped her multiple times and had HIV. I really need that guy to have more than “some time to think about what you’ve done” because he’d probably jerk off to it. :(

            • rbn@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              4·
              10 days ago

              Yeah, I don’t say I don’t understand your feelings. People seeking revenge is a natural impulse. It’s just not what the German system aims for.

    • DurbanPoison@feddit.nlEnglish
      12·
      10 days ago

      Are German prisons as scary as US (from what I’ve seen on TV) prisons or South African Prisons?

      I’d rather die than spend two seconds in Pollsmoor prison.

      • homoludens@feddit.orgEnglish
        10·
        10 days ago

        Are German prisons as scary as US (from what I’ve seen on TV) prisons or South African Prisons?

        Nope, not even close from what I hear about the US prison system. It still sucks obviously and we just had a scandal in Augsburg where inmates have been tortured (beatings, not enough water provided, forced to stay naked, sleep on the floor etc).

      • rbn@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        5·
        10 days ago

        No, I think there are some that are comparable to mid-class hotels and some that are a lower standard. But in general none should be as bad that you’d rather die if you didn’t want to die before your imprisonment.

        • Sternout@feddit.orgEnglish
          8·
          10 days ago

          Yes and rightfully so. The punishment is taking away the freedom to move and not torture or slavery as it can be in the US.