• @iheartneopets@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1717 days ago

      Hey all, anyone who cares about/is interested in knowing more about the crime committed by the rapist Brock Allen Turner should read Know My Name, written by the woman who was actually assaulted, Chanel Miller.

      I highly recommend listening to the audio book, as she reads it herself and has a powerful voice.

    • spirinolas
      link
      fedilink
      English
      516 days ago

      Yes, the rapist Brock Allen Turner is also the first thing that crossed my mind. How he got away after raping that girl and now is even trying to change his name.

  • @DV8@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    7117 days ago

    Oh wow, something from Belgium showed up here. Obviously most reactions are the same here. But I would urge everyone to read more details about this. As there much more uncomfortable nuance here. One of those being that the dude is also in agreement he did something wrong. He also gave a relatively accurate description of the events of that evening that got proven with phone records and CCTV at different locations. Making his account of what happened at the least somewhat reliable.

    Obviously the woman could not consent because she was drunk as fuck. And she’s allowed to get drunk as fuck without being taken advantage off. CCTV showed them kissing at the bar they met. Phone records show he tried to call her friend she was supposed to go home with. CCTV shows them going to that friend’s dorm and not getting in and waiting there for half an hour. Then they walk back to his place while kissing on the way there. The morning after his messages to her indicate he wants to continue seeing her. (https://m.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20250402_95297572?journeybuilder=nopaywall but it’s in Dutch)

    Again, she could not consent, and he as the least drunk of both of them bears the responsibility of this. I do think he should have had some form of punishment above of what he got and for the woman’s feeling of safety a restraining order like she asked. And something that would have made mandatory counselling and follow-up possible. Not to mention that although justice in Belgium isn’t supposed to be revenge, it should also cause some sort of satisfaction for the victim.

    This situation just shows that the definition of rape over the decades has become more complex and nuanced, but unfortunately the tools to deal with this have not. This dude definitely did something wrong, but he’s not just a vicious predator.

    • 2ugly2live
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3117 days ago

      If they were both drunk, could either of them consent?

      • @PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2617 days ago

        It really depends on how drunk you actually were at the time, and that’s what makes cases like this so difficult. Generally speaking, simply being drunk isn’t enough.

        Hell, even being blackout drunk isn’t enough. Because you can be blacked out without being passed out; Blackout drunk simply means your brain isn’t recording things to your memory, so you won’t remember it after you sober up. Contrary to popular belief, alcohol doesn’t make you forget existing memories. It just makes it so you don’t ever commit things to memory in the first place. That’s what happens when you’re blackout drunk.

        In order to be incapable of consenting, you need to be so drunk that you can’t comprehend what is happening. Because informed consent requires two things: Information anbout what is happening, and enthusiasm. You can have both, even while blackout drunk. Because you forgetting your enthusiasm the next morning doesn’t automatically make it rape. After all, you were informed and enthusiastic when it was happening, so you consented. If you were capable of understanding what was happening and were enthusiastic, it’s not legally considered rape.

        And that’s a surprisingly high threshold to beat. You usually need to prove to the courts that you were basically passed out (and therefore unable to be informed about what was happening) before they’ll consider it rape.

        Even if people would colloquially consider drunk sex rape, that’s not typically how the courts view it. And that’s a large part of why so many accused rapists get off without a guilty verdict; The victim basically has to prove that they were missing either information or enthusiasm to overcome the accused’s “they consented to it” defense. And if the victim was blacked out and doesn’t even remember the evening, that becomes extremely difficult to do without outside witnesses corroborating that the victim was passed out and/or combative.

        And hell, in cases like the Brock Turner one, even when the victim proves that she was passed out, the rapist can still get away with just a slap on the wrist.

        • @stringere@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          9
          edit-2
          17 days ago

          Brock Turner?

          You mean convicted rapist Brock Turner?

          I just want to make sure that’s the rapist Brock Turner you’re talking about and not some other Brock Turner.

          I only know of one Brock Turner, and he definitely raped a woman, but the judge let him off easy because he has affluenze.

          The judge decided that a punishment might jeopardize the rich kid’s future, and cited that he hadn’t been brought up to realize the consequences of his actions. To my naive understanding that seems like a really teachable moment.

          By the way, in case anyone wasn’t sure: Brock Turner, the convicted rapist, raped a woman and got away with it because his parents are rich.

          • Geetnerd
            link
            fedilink
            English
            316 days ago

            How dare you besmirch Brock Turner.

            The convicted rapist FORMERLY known as Brock Turner is now known as Allen Turner!

            Get it right!

            /SARCASM

            Fuck that guy. I hope it follows him the rest of his life.

        • Geetnerd
          link
          fedilink
          English
          416 days ago

          He can get away with it when he’s “Upstanding Citizen From An Impeccable Family, And This Would Ruin His Future.”

          In other words, a rich male white kid. Whose daddy plays golf with the attorneys, and judge.

          • @DV8@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            215 days ago

            Because of the fallout about this the entire ruling was made public. It’s clear that the wording used everywhere is rage bait. Again I think he should not have gotten the sentence suspended but it’s not like the judges said it got suspended because he’s such a bright boy…

          • Geetnerd
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -116 days ago

            So, if you and I hang out, get drunk, you pass out, and I’m all up in ya, it’s not rape?

            Cool. I"m going to a party next weekend. Want to go? What’s it going to be like? Drinking, fighting, crying, fucking. Who all’s going? Just me and you. Interested?

      • Geetnerd
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -116 days ago

        What does that matter if he was drunk to?

        Apparently not too drunk to undress her, and himself, then insert himself.

        This is rape.

        • @CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          315 days ago

          ??? She did consent, but while completely drunk. The argument being made is that she can’t consent while drunk, but he also consented while drunk. Did she rape him?

          • @ihatefascist@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            015 days ago

            This is neckbeard level of thinking and it’s gross, she couldn’t walk on her own and he brought her to his place and raped her, his level of drunkness was faaaar lower. Disgusting humans everyone that says tjis is ok to do. But that’s what you get when you were born with a small ugly dick, you need girls to be drunk to start sucking that tiny penis

      • @DV8@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -217 days ago

        There are different levels of being drunk. She was so drunk she blacked out and had trouble walking. He As drunk but can supply a recollection of what happened. There’s nuance like I said, but someone who can recollect events and relies on his rational actions where he called her friends can logically be considered to be more responsible for not taking into consideration she was too drunk to be able to consent.

        • @1847953620@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          817 days ago

          Alcohol impairment can be very messy. I know someone who had 1 and a half drinks, had no speech slurring or obvious signs of being black-out drunk, but did not remember a third of the night the next day because she’s a lightweight that’s drank a single-digit number of times in her life (she’d also eaten very little that day and had some recent sleep debt). I would not have guessed she was blackout drunk, she was just talking about her problems and was articulate the entire time I saw her. If I didn’t know she had been drinking, I can’t think of how I would’ve known short of some kind of specific motor function test that’s made to suss that out/harder than just sitting around, talking, and occasionally going to the restroom. She just looked a little tired. When we spoke later, she didn’t remember basically anything after a certain point (a couple of hours’ worth) and wondered if some vague flashes of memories had been dreams. It was rather surprising to me.

          • Geetnerd
            link
            fedilink
            English
            116 days ago

            That’s the difference between blackout, and passed out.

            People who are blackout drunk can be walking and talking, and not remember anything later.

            Passed out is unconscious.

    • keen
      link
      fedilink
      English
      8217 days ago

      Don’t worry, that’s not the real reason. The real reason is most likely that the perpetrators family is rich and the victim’s family isn’t.

      • @athairmor@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        3017 days ago

        Latest case of affluenza. He needs the Brock Turner treatment. You remember the rapist Brock Turner, right?

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1217 days ago

        I actually spend quite a lot of time in Leuven these days, and looking at some of those houses and the general state of Belgium today … I can’t say that’s not likely to be true.

        It’s just that the place kinda struck me as safe. I guess it’s not.

        • @azertyfun@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          417 days ago

          Belgium has some of (if not the) lowest income inequality in the OECD due to our very harsh income tax (highest median tax wedge of the OECD, yes even including the nordics). With quite a few asterisks attached to that statement of course because our fiscal system is a complete mess so if you’re special kinds of well off (e.g. you make your income on capital gains) you’ll be taxed very little.
          How low income inequality doesn’t correlate to very high standards of living like it does in the Nordics… Well I’ll leave it to historians and economists to hash it out. The answer you get will almost certainly reflect that person’s personal politics. Harsh industrial decline is worth mentioning though.

          Wallonia is measurably poorer than Flanders, but both regions are developed western economies. The US has a murder rate 535 % of Belgium’s, and I don’t see anyone warning students away from studying there (or well, not until the past few months).
          That judge should be investigated and the prosecutor should definitely appeal, and besides there is a lot of work to do safety-wise, especially for women to be able to feel safe, but that’s hardly a problem specific to Leuven or Belgium.

        • @alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -417 days ago

          It is quite safe. What I heard about this case is that the victim was happy with the outcome.

          They met at a party, she was drunk. He said he asked consent, she said he raped her. There was no evidence or allegation of force, just that she couldn’t have consented in her drunken state.

          He had a clean record.

          He got convicted and ordered to pay €3500 and if he commits another crime, then this one will count too.

          She was satisfied with the outcome. She especially wanted recognition that it was rape.

          I think this is a good outcome. If he ever rapes someone again, he’ll be a serial rapist and get the book thrown at him.

          And on the flipside, I find it difficult to throw the book at people under the circumstances in these kind of cases.

            • @curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              6
              edit-2
              17 days ago

              There are a few other articles it seems - this one has:

              While the victim has found some solace in the court’s recognition of her assault, she is disappointed that her attacker faces no real consequences.

              Which says she was not happy with the outcome, only that the rape was recognized.

              Per this article:

              Leuven University Hospital has suspended a medical student that was convicted of raping another student but was not sentenced for his crime.

              The school has at least ensured there were some measure of consequences. Also:

              Chief physician Gert Van Assche said that "First and foremost our thoughts go out to the victim. Together with KU Leuven we will look at the court’s ruling and examine how we will go on from there. In the meantime, as a precautionary measure the doctor concerned has been suspended from duties at the hospital”.

              The only other article was paywalled and seemed to have no additional information anyway.

              Edit: I think its worth noting, though it can be seen in the link, he was studying gynecology.

            • anon6789
              link
              fedilink
              English
              217 days ago

              Also how many people will potentially suffer before another one comes forward and gets taken seriously? 🤨

              Nevertheless, the judge refrained from passing sentence. “It is undeniable that he passed the line of what is permissible. The man showed a lack of respect for the victim’s physical, psychological and sexual boundaries.

              I don’t know how they do it over there, but where I’m from, those are 3 things someone should probably respect if they’re going to be placed in a position requiring great trust like a doctor…

          • @ihatefascist@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            115 days ago

            How can she be happy with the outcome when she asked for a restraining order??? And that did not happen

      • @DV8@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        617 days ago

        Regardless of why he got suspension of penalty, if you read anything about the case it wasn’t because he or his parents are rich. Personally I think there’s more nuance than the clickbait headlines. I think he should not have gotten the penalty suspended but I can understand why that happened. The shortened motivation for this does read like ragebait ofcourse. His future should not have been as important as his cooperation, verifiable truthfulness and the fact he did abuse the state of someone who could not consent. Where that balance ends for punishment ends I find hard to say. But to reduce it to that he’s rich is just populist nonsense.

      • @WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        216 days ago

        He probably did something similar in his past. Maybe raped a drunk girl at a party or similar while in undergrad. Never got caught for it, and never went on to do it again. So he figured if he can learn his lesson and not repeat the crime, why not this kid? Justice to the victims isn’t even considered.

        • Geetnerd
          link
          fedilink
          English
          116 days ago

          Hey, Schmababaugh got away with it…

          Boys will boys, and they like beer…

          /s

  • @Jax@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    5416 days ago

    " By finding him guilty but not punishing him, he will be made to feel guilty and the chance of him reoffending will be prevented, without socially impairing the man "

    So that judge is either a rapist or an idiot.

    • Geetnerd
      link
      fedilink
      English
      316 days ago

      “I don’t want to impose a BLACK stain on this young man’s reputation…”

    • Geetnerd
      link
      fedilink
      English
      216 days ago

      No, he’s low key racist, and in the Good Ol’ Boy club, and probably was bribed.

  • @chrischryse@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    3516 days ago

    Ok I can understand if he was caught with pot, drug paraphernalia, or drunk driving (without injuring someone).

    But raping someone? Idc if you’re talented or have a bright future you should have it on your record or face a punishment like probation

    • wolfkin
      link
      fedilink
      015 days ago

      @chrischryse @dwazou there are certainly better ways of getting more doctors than giving medical students a pass on rape.

      But as we all know, this is just Brock Turner all over again. At best this is a judge who saw something in a kid because of how he looked, something he wouldn’t see in this kid if he looked different. Whether that’s because they look the same or because the kid looks like his mental image of what a doctor should be.

  • @fucktrump@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    3117 days ago

    He was training to be a gynecologist, so definitely would rape again. Don’t wish for him to have another victim but sounds like a second offense gets him a sentence for the first one as well.

    • @jsomae@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      316 days ago

      His training to be a gynecologist is irrelevant. Please do not propagate the myth that men go into gynecology to take advantage of women. If he’s a rapist, that’s independent.

  • @explodicle@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    2316 days ago

    The man hasn’t been named by Belgian media. 😠

    Internet detectives, hear my call! Find the name of this rapist so that we may plaster it everywhere like the rapist Brock Turner!

  • @Kbibble@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    2215 days ago

    This article feels super rage bait-y to be honest. Like my first reaction at the title is of course, being like “thats fucked up” but as im reading it, it feels like this article was written in a manipulative way. There’s no sources at all, can’t find any using English google, decided to literally figure out how to search Dutch google in Dutch just to find something more reputable and there’s only this one site, which has 2 articles, the only 2 links in either is one article pointing to the other, and another link to what is clearly (from the add/article layout) a Belgium tabloid of some kind.

    Like nothing about the people involved or the situation, but this website is some shit, and so is the other one covering this. They may be on the right side of this story but this website itself feels incredibly un-credible, and I wouldn’t think to assume Belgium has some sort of news media problem where like, the gossip tabloids are the last bastions fighting for bodily autonomy and consent, where it would make sense that there is no other source.

    • @wtckt@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      815 days ago

      Thanks. That’s the kind of comments Reddit was great for a long time ago. Now it’s just immediate jump to outrage without anyone reading the article or doing any research when in doubt. And you even posted your conclusion. That’s just very very helpful

  • @kiagam@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    2017 days ago

    And when I say I don’t trust judges and that the justice system of most places is broken for giving a single person the final decision power, based on whatever they think is right, people say I’m trolling.

    Judges pull decisions out of their ass to fulfill whatever interest they have. Or sometimes just because they are stupid.

    Good judges are super rare.

    • @stormeuh@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      716 days ago

      Yeah in this case I think it’s more a case of “hey this guy looks kind of like my son”. In this case I think it led to a miscarriage of justice, but I think in other cases that kind of thinking could protect against excessively harsh punishments. In the end I think it comes down to inequality. Bigger inequality shrinks the pool of people judges can intuitively relate to, which in turn makes judgements more unequal.

    • @Adiemus@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      015 days ago

      You’re absolutely right unfortunately. I had to witness myself. That day, I lost my believe in our justice system (that was in Germany).

      • @kiagam@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        115 days ago

        Same here, judge didn’t know the law and denied my request, where another government body (that deals with that type of thing exclusively) already said I was right. Brazil

    • slingstone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1516 days ago

      What’s the guys name? You’re right that we need to treat him like that other rapist, Brock Allen Turner.

        • slingstone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          316 days ago

          There’s just the one Brock Allen Turner, rapist, of which I’m aware. This other guy, though, needs to be made as famous as Brock.

      • @DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        14 days ago

        It was posted here by someone but it got removed. I guess we reddit now

        Oh well, wonder where I can search to what a promising career looks like to a rapist

      • @MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        315 days ago

        I don’t think it matters where this happened. IMO, “what the fuck is this” is the appropriate reaction to giving no consequences for rape. This would also apply to a litany of other offenses, but in this case rape.

        I also think rape is one of the worst things anyone could do to another, right up there with slavery, torture, and other, similar things. I would consider murder to be less offensive, since at least then the person doesn’t have to work through the trauma after. It’s a mercy. Still unacceptable in a civilized society, but anything you have to live the rest of your life dealing with, is worse IMO.

        A fate worse than death. In this case, getting SA’d, and having your attacker convicted and let go because of bullshit like this. Idk about you all, but that would fuck me right up.

  • @SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    13
    edit-2
    15 days ago

    In Belgium a couple of years ago a brown student died during a hazing at a fraternity. Every one involved , all white and sons of doctors, lawyers and judges, basically came away scott free. They were all sentenced to community service and weren’t found guilty for criminal negligence.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sanda_Dia

    Belgium has a elitism problem. Bet if this rapist was a brown medical student or a street sweeper or something he would’ve gotten jail time.