Tight pants are not rape proof!

Started by DarklingAlice, May 02, 2010, 12:35:42 PM

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DarklingAlice

Quote''I'm suggesting it's difficult for skinny jeans to be taken off by someone else unless the wearer's assisting, collaborating, consenting,'' Mr Hogan said.
This has to be one of the worst defences against a rape charge that I have ever heard. So why is it working? >_<

Full story here.
For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong.


OldSchoolGamer

Nice to see that the American legal system has no monopoly on asshattery...

Trieste

So now instead of blaming it on short skirts, it's skinny jeans.

Despicable.

TheLovelyMaid

If a woman can take off her skinny jeans by herself every night, it's not hard for anyone else to.

Why does the opposite make sense to this jury?

Sheesh.

The Golden Touch

I disagree.  Men seem to have a natural affinity for pulling off pants, tight or not.  -huffs-  People are getting dumb.  The gene pool is dwindling!

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Trieste

Were I the defendant, I would be highly tempted to turn to a jury member wearing tight pants and remove those pants forcibly. "Clearly you were helping me, RIGHT?!!?"

The Golden Touch

I think they honestly could have brought in two people to demonstrate the ability/or not to remove the skinny jeans.  ^ ^

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Pumpkin Seeds

They're hard enough to get on, don't see why there would be a problem getting them off!

Cherri Tart

kind of like the whole 'well, she was wearing a short skirt, she was asking for it' line.  completely and utterly bullshit.
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Saerrael

This is actually used in a court of law?
...are they nuts?
They can be put on, with a bit of effort. And, yes, they can be taken off as well.
Even without consent of the wearer.

..this is just ridiculous, in my opinion >.>

cere

I'm embarrassed to say that this is my state.

Apologies to all!

:-[ :-[



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Trieste

Make sure you don't wear skinny jeans. -_-

cere

Quote from: Trieste on May 02, 2010, 11:14:47 PM
Make sure you don't wear skinny jeans. -_-

Why?

We get shafted by politicians and the judicial system every day...what good will wearing or not wearing skinnies make? Everyone else can get in line.

8-)



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DarklingAlice

I think what disturbs me most is that this is not a unique incident. According to the article this has happened at least twice before, once resulting in a aquittal.
For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong.


desert ashes

This is just nuts!

As I'm not overtly familiar with the Australian legal system, do defense cases not have to have their defense "approved," so to speak?  It's just outrageous that (a) this defense is even being considered, but also that (b) it's being allowed in the courtroom.

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cere

I'm no lawyer...thankfully...so I can only say that precedent is what magistrates and judges seek. If a precedent exists then they look for case comparison. If that matches the circumstances then that ruling will be used unless a counter argument is presented and proven.

All in all, tight pants being a defence argument using a precedent would stand up unless proven otherwise.  That should be simple to do one would think? Bare Bear in mind (sorry but tight pants created an image!) that all legal systems are created by lawyers and that just about says it all.

The system has holes that lawyers can drive their BMWs through.
:-(



** Light is life.  Dark is divine!  **
  ~Ons and Offs of import~        ~Away times~

"The secret to living a good life is honesty and fair play.  If you can fake these, you've got it made!"  Groucho Marx

Paradox

It's not like the rapist would have had to take the pants all the way off anyway; he could simply have lowered them to a sufficient degree to allow access and penetration. This is a miserable defense.


"More than ever, the creation of the ridiculous is almost impossible because of the competition it receives from reality."-Robert A. Baker

Beguile's Mistress

The perpetrator of a vicious assault on a woman went into court where his attorney offered a not guilty plea based on the fact that since the couple met through two people who met online the woman should have known not to trust the man and put herself in jeopardy.  Therefore, the beating was her fault.

There is really no defense that is too far out there as long as attorneys can twist things. 

DarklingAlice

A lawyer is welcome to prevent any absurd defence they want, but what I don't get is the jury buying it. The lawyer could have said: "It isn't rape because the alleged victim is actually an alien robot!" The problem comes when when the jury accept this without evidence. It should have been apparent to this group of six men and six women that the claim is absurd (unless they think that she really couldn't take off her own pants) and is easily falsifiable (present the pants, re-enactments, the generally accepted ability of people to undress, etc). Instead:

QuoteDuring the trial the jury sent a note to the judge asking for more information about ''how exactly Nick took off her jeans''.

''I doubt those kind of jeans can be removed without any sort of collaboration,'' the note read.
For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong.


Beguile's Mistress

The case I cited above didn't go to trial.  A judge at a pre-trial hearing questioned the defendant and his attorney and determined that the defense was frivolous, had no basis in fact and had no merit. 

Will

Quote from: DarklingAlice on May 04, 2010, 11:08:49 AM
A lawyer is welcome to prevent any absurd defence they want, but what I don't get is the jury buying it. The lawyer could have said: "It isn't rape because the alleged victim is actually an alien robot!" The problem comes when when the jury accept this without evidence. It should have been apparent to this group of six men and six women that the claim is absurd (unless they think that she really couldn't take off her own pants) and is easily falsifiable (present the pants, re-enactments, the generally accepted ability of people to undress, etc).

That's what shocks me.  Not that a lawyer would present such a ridiculous claim, but that they managed to squeeze 12 morons of such epic magnitude onto one jury.  They are the ones that brought up the idea; the lawyers had nothing to do with it.

It's really sickening.
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Paladin

I have to agree. Not only is it sickening but I will go sofar as to say the judge and the jury are stupid as hell.

Oniya

Quote from: Paradox on May 04, 2010, 09:38:05 AM
It's not like the rapist would have had to take the pants all the way off anyway; he could simply have lowered them to a sufficient degree to allow access and penetration. This is a miserable defense.

This.  Not to mention, the tight pants lowered to mid-thigh or knee (estimation on my part) would do a good job of hampering his victim's ability to escape.

I suppose they'll be trying to use loose pants as a defense next.  I've heard that the whole 'waistband below the hips' thing started as a signal that one was 'available' in prison.
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GeekFury

Quote from: Oniya on May 05, 2010, 08:06:26 AM
I suppose they'll be trying to use loose pants as a defense next.  I've heard that the whole 'waistband below the hips' thing started as a signal that one was 'available' in prison.

Funny that, as a youth here in the UK has had an Anti Social Behavior Order quached for showing his backside off in his baggy trousers, ask me though I'd LOVE to see him do that in prison now you mentioned that. Would teach him to wear a fucking belt!

Paradox

Quote from: Oniya on May 05, 2010, 08:06:26 AM
I suppose they'll be trying to use loose pants as a defense next.  I've heard that the whole 'waistband below the hips' thing started as a signal that one was 'available' in prison.

Yeah, I've heard that as well; thing is, very few people actively advertise their availability in prison. By and large, bitches tend to shack up with their cell-mates unless it's one of those octagonal arrangements where there's a common room in which inmates can mingle, where the cells are open during the day (as is often the case in lower-security institutions). Still, I suppose for those that were seeking protection, that would have been a subtle way to do so.

Anyway, back on topic, I took a Violence Against Women course a while ago. I'm going to forward this story to the professor. We talked about this kind of thing in class all the time, about rape myths and blaming the victim.


"More than ever, the creation of the ridiculous is almost impossible because of the competition it receives from reality."-Robert A. Baker