There really are some absolute nutcase judges in this country for sure.
You know Mark Latham's ex wife (married 2000-2022) is a NSW magistrate and gave a peaceful (annoying and cringey, inconveniencing people, but peaceful) climate protester 12 months prison?
Latham of course known for being former Labor federal leader, former One Nation NSW leader, climate denier, homophobe, plead guilty to smashing a journo's camera, and general dirtbag.
Meanwhile on the other hand, the guy who raped Grace Tame (when he was in his 50s and she was 15) got only 2 years for the rape (after he got out, they later got him again on different but related charges).
perhaps both get the guillotine instead, incompetence to perform your duties as a judge on such a serious offense should carry punishment for the judge as well.
you hold people accountable once and others will at least hesitate if choosing to do such things in the future. and if there is one crime for which death should be the punishment, pedophilia is probably it.
For extortion, white collar crimes and few other examples I'd agree. These are crimes where the criminals make logical choices and often have to do some serious premeditation. Here the detterant works. We should make these crimes (which can ruin lives) more serious in punishment.
However that just doesn't work for most crimes, classic example of murder in countries with the death penalty. You have to remember that for pedos they are sexually attracted to kids. The way we view our adult partners is the way they view children. How rational are people when they're aroused. Genuinely ask yourself if this actually worked then why don't more countries adopt it.
Look I get what your feeling, I feel it too. But at the end of the day be glad you live in a country where your state cannot order a court to kill you. One day you may find yourself subject to a law that you don't agree to (criminalization of gay sex, anti-protest laws, ect.) and be accused, or even falsely accused of something you didn't do with insufficient evidence to demonstrate your innocence (many defendants on the American death row were released following the ability to match DNA).
are you suggesting that one year is going to stop this monster from being attracted to kids? of course not, what amount of rehabilitation can happen in such a short amount of time, none at all.
the concept of prison is rehabilitation yeah? we put people away for being severely detrimental to society and when released they can reintegrate yeah? (hopefully, historically prisons aren't great at this but still) do you think there is a course available to inmates that will turn a pedo into not-a-pedo in one year? of course not, so they are gonna take the muzzle off this dog and its gonna immediately "maul" a child, again. and people will say shit like "oh if only we could have prevented easily preventable occurrence" as if another 1 year sentence would do the trick. if the dog bites children, it gets put down, it doesn't get put in timeout. this man is a dog, put him down.
also i understand consent, dont give me that "oh but he's attracted, you know how it is", thats fucking creepy, i know how to be rational even when aroused, you're just fucked up.
also being all "be thankful that insane religious laws dont effect you because that is definitely an equivalent to child rape" is stupid, hurting children is understood as unarguably evil by every culture, its not just a rule that exists because its traditionally considered bad. one is superstition and one is hard fact.
also all stats from american death row stuff just comes down to racism most of the time, they just wanted to blame blacks for everything.
Okay I'll break things down to avoid confusion:
>are you suggesting that one year is going to stop this monster from being attracted to kids? of course not, what amount of rehabilitation can happen in such a short amount of time, none at all.
Firstly never argued that, I was saying that other child offenders are not going to look at the penalty for this crime and be deterred from doing it. Never said he would stop being attracted to kids after a year in jail, in fact as far as our current understanding goes pedophilia isn't something people choose nor is it something you can cure.
>the concept of prison is rehabilitation yeah? we put people away for being severely detrimental to society and when released they can reintegrate yeah? (hopefully, historically prisons aren't great at this but still) do you think there is a course available to inmates that will turn a pedo into not-a-pedo in one year? of course not, so they are gonna take the muzzle off this dog and its gonna immediately "maul" a child, again. and people will say shit like "oh if only we could have prevented easily preventable occurrence" as if another 1 year sentence would do the trick. if the dog bites children, it gets put down, it doesn't get put in timeout. this man is a dog, put him down
I never talked about rehabilitation at all never said 1 year would be effective at rehabilitating him. Honestly just look at where this conversation started:
>perhaps both get the guillotine instead, incompetence to perform your duties as a judge on such a serious offense should carry punishment for the judge as well.
You advocated for the state execution of a convicted criminal AND the judge.
>also i understand consent, dont give me that "oh but he's attracted, you know how it is", thats fucking creepy, i know how to be rational even when aroused, you're just fucked up.
Look maybe I've worded this poorly my point here is that sex offenders don't weigh up the pros and cons of commiting crimes rationally. If they did then why wouldn't countries impose the death penalty on child sex offenders and see a dramatic reduction in crime. If you can show that making punishments harsher in this context saves more children from experiencing the horror that girl has to live with then I'll change my tune, genuinely.
>also all stats from american death row stuff just comes down to racism most of the time, they just wanted to blame blacks for everything.
What's to say that there isn't racism or some other prejudice at play in today's courtrooms. **Having a death penalty assumes that your criminal justice system is incapable of ever being wrong or injust**. We can never assume that is the case. It's not that child sex offending is universally considered wrong, I'd agree it likely is. It's that our criminal justice system can make mistakes and maybe we shouldn't hinge life or death on it.
Also it just doesn't make sense money wise either, turns out it costs more to kill someone than keep them in jail for the rest of their life (see America).
look if you let the dog that mauls a kid off the leash at the playground and it mauls another kid, everybody will say "why the fuck would you let that dog off the leash it mauls kids, put it down"
if he rapes another kid, that kid, and that kids family, and anybody who hears of it will think "why didn't we just kill him when we had the chance" (or at least lock away until too old and weak to be a predator), we already they are willing to act on impulses and do the unforgivable, so just kill them, how many more may get hurt because we want to play the "oh, who's to say" game.
its not like im calling for the execution of anybody suspected to be a pedo, im not just saying oh that guy george that runs the bookstore down the road looks a bit weird better kill him, this is about someone who has already done the worst crime.
of course the legal system isnt without flaw, its still almost all religious folks, and priests are consistently the largest demographic of pedos in known history so they wont go after their own, which is partly why i think the judge was soft on him, and why i think the judge deserves the guillotine too.
im just saying this kids life will never be the same, the least we could do is make sure he doesn't do it to more kids.
>this is about someone who has already done the worst crime
Someone call SBS and tell them not to worry showing anymore docos of the holocaust cos we need to document the new worst crime!
>Apparently protecting this scumbag from predators in prison
predators in prison shouldn't be a reason to not send people to prison, it should be a reason to hire more guards. We can't just not send people to prison because other prisoners might hurt them that's fucking stupid. If the system is too dangerous to be used we need to fix that, not let criminals off the hook.
Yeah seems pretty fucked our legal system notes prisons are too dangerous so just choose to not send people to them. Like they aren't saying he doesn't deserve to go to prison just it'd be too unsafe, so I guess we have to deal with him in the community.
I mean, I think you're misunderstanding what protecting the wider community means. We protect the community by rehabilitating criminals so that they don't re-offend, not by locking them away (unless they prove beyond rehabilitation).
In this instance, the community will be a lot safer with this rapist on the streets after a year **if he's been rehabilitated** than they would be if he was locked up for 10 years and then released as an even worse predator due to being abused for 10 years. They do that in the US and as a result, have some of the worst reoffending rates in the world.
And to be honest, subjecting the rapist to potentially years of sexual abuse in prison isn't really justice (especially when it sounds like they already have PTSD), it's vengeance. I'll be down voted to hell for saying it, but it's the truth. True justice can only ever come from the guilt of a reformed criminal fully understanding the magnitude of the harm they've caused and regretting it for the rest of their life.
edit: Ok, contrary to my expectations, I haven't been downvoted to hell. To the people who are making well intentioned arguments against my point, I want to say thank you for engaging on what is a highly emotional and contentious topic in good faith. I'm not going to pretend I know the answer, I just know that harsher sentences isn't it, but I understand and acknowledge the affect that lenient sentences has on survivors and their loved ones.
I'm glad that people are at least capable of discussing it as reasonable adults, the first step in finding a solution to any problem is free and open discussion.
For those who're accusing me of being a rape apologist and secret pedophile, fuck you. How the fuck are we ever going to make a difference if any opinion other than "pedos should all die" is met with accusations like that.
Couldn't agree more mate - however, the one caveat I would add to this is that the "rehabilitation" aspect that corrections Victoria are currently trying to implement in the prison system is woefully underdone and needs a lot more resources.
I have seen first hand a small percentage of people be rehabilitated from going to prison, but a way way larger number, like you adequately stated, come out of prison more traumatized or more prone to violence than when they went in.
Prisons could be doing far more in the way of rehabilitation.
>We protect the community by rehabilitating criminals
Why would one year rehabilitate someone? What if they aren't rehabilitated and have learnt from this ordeal they can get away with it.
Why wouldn't it? I'll be honest, I don't know how long it takes to rehabilitate a sex offender and neither do you. They have a 3 year CCO as well, which I'm guessing will include mandatory psychiatric care and close supervision, so that's 4 years total.
But I don't understand how people like you think that a short sentence = "getting away with it", but a longer sentence somehow doesn't. You rally think that a sexual predator will see a difference between 12 months in prison and 5 years? They'll just spend more time figuring out how to not get caught the next time.
Do you really think criminals wouldn't see a difference of 500% and be a bit more deterred, the issue with this isn't this specific person, it's that it signals to other paedophiles they won't be treated harshly, Prison is about rehab yes but it's also about deterrence.
Do you really think pedophile seeing another pedophile effectively get 11 months is going to make them rethink committing crime? It's like giving them a green light.
The threat of punishment has minimal impact outside of the group of people who are unlikely to commit crime in the first place.
If punishment were a real deterrent then there would be zero murders in American states where there is the death penalty.
The more grotesque crimes against the person are not committed on a rational basis.
>If punishment were a real deterrent then there would be zero murders in American states where there is the death penalty.
I'm not saying it's a 100% deterrent, just a factor, if someone was going to commit a crime and saw a person who did a similar crime got 11 months they are going to be more likely to do it then if the person got 15 years. I'm not saying it's a major factor but it's got to make a slight difference.
It does not come into the consideration of the perpetrator one little bit. If sex offenders applied that level of consideration to the consequences of their actions they would not commit the crime in the first place.
> Do you really think criminals wouldn't see a difference of 500% and be a bit more deterred
I know for a fact that they wont. There are numerous studies that show that most criminals don't factor in the potential consequences of their actions when committing crimes. The ones that do are career criminals, where they're literally balancing the cost/benefit of the crime.
> the issue with this isn't this specific person, it's that it signals to other paedophiles they won't be treated harshly
Does it though? You think pedophiles are doing the research on how severe the penalties would be and thinking "hm, it would be worth it for 3 years in prison, but 4 is just too much, I guess I'll just stop being a pedophile after raping 2 kids"?
> Do you really think pedophile seeing another pedophile effectively get 11 months is going to make them rethink committing crime?
You're treating pedophile as rational actors, people who are weighing the consequences of being caught when they commit crimes. They aren't.
Most of them are more concerned with not being caught in the first place. The rest are probably beyond the point where the consequences matter any more.
SissyCat well done on fighting for the side redemption.
Not easy to ask for rehabilitation when every one wants blood. All punishment would do is create an even darker shade of monster and a career criminal.
And I ask everyone that wants the max or 'prison justice' to ask themselves who has the darker heart.
Look, I don't blame them. This is a very emotional issue and I cannot fault people for thinking with their emotions, I just want them to understand that what makes them feel the best isn't necessarily the best outcome for the community.
Also, people here just immediately convince themselves that every single person convicted of a crime is the theoretical worst person they can imagine. Like, people are legitimately going around saying that this person is guaranteed to re-offend, that they planned the whole thing because they knew they'd get a slap on the wrist, when literally all they know is is a short summary from a fucking online news article.
You're talking out your ass, and clearly haven't worked in forensic psychology, social work, or criminal justice. Being terminally online and offering your neckbeardy opinions of 'hmmm but is that REALLY justice?' is so prolific and annoying - stop it.
> Combine the certainty of getting caught with a long sentence, that's a deterrent.
Except that being caught isn't a certainty and we all know it. Sex crimes have an abhorrent conviction rate, the VAST majority are never caught or punished at all.
Deterrent are also not actually very effective for a lot of crime. It works for things that involve money, because people can basically equate time with money in a way they rationalise, but if we're being honest, how would you judge whether an extra 5 years in prison would actually deter someone?
> It should have been 15-20 years. I don't care what the crime is, you'd think twice if that was the penalty.
That is the max penalty and they did it anyways. They have mandatory minimums in a lot of the US states for this exact reason and guess what, they have literally non affect on reducing crime rates.
The only thing people think twice about is whether they should commit more crimes in order to avoid discovery, because at a certain point rape + murder ends up having the same punishment as just rape.
Just to be clear, if I thought that it would work, I would 100% be behind harsher sentences. Seriously, none of my points are being made out of concern for the rapist's wellbeing beyond the basic rights all people should be entitled to (because they aren't rights if people can take them away and no one should be raped, even rapists). I just understand that it isn't the case, harsher prison terms do not work as an effective deterrent, nor do they increase the odds of rehabilitation.
If anyone here can provide enough evidence to indicate that harsher sentences work at reducing offence rates, then I will happily recant every single thing I've said on this subject.
> Harsher sentencing will only work if there's a certainty of being caught.
Maybe (although TBH I still doubt it), but we don't live in a world where being caught is a certainty.
> Adding a decade or two to it would bring it in line with normality
That is definitely overkill. the max sentence is 15 years, this guy is a first offender and accepted a plea bargain. I would guess that 3-4 years would actually be normal, which is really what they should have given (because again, I do not agree that 12 months is a fair sentence). We don't know the full context of the crime, but the max sentence is reserved for the literal worst possible offenders (eg repeat offenders and people with no mitigating circumstances whatsoever), which doesn't sound like it applies here either way.
> Would 10 years in prison stop someone stealing 5$, yeah.
Actually no. They have rules in the USA which effectively equate to this (3 strike rules) and people break them ALL THE TIME.
> Be reasonable.
Again, this is the problem. You are expecting all pedophiles to make a reasonable decision, but the literal only reasonable decision is not to rape children (I hope we can agree on that at least). If the idea ever get's past right vs wrong and into cost vs benefit, it's already too late for the deterrent to really make a difference.
Just to make my position super clear, since people keep on calling me a rape apologist.
I agree with the belief that things like mental health issues should be taken into consideration when sentencing criminals, which is how our justice system currently works. By defending this belief does not equate to defending rapists, and fuck anyone who says it does.
I do not believe that the judge's fears that the victim will be abused are well founded are relevant to his sentencing. The actual conditions in which he serves his time is not the judge's concern. Nor to I believe that "looking young" should mean they be treated as being at risk of abuse, or that a person's looks should in any way affect their sentence.
I do not believe that longer prison terms are affective in reducing crime. This is based on the evidence that I have seen indicating that things like mandatory minimums have no affect on crime rates or recidivism. I have not seen any evidence to indicate that this isn't true for sex crimes, but if anyone can supply evidence, I'd be happy to recant everything I've said.
I believe that everyone deserves a chance to make up for the damage they've done. Sometimes, this is a really hard belief to have, as some people will take advantage of it again and again, but I prefer to focus on those that do actually reward my faith in humanity by learning from their mistakes and becoming better people.
Enough walls of text, your not a columnist and I'm not reading all that shit. Make concise points or fuck off, whatever bullshit side of the fence you're on!
I believe this with non-violent crimes and crimes born of poverty/circumstance, but he's a child rapist its so unlikely that he'll be 'rehabilitated' within a year when its a fundamental personality/mental disorder that lead him to do this in the first place. So reducing his sentence to protect HIM rather than increasing his sentence to protect children doesn't make sense.
They also got a CCO of 3 years, I think, which will probably included mandatory psychiatric treatment and supervision. You'd probably be surprised how quickly psychiatric care can become effective once they have no choice but to comply.
Plus, I'm 99% sure sex offenders can have their prison terms increased indefinitely if they're judged likely to re-offend.
You're going to need to provide some sources for the apparent ease of rehabilitating child sex offenders based on your assumptions that he's going to be given 3 years of psychiatric care (not mentioned anywhere in this article's sentencing), and also that he can apparently have his sentence extended willy nilly outside of this judge's sentencing (also not mentioned anywhere in this article). Please provide these.
I am instead focusing on what this article says are the facts of this case, which is that the judge has given a premediated child sex offender an extremely light sentence (he was also grooming a 16 year old and had illegal images on his computer, so this isn't an isolated incident), with the judge explicitly citing that he wants to protect the criminal from any potential harm, with the trade off of creating more harm for his current victims and potential future victims.
Why are you going to so much effort to make a defense for a convicted child rapist? If you google what an average grade 6 child looks like you'll understand the gravity of this man's perversion and why everyone else in this comment section is outraged that he'll be back in society within a year and fully equipped to hurt children again.
> he's going to be given 3 years of psychiatric care
He has a 3 year CCO, which I assume will include care.
> and also that he can apparently have his sentence extended willy nilly outside of this judge's sentencing
https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-08/High_Risk_Offenders_Final_Report_Summary.pdf
One of the conditions they can impose is "requiring an offender to live on land within the perimeter of a prison"
> with the judge explicitly citing that he wants to protect the criminal from any potential harm, with the trade off of creating more harm for his current victims and potential future victims.
First of all, a Judge is 100% entitled to account for the needs of the offender when sentensing.
But my main point is that neither one of us actually has any standing to state that this sentence will create more harm. Neither you nor I have the expertise or right to judge whether this rapist will reoffend, we literally only know what has been publicly reported.
> Why are you going to so much effort to make a defense for a convicted child rapist?
I'm not, I'm defending the legal system. I personally agree that the sentence is light and don't agree that the rapists appearance is a valid reason to reduce their sentence, I just understand that I AM NOT A JUDGE and that my personal feelings aren't the concern of the legal system.
The fact that you equate acknowledging the fact that the law considers more than just the feeling of the public with defending a pedophile should make it pretty clear that you're obviously not looking at this objectively. Which is fair, because this is obviously an intensely emotional issue, but the law is not and should not be beholden to people's emotions.
Stop posting FFS - CCO's don't include mandatory intervention nor is there any mechanism to increase sentences for sex offenders. I repeat - STOP FUCKING POSTING if you don't know what you're talking about.
> CCO's don't include mandatory intervention
https://www.corrections.vic.gov.au/community-corrections/orders#:~:text=treatment%20and%20rehabilitation
We also have compulsory treatment orders, which don't even require any form of criminal conviction: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/compulsory-treatment-orders
> nor is there any mechanism to increase sentences for sex offenders
I literally linked a report on the effectiveness of this specific mechanism.
> I repeat - STOP FUCKING POSTING if you don't know what you're talking about.
Just because you refuse to accept reality doesn't make it any less real.
Yes, yes. This is classic reddit mentality. You are also forgetting actual justice though. A consequence for crimes. You’re also forgetting how much a extremely small sentence exacerbates the injury to the victim as they are left unheard and also left without any sight of a form of consequence of what happened to them that day. You’re also forgetting how it shows others what a light sentence you get for such extreme crimes, downplaying the viciousness and horror of a rape. Especially that of a child.
You also equate a smaller sentence = rehabilitation, when you can actually have both consequence and rehabilitation. You also make out that jailing someone who’s raped a child puts them in danger - when actually the prison should provide adequate safety. It’s not up to the judge to mitigate a sentence because the jail isn’t good enough - that’s the jailers and members of parliaments job.
I’ve been to a number of these cases , and the pain it causes the victim only makes the case worse. But classic reddit mentality never considers that. They just throw out this standard line they’ve read elsewhere on reddit to show how benevolent they are, when they are actually showing naivety and cruelty to the victim.
Even if you're okay with taking away sex offenders' rights to bodily autonomy, I doubt castration would be as reliably effective as you seem to think it would.
My partner (who is not a sex offender) was on a drug that is often used for the exact purpose you've outlined here for years and was still sexually functioning while taking it. I *physically* had the ole kit + caboodle cut out last year and still have a pretty strong sex drive.
Tbh I doubt that there's any guarantee that castration of any kind would prevent a child molester from reoffending.
He’s a child sex offender, he should be locked up for life or possibly permanently off boarded. instead he’s almost certain to re-offend, destroying more innocent lives.
There isn’t any mitigation, I.e he’s 15 and she’s 14, he’s a man and should pay the price of what he’s done.
Whilst I don't agree with the sentence, prison is about rehabilitation first and punishment second. If the judge believes that more time in prison won't improve his chances oh rehabilitation due to the likelihood of being victimised, then that's justification enough. I'm pretty sure the prosecution can appeal for a harsher sentence, if they feel it should have been harsher.
If you read the article, the rapist has a history with mental illness (including PTSD), so it may well be that he needs psychiatric care more than he needs prison time. Also worth remembering that a large number of abusers were themselves abused as children, although we obviously have no way of knowing if that is the case here.
The real takeaway should be the fact that the Judge was believes that he may end up being raped in prison. That is just not something that should be happening in Australia.
The only reason he’s at risk of getting raped in jail is because he’s about to be a small guy locked in a sex offender boneyard. If he didn’t wanna deal with that he shouldn’t have raped a young girl.
Speaking as the parent of a 12 year girl, there should be some severe fucking punishment in the first instance.
If he’s mentally ill, then lock him up in an appropriate institution and don’t release him until he is no longer a danger to the community.
That's literally what they're doing. We have the capability to imprison sexual offender indefinitely if it is determined that they're likely to re-offend.
But my point is that he could be locked up for 1 year or 20 years and still be a danger to community, unless he's rehabilitated. If he's more likely to be rehabilitated after 1 year than 20, then that's the best sentence for the community's safety. Now I don't know if it **is** the best sentence, but the Judge thinks it is and I at least accept that they probably have a more expert opinion that I do.
These fuckers never rehabilitate. How many times have we heard this same story of predators getting off lightly and then re-offending?
At least with 20 years, he'd be off the streets for 20 years and unable to harm any more children. With 20 years that child's parents would be able to sleep at night.
And if we want to talk about preventing crimes, how about not forgetting the lesson Gary Plauché taught light-handed judges? If people keep getting away with touching other people's children, sooner or later one of those parents is going to take matters into their own hands.
The article says nothing about PTSD, did you read it?
> Maidment reprimanded Sullivan – while acknowledging that he suffered from mental health concerns including social anxiety, depression and personality disorder
There are also no comments from the judge in the article about rehabilitation - only that he "considered Sullivan’s safety"
> The article says nothing about PTSD
I read a different article yesterday that wasn't behind a paywall, which does mention his mental health issues. https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/melbourne-mum-calls-out-system-over-babyfaced-rapists-light-sentence/8883fcfa-c7d4-4084-a92c-13e40f084a93
> There are also no comments from the judge in the article about rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is always the goal of the justice system, it doesn't really warrant specific mentioning.
It's not really bizarre. The technical term is 'rape', however they had consensual sex. She thought he was 14 and invited him over to her house. So, you see, some things are left out in the article. Let's say, the boy was in fact 14 years old, what would happen then? The girl would be a predator herself, as the boy would be a minor. Do you understand?
Protecting the small childlike adult rapist is more important than protecting small children who have been victimised by the rapist.
Fuck our justice system.
Emotion aside; isn't it the court's job to impose a sentence in line with community expectations? You could ask 1000 people in the community what the the sentence would be for this and not one person would say only 12 months custodial.
The statement made of appearance essentially determining the sentence is also very worrying.
As a survivor of childhood SA and a parent of tweens I am SICKENED by this sentencing. The community must unite in outrage and push back on these lenient sentences.
When my attacker went to jail in ~the 2010s my victim advocate had to advise me of how sadly light the sentence would be (though he got the maximum) because the crimes were committed in the mid 90s when maximum sentences were much lighter.
Community outrage is what increased those maximum sentences in the intervening years.
It’s now 2023. This isn’t the 90s anymore. This is entirely unacceptable and we need to make it known.
So he did that.. and the judge is concerned about him being targeted by a predator........
Where was the girls protection?
The law protects criminals. It's pathetic
It's not the law. The law allows for severe punishment.
It's crap judges getting their roles because they wear the right school tie and scratch the back of those who scratch theirs.
You joke but it's a risk with light sentences like this. If a parent feels that their child won't receive justice then what motivation do they have for not taking matters into their own hands compared to the police.
Exactly
A nature human response is someone in her family to attack or kill this "person" but no. You can't cause it's illegal
So you rely on a jail sentence and when it's 11 months.....
Its a bloody joke
[Jail time](https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/bendigo/ben-william-hall-imprisoned-for-hooning-and-endangering-lives-on-bendigo-streets/news-story/a4899735eb43fbbdaa7c376711317918)
Sorry it’s a HS link. But it’s the best I could do from work. You can just read before it asks to sign in what sentence he received.
Exactly, heaps of people, probably most people, have mental health conditions at some point and manage to not rape people. These pr!cks and their “demons”… need tougher sentences that include a serious mental health program. Helps those who need it and would be an annoying grind for those who used it as an excuse.
I cannot imagine the unrelenting pain that girl and her mother feels. The girl will be terrified and scarred for the rest of her life. They mother will live the rest of her life on the verge of (undeserved) suicide driven by guilt.
This cunt should feel as much pain as possible.
Ah yes, solving violence with violence, the obvious solution to creating a less violent society.
If you want to keep the community safe, then offenders with prospects of rehabilitation need to be rehabilitated, not tortured or abused so that they come out even worse offenders.
The judge didn't jail him as long because he thinks he will be hurt in jail because he looks like a child, so put him in solitary - where he's alone so can't get hurt and can serve his 15 years.
They should be more concerned about this guy hurting more children instead of getting targeted in prison for being a pedo. I don’t think him supposedly looking childlike should be taken into consideration at all. It’s discriminatory
15 years was the maximum sentence.
This guy was sentenced to 1 year and time incarcerated was taken into account (so 11 months).
Imagine being a judge and so openly condoning paedophilia.
It would be up to Corrections. The judge doesn't have the power to make an order stipulating which parts of the prison a person is to serve sentence in.
Put into a room with no stimulus and no clock just the four walls and nothing but your thoughts not know how fast or slow time moves. It’s painful.
The only thing worst is mental asylum solitary. Where your in a bright room padded with no window no clock all one colour the light never goes off and it’s completely soundproof.
It can turn the most stable man into a drooling lunatic
That's an actual human rights abuse and I'm 99% sure is illegal in Australia. Please don't let us turn into the USA, where human rights are forgotten the second someone enters a prison, we're better than that.
For all we know, this rapist was abused as a child themself and was just continuing the cycle of abuse. Everyone in this sub is saying "what about the little girl", well if her trauma led to her committing crimes later in life, would you say that she deserved to be shot too?
Cool hypothetical.
I'll bring you back to the reality that this is an adult man who is responsible for his actions, who purposefully targeted and raped a literal child (12 years old, body of a child, mind of a child, who had no idea what this adult was doing to them).
She is actually the victim of terrible pain and abuse at the hands of this man - that actually happen.
And nothing that you're hypothetically dreaming up about his supposed past extenuating circumstances, or her potential for future crimes which literally hasn't happened, can excuse his actions.
I really can't understand why you're all over this comment section painting him as a forlorn figure deserving sympathy rather than appropriately condemning him for what he's done to an actual child. Wtf is wrong with you.
> I really can't understand why you're all over this comment section painting him as a forlorn figure deserving sympathy rather than appropriately condemning him for what he's done to an actual child. Wtf is wrong with you.
What the fuck is wrong with you that makes you interpret my defence of the legal system as defending a pedophile?
Seriously, are your thoughts so simple that you can't both condemn a person for the actions whilst also understand that their actions might be linked to abuse they themselves suffered?
You seem to think that sympathy for the child should be first and foremost, but only so long as they conform to your idea of a "victim". If this poor girls trauma leads to her committing crimes, do you think that sympathy should disappear?
They deserve sympathy for their trauma only until the trauma affects them in socially acceptable ways?
You say he's responsible for his actions, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW THAT (and neither do I). If this poor girl ended up dying from an overdose due to her trauma, would you say she was responsible for her own death, or would you place the blame on the cause of her trauma? If yes, then what if instead of an overdose, she get's into a car accident, who's responsible then?
It's called the cycle of abuse because IT'S A CYCLE. People are abused, experience trauma, then that trauma leads them to committing abuse against others. The only way to break the cycle to to accept that ABUSER ARE OFTEN VICTIMS THEMSELVES. Accepting that doesn't equate to making excuses, it means understanding the actual root of the issue, so that it can be properly addressed and the cycle can be broken.
You have no evidence that Tyler was sexually abused, this is a story you are telling yourself to feel better about what he's done, that is called cognitive dissonance.
Regardless, he is not completely out of control of his actions even if he was. There are many more abuse victims than abusers, it is not a 1:1 guarantee that you are destined to be an abuser if you were abused, the 'cycle' is not an excuse. Responsible adults seek treatment for their mental health issues, they don't rape kids to alleviate them. Tyler deserves no sympathy or special treatment, though he has received special treatment, which is what makes this case so sickening.
He has been convicted as a responsible adult so yes, there is evidence that he is in control and decided to commit this crime, otherwise he wouldn't have been tried and convicted as he was.
What you are doing is rape apology 101 by centering the abusers story over the actual victims, devaluing the significance of his terrible crime, and making excuses/justifications for his actions. You are perpetuating the legal and societal systems that allow for sexual abuse crime to continually fail to be prosecuted equivalent as the heinous act it is. [A resource for you to help you grow.](https://students4sc.org/2020/07/27/understanding-rape-apology-and-dismantling-rape-myths/)
> You have no evidence that Tyler was sexually abused, and he is not completely out of control of his actions even if he was.
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/melbourne-mum-calls-out-system-over-babyfaced-rapists-light-sentence/8883fcfa-c7d4-4084-a92c-13e40f084a93#:~:text=16%2Dyear%2Dold.-,Judge,-Maidment%20accepted%20that
> There are many more abuse victims than abusers, it is not a 1:1 guarantee that you are destined to be an abuser if you were abused, the 'cycle' is not an excuse.
What the fuck is with everyone's obsession with "excuses"? What is going on in your head where acknowledging that there is additional context to a crime equates to making excuses? If someone steals food to feed their family, would you accuse them of making excuses?
The literal entire reason we have judged determining sentences instead of just setting mandatory sentences for every crime is specifically because we understand that there can be factors that warrant offenders to receive lighter sentences.
> Responsible adults seek treatment for their mental health issues, they don't rape kids to alleviate them.
Spoken like someone with literally 0 experience dealing with mental health issues. People with mental health issues are probably the only people on the planet who get blamed for their illnesses.
"Go get treatment" you say, but do you have any idea what that actually involves in Australia? Psychiatrists are specialists and are EXTREMELY hard to get appointments for. Just to get started on any serious treatment, you're going to be out of pocket by at least a few thousand dollars, assuming you can even find someone taking new customers.
> Tyler deserves no sympathy
This is the exact horse shit I'm talking about. Everyone deserves sympathy. People don't deserve to be judged their entire lives based on a single mistake, everyone deserves the chance to make up for their crimes.
> He has been convicted as a responsible adult so yes, there is evidence that he is in control and decided to commit this crime
Was he though? He took a plea deal, the terms of which we don't actually know.
> What you are doing is rape apology 101 by centering the abusers story over the actual victims, devaluing the significance of his terrible crime, and making excuses/justifications for his actions.
No, I'm not. I'm not making excuses and fuck you for accusing me of doing so.
> You are perpetuating the legal and societal systems that allow for sexual abuse crimes to continually fail to be prosecuted equivalent to the heinous crime it is.
Again, fuck you.
People are like you are the reason why mental health issues are so badly stigmatised in this country. Because apparently you can't even talk about the role of mental health in criminal activity without being accused of being a rape apologist by random asshole who have NO FUCKING IDEA what they're talking about.
Sorry, no. Catfishing and raping a child is not a mistake, it’s a decision. He made a choice and these are the consequences.
Most people deserve understanding and *empathy*, maybe not sympathy — I even have it for people who are child attracted. I do NOT have it for people who take steps to harm a child. You do not get to damage another person because you are damaged. You do not get to take the position of victim when you are the perpetrator.
Unless you’re a rape victim yourself then you have absolutely no idea how this shapes your life. She will most likely struggle with trust and sexual dynamics well into her adult years. He gets 11 months of hardship? Nah, fuck that. This should be as heavy a sentence as a murder.
When I was 12 myself my rapist was sentenced to community service only as he was old and therefore "more vulnerable in prison". This weak ass sentencing has affected me to this day and is a surprisingly large factor in my trauma, knowing that if I were hurt again justice would not be carried out properly. It had left me feeling powerless in a system meant to protect me. Why are judges always so fucking leniant when it comes to child sex abuse cases (the answer here is obvious)
Perhaps a letter writing campaign to the Attorney General? Is that the right person who would look into this if there was enough public outrage? Who would you write to? Obviously there's not enough being done by the courts to discourage this sort of atrocity. A public backlash would hopefully deter this sort of scum from doing something so vile in future, god knows the system isn't helping. I don't know what I'd do if my grandchild were touched by a slimeball like this.
can't wait to run into him on the street next year.
also, the judge should have put him in for YEARS. not one year. fckn ridiculous
not as ridiculous as the guy who raped 3 girls and didn't get any time though:
https://7news.com.au/news/vic/why-victorian-man-was-spared-jail-after-sexually-abusing-three-girls-c-2317248
I’m really left wing politically however for CSA I would literally lock them up for life for repeat offenders, or the crime is so severe they should never be free or off board them.
Society should be ashamed we place the rights of child predators & expense of locking them up above children’s safety.
On the one hand I don't think this guy should be punished by being raped in prison even if only for a year.
On the other hand, I'm not sure why this kind of crime isn't punished with castration on a first offence.
I was just saying almost the exact same thing before I saw this! I don’t think anyone deserves to be raped. Rape in prison is a failure of the system.
The threat should be removed before they’re released, given how likely they are to reoffend, especially child predators. I dunno why this isn’t a viable solution — I guess rights about bodily autonomy make it a weird moral grey area.
Sometimes I wonder if the law system even considers psychological damage. That girl’s life became a lot more challenging than one year of prison.
People who are raped are more likely to suicide… but this is suicide and technically not murder. Sexual assault reduces quality of life and can kill the victim, just a lot more slowly and invisibly.
Add to that u/Geoff_Uckersilf who has blown up my notifications claiming that I'm not listening to '[the other side of the story](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/160de3h/comment/jxsf6u5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)' (Tyler's side of the story) and that 'he's not like other rapists'. u/Geoff_Uckersilf also [blamed the distraught mother for the rape of her child](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/160de3h/comment/jxnzom4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
u/ SirSassy Cat (I can't tag him because the gutless cnt has blocked me) and Geoff are doing anything they can to place blame elsewhere or find a justification for rape, other than blaming the rapist himself. Both think that Tyler deserves sympathy and understanding because he has a mental health issue.
For them both because they're so gutless that they've blocked me so I can't reply to their threads - there are no mental health issues that make you rape someone. There are no 'special case' rapists. This is especially true for someone who rapes a child. By supporting Tyler, or sympathising with him, or trying to diminish his accountability for this crime in anyway, you are enabling future rape to happen. You are in league with the pedos which makes you only one level above them, which is pretty fkn low.
Jesus fucking christ, I don't watch the news so first time hearing about this. Fuck that Judge and deviant little shit. 1 year for that, unbelievable...
He looks exactly like most 20 year old men to me? I.e. very very young and while at their full height, will probably fill out over the next 5 years. I dont see how that is a consideration. I dont know what the judge is smoking in saying that he looks considerably younger than his years. He could pass for school age, but that's only because 2 years ago he was in school.
When he gets out I'm sure there will be plenty of people lining up to administer some public justice.
I hope his address is made publicly available. Little maggot
Tyler Sullivan is a convicted rapist and paedophile at age 20. This MF monster can never, ever be forgiven or forgotten. Tyler Sullivan, remember that name and repeat it frequently as you curse his scumbag arse!
Was watching the news earlier about some brothers in NZ who SA something like 70 women, and they only got 16 years with a mandatory sentence of 8 years
What sort of BS is that?! Should throw those mofos in a deep hole, and fill it with cement
This is so messed up to only get 1 year for raping a 12 year old.
Children are literally the future, and those who would use them for sexual gratification have no place in any society.
I don't understand how such a light sentence is justice for the victim and victim's family, nor does this sentence serve as a deterrent to any future pedophile rapists.
This sentence is so light, there are pedophile rapists watching this news and thinking it's worth the risk.
This is fucked
Imagine sentencing someone based on their appearance: who gives a flying fuck what he looks like? He’s an adult. Child rapists have a shit time in prison regardless.
11 months instead of 15 years, knowing that child predators are a huge reoffended risk. What a fucking disgrace.
u/SirSassyCat is all over this comment section espousing that Tyler just needs a couple of years of therapy and he'll be right as rain so nothing wrong with this sentence. Not sure why he's so keen to defend a convicted child predator.
The fact that you equate defending the legal system with defending a child predator should be enough for you to realise that you're out of line.
At no point have I ever indicated that I agree with the sentence, because I don't. My arguments have only ever been that people on this sub are asking for vengeance, not justice, that the goal should always be rehabilitation first, punishment second and that random people on the internet don't have a better understanding of justice than a literal judge.
Almost every single person has pointed out that the sentence is in-line with neither community expectations or the prescribed mid-high range of the possible sentences given it's nature. We get it - you either REALLY don't want a sexual predator of children to face any punishment or fancy yourself a lawyer (you're not). Go back to playing video games mate, it's what you know
> Almost every single person has pointed out that the sentence is in-line with neither community expectations or the prescribed mid-high range of the possible sentences given it's nature.
Then it will be appealed. It isn't fucking rocket science. If the sentence is determined to be less than is warranted, then it can be increased.
> We get it - you either REALLY don't want a sexual predator of children to face any punishment or fancy yourself a lawyer (you're not)
OK, so everyone here is saying they know better than a literal judge and I'M the one pretending to be a lawyer.
But just so you know, what I am is someone who's experienced mental illness both first hand and second hand. Someone who understands that trauma can fuck you up and cause you do do things you wouldn't normally do, especially when not treated properly. Someone who understands that treatment CAN actually change a person.
Because I can tell you right now, each and every one of you would change in ways you cannot imagine if you experienced significant enough trauma. You would do things you could never have imagined doing, because significant enough trauma can very quickly turn into the single biggest factor in everything you do. The nicest person you ever met can turn into a violent abuser, the funniest, most outgoing person can literally become to scared to speak.
It is in fact the thing that makes their crime so heinous, the trauma he's afflicted on that little girl could potentially change the course of her entire life. But just like we shouldn't judge that poor little girl for the actions that her trauma might lead her into doing, so too should we account for the rapist's own trauma when determining accountability.
It's called empathy and everyone deserves it, even when you would rather not think of them as human.
"Hitler loved his wife, and I think loving your wife is a virtuous thing"
"Dont know why you're defending a literal mass murderer".
He's not defending a convicted child predator, he's attacking the idea of vengeance being the motivator for sentencing. If you're too emotionally invested in the news that your reading comprehension is so negatively affected as to not understand that, I wouldn't advise making a call out post against them and announcing your affliction for all to see.
Holy shit bro you just get worse and worse, you actually live in the same city as me? How the fuck are you real? Why'd you bring Hitler up? Literally what are you? You're like a 13 year old boy and narcissism rolled up into a neat little redditor ball. Every message reeks of "i'm smarter than everyone else"
Are you gonna address any point I made or are you gonna just virtue signal to everyone else about how holier than thou or sick I am or whatever? The fact that I brought Hitler up and that that's getting to you is emblematic of too much emotional investment ruining the conversation. I used Hitler to make a point, that's pretty obvious.
Wasn't calling you holier than thou, i called you several things but not that so it's interesting you came up with that one.
Every reply you make proves my idea of you more correct, you're literally feeding me ammo to throw back at you.
You use phrases like virtue signal and call me emotionally invested when i ask why Hitler was randomly mentioned for a sloppy analogy, that makes me think you're more like what you're implying i am, than i am.
I didn't address any of your points made because you weren't addressing them to me, i was already having a separate discussion with you, i just scrolled further down the comment section and saw your reply and was incredulous that it could get worse, so i took the opportunity to voice my disbelief
Nice misdirection, but u/SirSassyCat has also expressed that Tyler Sullivan is a sympathetic character who was '[just fulfilling the cycle of abuse](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/160de3h/comment/jxmmrm3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)' when he raped a child, so as to remove Tyler's accountability for his crime. u/SirSassyCat claims that Tyler was abused as child himself and deserves sympathy as a victim of child abuse, **based on absolutely no evidence at all**. Like totally pulling it from fucking thin air, Tyler's defence counsel didn't saying Tyler was abused, you'd think that if he was they'd have tried to use it in his defence, but they didn't because it didn't happen. But u/SirSassyCat has built a whole fantasy argument of sympathy for Tyler based on this while willfully ignoring the actual facts of the case that this was a premediated attack against a very young child. All to defend a child rapist.
So there's a subtext to what he's doing here and why he's even saying these things. What is motivating him to ignore the very real and heinous thing Tyler has done when playing out hypothetical thought experiments to defend a rapist. The mental gymnastics he (and you) are going through to justify why you're saying any of what you're saying is ridiculous.
And regardless of whatever goal anyone defines as why we put people in prison - be it rehabilitation, punishment/vengeance, deterrence, segregation from society to protect society - whatever it may be (and there are many theories on what function prison serves, not just rehabilitation as u/SirSassyCat is clinging to), at the end of the day **1 year of prison for such a serious crime as child rape is not enough to achieve any of these goals**, and children will be at risk again very soon, and his victim's safety has been valued lower than the criminal himself. There is no possible defense for this sentence, it is a total failing of the justice system to protect sex crime victims.
This is either comical or sad, writing all this shit when you can't even read or interpret a nuanced argument about rehabilitation, jump to the wrong conclusions and instead build an army of strawmen arguments. Truly sad.
I am absolutely against vigilante justice but if you are going to give 6 months for that woman who killed someone in her car when she shouldn't have been driving, and 12 months for this at some point along the line you will end up with people completely disillusioned with the system who then seek out to right the wrongs that they perceive the courts have committed with their judgements.
The real question of criminal punishment isn't just community standards or deterrent factors, at the end of the day it is a complicated process with over 9 factors that the courts have to consider.
As far as I can see the judgement isn't on Austlii yet but there's always more than a headline to a person's life and what made them commit the crime they did.
Not to underestimate how horrific it must be for the girl but our courts don't do mob mentality. I don't think any of us have actually had the judge or Magistrates' position where someone's life is in your hands and needless to say that it's not a sentence they would make because it's popular.
I'd also wager most of us haven't been to prison and can't even really consider the weight of spending a night let alone a year there.
All this is to say there's always more to this than meets the eye, read the judgement when it comes out and see if you agree with the court then.
There is no extenuating circumstances for raping a child.
None
Not a single one
Put him in a cage and fill that cage up to 1.5m with water and drain it for 15 minutes a day so he can eat and then fill it back up.
And during all of that, you managed not one single word for the 12 year old, who now has to try to navigate life with this trauma. Do you know how high the suicide rate is for ppl who experienced CSA?
I don't give a flying whatsit what this dude's background is. His sentence is far too lenient, and he deserves to rot in jail. No person's circumstances excuse CSA. No. Person.
>Not to underestimate how horrific it must be for the girl
Please read what I have said, at the end of the day if torturing pedos and flogging them on the streets was effective at making our communities safer and preventing these crimes happening then I would whistle a different tune.
I apologise. I missed the 10 words you saved for the victim
Please read what I have said... I said nothing about torturing or flogging. I said he deserves to rot in jail
Same principle at the end of the day, putting someone in jail isn't free it costs thousands upon thousands of dollars. Those are dollars that can't go towards other areas. Just look to America to see what overpopulation in prison can do.
Honestly I do respect that you're at least not advocating for the death penalty to be returned and if it was my daughter I'd agree with with every ounce of my being.
But the answer is **complicated** that's what I wanted people to appreciate before their bloodlust took hold.
As much as this guy is a worthless piece of shit (as a rape victim myself) I don’t think anyone deserves to be raped.
He needs more time. If I had my own way in my own (perhaps twisted) logic, I think child rapists should have a requirement for release that they remove the threat and chemically (or physically) castrate before release. That seems like a more logical punishment to me.
The Australian justice system is inherently broken - if you engage with criminal lawyers regularly through work you'll notice the vast, vast majority of them come from either insanely privileged backgrounds or have approached the justice system with pre-conceived and unshakeable notions that criminals are always victims of circumstance and just need a chance to change, or a combination of both factors. More often than not, you'll find lawyers and judges when engaged at length consider their role as more within the line of social work.
The problem's always been exacerbated by the widespread belief that restorative justice and rehabilitation are the ONLY factors we need to think about. There's multiple people in this thread saying this very thing. It's a complete aberration of the system itself, and it disregards both the fact that sentences do need to act as a deterrent and more importantly as a safeguard for wider society. We see this constantly with dangerous/drunk/drug driving offences in the dozens being suspended over and over again for offenders prior to them inevitably killing someone on the road.
I encourage anyone who actually does want to do some reading to go and actually read the main studies that we've used to advocate for restorative justice for decades now. They're some of the most blatantly biased and cherry-picked documents I've ever seen, and essentially use a few cases of 'the offender stopped offending and the victim/family was happy with that!' whilst disregarding the absolutely vast majority of victims who are disgusted by the approach or who ask for the DPP to appeal the light sentence.
The judge really said I would punish him but look at that baby face 🥺 fuck Tyler Sullivan and fuck Judge Richard Maidment
Check that judges search history
Lighter sentences so he's got case law to lean on when he gets popped 😬
There really are some absolute nutcase judges in this country for sure. You know Mark Latham's ex wife (married 2000-2022) is a NSW magistrate and gave a peaceful (annoying and cringey, inconveniencing people, but peaceful) climate protester 12 months prison? Latham of course known for being former Labor federal leader, former One Nation NSW leader, climate denier, homophobe, plead guilty to smashing a journo's camera, and general dirtbag. Meanwhile on the other hand, the guy who raped Grace Tame (when he was in his 50s and she was 15) got only 2 years for the rape (after he got out, they later got him again on different but related charges).
perhaps both get the guillotine instead, incompetence to perform your duties as a judge on such a serious offense should carry punishment for the judge as well.
Maybe calm on the bloodlust
you hold people accountable once and others will at least hesitate if choosing to do such things in the future. and if there is one crime for which death should be the punishment, pedophilia is probably it.
For extortion, white collar crimes and few other examples I'd agree. These are crimes where the criminals make logical choices and often have to do some serious premeditation. Here the detterant works. We should make these crimes (which can ruin lives) more serious in punishment. However that just doesn't work for most crimes, classic example of murder in countries with the death penalty. You have to remember that for pedos they are sexually attracted to kids. The way we view our adult partners is the way they view children. How rational are people when they're aroused. Genuinely ask yourself if this actually worked then why don't more countries adopt it. Look I get what your feeling, I feel it too. But at the end of the day be glad you live in a country where your state cannot order a court to kill you. One day you may find yourself subject to a law that you don't agree to (criminalization of gay sex, anti-protest laws, ect.) and be accused, or even falsely accused of something you didn't do with insufficient evidence to demonstrate your innocence (many defendants on the American death row were released following the ability to match DNA).
are you suggesting that one year is going to stop this monster from being attracted to kids? of course not, what amount of rehabilitation can happen in such a short amount of time, none at all. the concept of prison is rehabilitation yeah? we put people away for being severely detrimental to society and when released they can reintegrate yeah? (hopefully, historically prisons aren't great at this but still) do you think there is a course available to inmates that will turn a pedo into not-a-pedo in one year? of course not, so they are gonna take the muzzle off this dog and its gonna immediately "maul" a child, again. and people will say shit like "oh if only we could have prevented easily preventable occurrence" as if another 1 year sentence would do the trick. if the dog bites children, it gets put down, it doesn't get put in timeout. this man is a dog, put him down. also i understand consent, dont give me that "oh but he's attracted, you know how it is", thats fucking creepy, i know how to be rational even when aroused, you're just fucked up. also being all "be thankful that insane religious laws dont effect you because that is definitely an equivalent to child rape" is stupid, hurting children is understood as unarguably evil by every culture, its not just a rule that exists because its traditionally considered bad. one is superstition and one is hard fact. also all stats from american death row stuff just comes down to racism most of the time, they just wanted to blame blacks for everything.
Okay I'll break things down to avoid confusion: >are you suggesting that one year is going to stop this monster from being attracted to kids? of course not, what amount of rehabilitation can happen in such a short amount of time, none at all. Firstly never argued that, I was saying that other child offenders are not going to look at the penalty for this crime and be deterred from doing it. Never said he would stop being attracted to kids after a year in jail, in fact as far as our current understanding goes pedophilia isn't something people choose nor is it something you can cure. >the concept of prison is rehabilitation yeah? we put people away for being severely detrimental to society and when released they can reintegrate yeah? (hopefully, historically prisons aren't great at this but still) do you think there is a course available to inmates that will turn a pedo into not-a-pedo in one year? of course not, so they are gonna take the muzzle off this dog and its gonna immediately "maul" a child, again. and people will say shit like "oh if only we could have prevented easily preventable occurrence" as if another 1 year sentence would do the trick. if the dog bites children, it gets put down, it doesn't get put in timeout. this man is a dog, put him down I never talked about rehabilitation at all never said 1 year would be effective at rehabilitating him. Honestly just look at where this conversation started: >perhaps both get the guillotine instead, incompetence to perform your duties as a judge on such a serious offense should carry punishment for the judge as well. You advocated for the state execution of a convicted criminal AND the judge. >also i understand consent, dont give me that "oh but he's attracted, you know how it is", thats fucking creepy, i know how to be rational even when aroused, you're just fucked up. Look maybe I've worded this poorly my point here is that sex offenders don't weigh up the pros and cons of commiting crimes rationally. If they did then why wouldn't countries impose the death penalty on child sex offenders and see a dramatic reduction in crime. If you can show that making punishments harsher in this context saves more children from experiencing the horror that girl has to live with then I'll change my tune, genuinely. >also all stats from american death row stuff just comes down to racism most of the time, they just wanted to blame blacks for everything. What's to say that there isn't racism or some other prejudice at play in today's courtrooms. **Having a death penalty assumes that your criminal justice system is incapable of ever being wrong or injust**. We can never assume that is the case. It's not that child sex offending is universally considered wrong, I'd agree it likely is. It's that our criminal justice system can make mistakes and maybe we shouldn't hinge life or death on it. Also it just doesn't make sense money wise either, turns out it costs more to kill someone than keep them in jail for the rest of their life (see America).
look if you let the dog that mauls a kid off the leash at the playground and it mauls another kid, everybody will say "why the fuck would you let that dog off the leash it mauls kids, put it down" if he rapes another kid, that kid, and that kids family, and anybody who hears of it will think "why didn't we just kill him when we had the chance" (or at least lock away until too old and weak to be a predator), we already they are willing to act on impulses and do the unforgivable, so just kill them, how many more may get hurt because we want to play the "oh, who's to say" game. its not like im calling for the execution of anybody suspected to be a pedo, im not just saying oh that guy george that runs the bookstore down the road looks a bit weird better kill him, this is about someone who has already done the worst crime. of course the legal system isnt without flaw, its still almost all religious folks, and priests are consistently the largest demographic of pedos in known history so they wont go after their own, which is partly why i think the judge was soft on him, and why i think the judge deserves the guillotine too. im just saying this kids life will never be the same, the least we could do is make sure he doesn't do it to more kids.
Another long soliloquy about your projected feelings trying to justify executing someone with Autism. Well done champ, keep it up!
>this is about someone who has already done the worst crime Someone call SBS and tell them not to worry showing anymore docos of the holocaust cos we need to document the new worst crime!
[удалено]
Why is this not being challenged by the Attorney General?
He was 20 and she was in Grade six for fuck's sake. Why the fuck should he get a lighter sentence just because he looks young?
Apparently protecting this scumbag from predators in prison is more important than justice for the victim and protecting the wider community.
>Apparently protecting this scumbag from predators in prison predators in prison shouldn't be a reason to not send people to prison, it should be a reason to hire more guards. We can't just not send people to prison because other prisoners might hurt them that's fucking stupid. If the system is too dangerous to be used we need to fix that, not let criminals off the hook.
Crazy that this is a thing. Yeah we can't protect him in there. Better to just not send him. What's that you say? Fix the prison? Preposterous!
Yeah seems pretty fucked our legal system notes prisons are too dangerous so just choose to not send people to them. Like they aren't saying he doesn't deserve to go to prison just it'd be too unsafe, so I guess we have to deal with him in the community.
The courts truly do not care about victim welfare.
Don’t they have special sections/prisons that are mostly sex offenders?
yeah, which is full of other sex offenders.. he's gonna get his young ass clapped up in that bih
I mean, I think you're misunderstanding what protecting the wider community means. We protect the community by rehabilitating criminals so that they don't re-offend, not by locking them away (unless they prove beyond rehabilitation). In this instance, the community will be a lot safer with this rapist on the streets after a year **if he's been rehabilitated** than they would be if he was locked up for 10 years and then released as an even worse predator due to being abused for 10 years. They do that in the US and as a result, have some of the worst reoffending rates in the world. And to be honest, subjecting the rapist to potentially years of sexual abuse in prison isn't really justice (especially when it sounds like they already have PTSD), it's vengeance. I'll be down voted to hell for saying it, but it's the truth. True justice can only ever come from the guilt of a reformed criminal fully understanding the magnitude of the harm they've caused and regretting it for the rest of their life. edit: Ok, contrary to my expectations, I haven't been downvoted to hell. To the people who are making well intentioned arguments against my point, I want to say thank you for engaging on what is a highly emotional and contentious topic in good faith. I'm not going to pretend I know the answer, I just know that harsher sentences isn't it, but I understand and acknowledge the affect that lenient sentences has on survivors and their loved ones. I'm glad that people are at least capable of discussing it as reasonable adults, the first step in finding a solution to any problem is free and open discussion. For those who're accusing me of being a rape apologist and secret pedophile, fuck you. How the fuck are we ever going to make a difference if any opinion other than "pedos should all die" is met with accusations like that.
Couldn't agree more mate - however, the one caveat I would add to this is that the "rehabilitation" aspect that corrections Victoria are currently trying to implement in the prison system is woefully underdone and needs a lot more resources. I have seen first hand a small percentage of people be rehabilitated from going to prison, but a way way larger number, like you adequately stated, come out of prison more traumatized or more prone to violence than when they went in. Prisons could be doing far more in the way of rehabilitation.
>We protect the community by rehabilitating criminals Why would one year rehabilitate someone? What if they aren't rehabilitated and have learnt from this ordeal they can get away with it.
Why wouldn't it? I'll be honest, I don't know how long it takes to rehabilitate a sex offender and neither do you. They have a 3 year CCO as well, which I'm guessing will include mandatory psychiatric care and close supervision, so that's 4 years total. But I don't understand how people like you think that a short sentence = "getting away with it", but a longer sentence somehow doesn't. You rally think that a sexual predator will see a difference between 12 months in prison and 5 years? They'll just spend more time figuring out how to not get caught the next time.
Do you really think criminals wouldn't see a difference of 500% and be a bit more deterred, the issue with this isn't this specific person, it's that it signals to other paedophiles they won't be treated harshly, Prison is about rehab yes but it's also about deterrence. Do you really think pedophile seeing another pedophile effectively get 11 months is going to make them rethink committing crime? It's like giving them a green light.
The threat of punishment has minimal impact outside of the group of people who are unlikely to commit crime in the first place. If punishment were a real deterrent then there would be zero murders in American states where there is the death penalty. The more grotesque crimes against the person are not committed on a rational basis.
>If punishment were a real deterrent then there would be zero murders in American states where there is the death penalty. I'm not saying it's a 100% deterrent, just a factor, if someone was going to commit a crime and saw a person who did a similar crime got 11 months they are going to be more likely to do it then if the person got 15 years. I'm not saying it's a major factor but it's got to make a slight difference.
It does not come into the consideration of the perpetrator one little bit. If sex offenders applied that level of consideration to the consequences of their actions they would not commit the crime in the first place.
> Do you really think criminals wouldn't see a difference of 500% and be a bit more deterred I know for a fact that they wont. There are numerous studies that show that most criminals don't factor in the potential consequences of their actions when committing crimes. The ones that do are career criminals, where they're literally balancing the cost/benefit of the crime. > the issue with this isn't this specific person, it's that it signals to other paedophiles they won't be treated harshly Does it though? You think pedophiles are doing the research on how severe the penalties would be and thinking "hm, it would be worth it for 3 years in prison, but 4 is just too much, I guess I'll just stop being a pedophile after raping 2 kids"? > Do you really think pedophile seeing another pedophile effectively get 11 months is going to make them rethink committing crime? You're treating pedophile as rational actors, people who are weighing the consequences of being caught when they commit crimes. They aren't. Most of them are more concerned with not being caught in the first place. The rest are probably beyond the point where the consequences matter any more.
SissyCat well done on fighting for the side redemption. Not easy to ask for rehabilitation when every one wants blood. All punishment would do is create an even darker shade of monster and a career criminal. And I ask everyone that wants the max or 'prison justice' to ask themselves who has the darker heart.
Look, I don't blame them. This is a very emotional issue and I cannot fault people for thinking with their emotions, I just want them to understand that what makes them feel the best isn't necessarily the best outcome for the community. Also, people here just immediately convince themselves that every single person convicted of a crime is the theoretical worst person they can imagine. Like, people are legitimately going around saying that this person is guaranteed to re-offend, that they planned the whole thing because they knew they'd get a slap on the wrist, when literally all they know is is a short summary from a fucking online news article.
You're talking out your ass, and clearly haven't worked in forensic psychology, social work, or criminal justice. Being terminally online and offering your neckbeardy opinions of 'hmmm but is that REALLY justice?' is so prolific and annoying - stop it.
Spare us your moral panic. The world is shitty, protect yourself and your loved ones.
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> Combine the certainty of getting caught with a long sentence, that's a deterrent. Except that being caught isn't a certainty and we all know it. Sex crimes have an abhorrent conviction rate, the VAST majority are never caught or punished at all. Deterrent are also not actually very effective for a lot of crime. It works for things that involve money, because people can basically equate time with money in a way they rationalise, but if we're being honest, how would you judge whether an extra 5 years in prison would actually deter someone? > It should have been 15-20 years. I don't care what the crime is, you'd think twice if that was the penalty. That is the max penalty and they did it anyways. They have mandatory minimums in a lot of the US states for this exact reason and guess what, they have literally non affect on reducing crime rates. The only thing people think twice about is whether they should commit more crimes in order to avoid discovery, because at a certain point rape + murder ends up having the same punishment as just rape. Just to be clear, if I thought that it would work, I would 100% be behind harsher sentences. Seriously, none of my points are being made out of concern for the rapist's wellbeing beyond the basic rights all people should be entitled to (because they aren't rights if people can take them away and no one should be raped, even rapists). I just understand that it isn't the case, harsher prison terms do not work as an effective deterrent, nor do they increase the odds of rehabilitation. If anyone here can provide enough evidence to indicate that harsher sentences work at reducing offence rates, then I will happily recant every single thing I've said on this subject.
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> Harsher sentencing will only work if there's a certainty of being caught. Maybe (although TBH I still doubt it), but we don't live in a world where being caught is a certainty. > Adding a decade or two to it would bring it in line with normality That is definitely overkill. the max sentence is 15 years, this guy is a first offender and accepted a plea bargain. I would guess that 3-4 years would actually be normal, which is really what they should have given (because again, I do not agree that 12 months is a fair sentence). We don't know the full context of the crime, but the max sentence is reserved for the literal worst possible offenders (eg repeat offenders and people with no mitigating circumstances whatsoever), which doesn't sound like it applies here either way. > Would 10 years in prison stop someone stealing 5$, yeah. Actually no. They have rules in the USA which effectively equate to this (3 strike rules) and people break them ALL THE TIME. > Be reasonable. Again, this is the problem. You are expecting all pedophiles to make a reasonable decision, but the literal only reasonable decision is not to rape children (I hope we can agree on that at least). If the idea ever get's past right vs wrong and into cost vs benefit, it's already too late for the deterrent to really make a difference. Just to make my position super clear, since people keep on calling me a rape apologist. I agree with the belief that things like mental health issues should be taken into consideration when sentencing criminals, which is how our justice system currently works. By defending this belief does not equate to defending rapists, and fuck anyone who says it does. I do not believe that the judge's fears that the victim will be abused are well founded are relevant to his sentencing. The actual conditions in which he serves his time is not the judge's concern. Nor to I believe that "looking young" should mean they be treated as being at risk of abuse, or that a person's looks should in any way affect their sentence. I do not believe that longer prison terms are affective in reducing crime. This is based on the evidence that I have seen indicating that things like mandatory minimums have no affect on crime rates or recidivism. I have not seen any evidence to indicate that this isn't true for sex crimes, but if anyone can supply evidence, I'd be happy to recant everything I've said. I believe that everyone deserves a chance to make up for the damage they've done. Sometimes, this is a really hard belief to have, as some people will take advantage of it again and again, but I prefer to focus on those that do actually reward my faith in humanity by learning from their mistakes and becoming better people.
Enough walls of text, your not a columnist and I'm not reading all that shit. Make concise points or fuck off, whatever bullshit side of the fence you're on!
I believe this with non-violent crimes and crimes born of poverty/circumstance, but he's a child rapist its so unlikely that he'll be 'rehabilitated' within a year when its a fundamental personality/mental disorder that lead him to do this in the first place. So reducing his sentence to protect HIM rather than increasing his sentence to protect children doesn't make sense.
They also got a CCO of 3 years, I think, which will probably included mandatory psychiatric treatment and supervision. You'd probably be surprised how quickly psychiatric care can become effective once they have no choice but to comply. Plus, I'm 99% sure sex offenders can have their prison terms increased indefinitely if they're judged likely to re-offend.
You're going to need to provide some sources for the apparent ease of rehabilitating child sex offenders based on your assumptions that he's going to be given 3 years of psychiatric care (not mentioned anywhere in this article's sentencing), and also that he can apparently have his sentence extended willy nilly outside of this judge's sentencing (also not mentioned anywhere in this article). Please provide these. I am instead focusing on what this article says are the facts of this case, which is that the judge has given a premediated child sex offender an extremely light sentence (he was also grooming a 16 year old and had illegal images on his computer, so this isn't an isolated incident), with the judge explicitly citing that he wants to protect the criminal from any potential harm, with the trade off of creating more harm for his current victims and potential future victims. Why are you going to so much effort to make a defense for a convicted child rapist? If you google what an average grade 6 child looks like you'll understand the gravity of this man's perversion and why everyone else in this comment section is outraged that he'll be back in society within a year and fully equipped to hurt children again.
> he's going to be given 3 years of psychiatric care He has a 3 year CCO, which I assume will include care. > and also that he can apparently have his sentence extended willy nilly outside of this judge's sentencing https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-08/High_Risk_Offenders_Final_Report_Summary.pdf One of the conditions they can impose is "requiring an offender to live on land within the perimeter of a prison" > with the judge explicitly citing that he wants to protect the criminal from any potential harm, with the trade off of creating more harm for his current victims and potential future victims. First of all, a Judge is 100% entitled to account for the needs of the offender when sentensing. But my main point is that neither one of us actually has any standing to state that this sentence will create more harm. Neither you nor I have the expertise or right to judge whether this rapist will reoffend, we literally only know what has been publicly reported. > Why are you going to so much effort to make a defense for a convicted child rapist? I'm not, I'm defending the legal system. I personally agree that the sentence is light and don't agree that the rapists appearance is a valid reason to reduce their sentence, I just understand that I AM NOT A JUDGE and that my personal feelings aren't the concern of the legal system. The fact that you equate acknowledging the fact that the law considers more than just the feeling of the public with defending a pedophile should make it pretty clear that you're obviously not looking at this objectively. Which is fair, because this is obviously an intensely emotional issue, but the law is not and should not be beholden to people's emotions.
Stop posting FFS - CCO's don't include mandatory intervention nor is there any mechanism to increase sentences for sex offenders. I repeat - STOP FUCKING POSTING if you don't know what you're talking about.
> CCO's don't include mandatory intervention https://www.corrections.vic.gov.au/community-corrections/orders#:~:text=treatment%20and%20rehabilitation We also have compulsory treatment orders, which don't even require any form of criminal conviction: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/compulsory-treatment-orders > nor is there any mechanism to increase sentences for sex offenders I literally linked a report on the effectiveness of this specific mechanism. > I repeat - STOP FUCKING POSTING if you don't know what you're talking about. Just because you refuse to accept reality doesn't make it any less real.
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Yes, yes. This is classic reddit mentality. You are also forgetting actual justice though. A consequence for crimes. You’re also forgetting how much a extremely small sentence exacerbates the injury to the victim as they are left unheard and also left without any sight of a form of consequence of what happened to them that day. You’re also forgetting how it shows others what a light sentence you get for such extreme crimes, downplaying the viciousness and horror of a rape. Especially that of a child. You also equate a smaller sentence = rehabilitation, when you can actually have both consequence and rehabilitation. You also make out that jailing someone who’s raped a child puts them in danger - when actually the prison should provide adequate safety. It’s not up to the judge to mitigate a sentence because the jail isn’t good enough - that’s the jailers and members of parliaments job. I’ve been to a number of these cases , and the pain it causes the victim only makes the case worse. But classic reddit mentality never considers that. They just throw out this standard line they’ve read elsewhere on reddit to show how benevolent they are, when they are actually showing naivety and cruelty to the victim.
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Even if you're okay with taking away sex offenders' rights to bodily autonomy, I doubt castration would be as reliably effective as you seem to think it would. My partner (who is not a sex offender) was on a drug that is often used for the exact purpose you've outlined here for years and was still sexually functioning while taking it. I *physically* had the ole kit + caboodle cut out last year and still have a pretty strong sex drive. Tbh I doubt that there's any guarantee that castration of any kind would prevent a child molester from reoffending.
Yup, which is actually an option that sex offenders can take as a condition of release.
He’s a child sex offender, he should be locked up for life or possibly permanently off boarded. instead he’s almost certain to re-offend, destroying more innocent lives. There isn’t any mitigation, I.e he’s 15 and she’s 14, he’s a man and should pay the price of what he’s done.
Stick him in solitary.
He is not even *that* young! He will end up doing it again when he gets out and another young girl will have her life ruined.
Gave the judge a hard on most likely
Especially as he probably used that to his advantage when trying to sleep with a child.
I wonder what if he had full facial hair to look older while in court?
Whilst I don't agree with the sentence, prison is about rehabilitation first and punishment second. If the judge believes that more time in prison won't improve his chances oh rehabilitation due to the likelihood of being victimised, then that's justification enough. I'm pretty sure the prosecution can appeal for a harsher sentence, if they feel it should have been harsher. If you read the article, the rapist has a history with mental illness (including PTSD), so it may well be that he needs psychiatric care more than he needs prison time. Also worth remembering that a large number of abusers were themselves abused as children, although we obviously have no way of knowing if that is the case here. The real takeaway should be the fact that the Judge was believes that he may end up being raped in prison. That is just not something that should be happening in Australia.
The only reason he’s at risk of getting raped in jail is because he’s about to be a small guy locked in a sex offender boneyard. If he didn’t wanna deal with that he shouldn’t have raped a young girl.
Speaking as the parent of a 12 year girl, there should be some severe fucking punishment in the first instance. If he’s mentally ill, then lock him up in an appropriate institution and don’t release him until he is no longer a danger to the community.
That's literally what they're doing. We have the capability to imprison sexual offender indefinitely if it is determined that they're likely to re-offend. But my point is that he could be locked up for 1 year or 20 years and still be a danger to community, unless he's rehabilitated. If he's more likely to be rehabilitated after 1 year than 20, then that's the best sentence for the community's safety. Now I don't know if it **is** the best sentence, but the Judge thinks it is and I at least accept that they probably have a more expert opinion that I do.
These fuckers never rehabilitate. How many times have we heard this same story of predators getting off lightly and then re-offending? At least with 20 years, he'd be off the streets for 20 years and unable to harm any more children. With 20 years that child's parents would be able to sleep at night. And if we want to talk about preventing crimes, how about not forgetting the lesson Gary Plauché taught light-handed judges? If people keep getting away with touching other people's children, sooner or later one of those parents is going to take matters into their own hands.
The article says nothing about PTSD, did you read it? > Maidment reprimanded Sullivan – while acknowledging that he suffered from mental health concerns including social anxiety, depression and personality disorder There are also no comments from the judge in the article about rehabilitation - only that he "considered Sullivan’s safety"
> The article says nothing about PTSD I read a different article yesterday that wasn't behind a paywall, which does mention his mental health issues. https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/melbourne-mum-calls-out-system-over-babyfaced-rapists-light-sentence/8883fcfa-c7d4-4084-a92c-13e40f084a93 > There are also no comments from the judge in the article about rehabilitation Rehabilitation is always the goal of the justice system, it doesn't really warrant specific mentioning.
Utterly bizzare sentencing justification. This one should be urgently appealed.
You don't understand - the Judge doesn't want to impose a long sentence. It might discourage other adults from raping children.
It's not really bizarre. The technical term is 'rape', however they had consensual sex. She thought he was 14 and invited him over to her house. So, you see, some things are left out in the article. Let's say, the boy was in fact 14 years old, what would happen then? The girl would be a predator herself, as the boy would be a minor. Do you understand?
Protecting the small childlike adult rapist is more important than protecting small children who have been victimised by the rapist. Fuck our justice system.
Emotion aside; isn't it the court's job to impose a sentence in line with community expectations? You could ask 1000 people in the community what the the sentence would be for this and not one person would say only 12 months custodial. The statement made of appearance essentially determining the sentence is also very worrying.
As a survivor of childhood SA and a parent of tweens I am SICKENED by this sentencing. The community must unite in outrage and push back on these lenient sentences. When my attacker went to jail in ~the 2010s my victim advocate had to advise me of how sadly light the sentence would be (though he got the maximum) because the crimes were committed in the mid 90s when maximum sentences were much lighter. Community outrage is what increased those maximum sentences in the intervening years. It’s now 2023. This isn’t the 90s anymore. This is entirely unacceptable and we need to make it known.
So he did that.. and the judge is concerned about him being targeted by a predator........ Where was the girls protection? The law protects criminals. It's pathetic
It's not the law. The law allows for severe punishment. It's crap judges getting their roles because they wear the right school tie and scratch the back of those who scratch theirs.
And protection for girls in the future. He'll be back out preying on more young girls in a year.
Here I thought the justice system was to punish those that break the law. The system sucks.
Absolutely. The law would stop the girls dad killing the guy But won't stop the guy r#%ing his daughter What a joke
You joke but it's a risk with light sentences like this. If a parent feels that their child won't receive justice then what motivation do they have for not taking matters into their own hands compared to the police.
Exactly A nature human response is someone in her family to attack or kill this "person" but no. You can't cause it's illegal So you rely on a jail sentence and when it's 11 months..... Its a bloody joke
Only if they are nice, well off, well presented white people, preferably with good lawyers.
Exactly. A middle-class white rapist is as much a monster as any other rapist.
Dude got 2 years for doing burnouts in Bendigo whilst this guy gets 1 for rape and another gets 4 for murder. What’s wrong with these magistrates.
Fuck that says it all really.
2 years for burnouts in bendigo? Got a source on that one for me? Because that's insane.
[Jail time](https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/bendigo/ben-william-hall-imprisoned-for-hooning-and-endangering-lives-on-bendigo-streets/news-story/a4899735eb43fbbdaa7c376711317918) Sorry it’s a HS link. But it’s the best I could do from work. You can just read before it asks to sign in what sentence he received.
[email protected]
who is that?
The Vic Attorney General
Another instance of mental health being brought up when it has no bearing.
Exactly, heaps of people, probably most people, have mental health conditions at some point and manage to not rape people. These pr!cks and their “demons”… need tougher sentences that include a serious mental health program. Helps those who need it and would be an annoying grind for those who used it as an excuse.
I cannot imagine the unrelenting pain that girl and her mother feels. The girl will be terrified and scarred for the rest of her life. They mother will live the rest of her life on the verge of (undeserved) suicide driven by guilt. This cunt should feel as much pain as possible.
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Put him in general population so he gets smashed and ended. Rock spiders deserve a miserable end.
Ah yes, solving violence with violence, the obvious solution to creating a less violent society. If you want to keep the community safe, then offenders with prospects of rehabilitation need to be rehabilitated, not tortured or abused so that they come out even worse offenders.
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Why solitary?
The judge didn't jail him as long because he thinks he will be hurt in jail because he looks like a child, so put him in solitary - where he's alone so can't get hurt and can serve his 15 years.
They should be more concerned about this guy hurting more children instead of getting targeted in prison for being a pedo. I don’t think him supposedly looking childlike should be taken into consideration at all. It’s discriminatory
15 years was the maximum sentence. This guy was sentenced to 1 year and time incarcerated was taken into account (so 11 months). Imagine being a judge and so openly condoning paedophilia.
That's not up to the judge
>That's not up to the judge who is it up to?
It would be up to Corrections. The judge doesn't have the power to make an order stipulating which parts of the prison a person is to serve sentence in.
Put into a room with no stimulus and no clock just the four walls and nothing but your thoughts not know how fast or slow time moves. It’s painful. The only thing worst is mental asylum solitary. Where your in a bright room padded with no window no clock all one colour the light never goes off and it’s completely soundproof. It can turn the most stable man into a drooling lunatic
That's an actual human rights abuse and I'm 99% sure is illegal in Australia. Please don't let us turn into the USA, where human rights are forgotten the second someone enters a prison, we're better than that.
If this was the US he'd have been shot already, so that'd be nice
For all we know, this rapist was abused as a child themself and was just continuing the cycle of abuse. Everyone in this sub is saying "what about the little girl", well if her trauma led to her committing crimes later in life, would you say that she deserved to be shot too?
Cool hypothetical. I'll bring you back to the reality that this is an adult man who is responsible for his actions, who purposefully targeted and raped a literal child (12 years old, body of a child, mind of a child, who had no idea what this adult was doing to them). She is actually the victim of terrible pain and abuse at the hands of this man - that actually happen. And nothing that you're hypothetically dreaming up about his supposed past extenuating circumstances, or her potential for future crimes which literally hasn't happened, can excuse his actions. I really can't understand why you're all over this comment section painting him as a forlorn figure deserving sympathy rather than appropriately condemning him for what he's done to an actual child. Wtf is wrong with you.
> I really can't understand why you're all over this comment section painting him as a forlorn figure deserving sympathy rather than appropriately condemning him for what he's done to an actual child. Wtf is wrong with you. What the fuck is wrong with you that makes you interpret my defence of the legal system as defending a pedophile? Seriously, are your thoughts so simple that you can't both condemn a person for the actions whilst also understand that their actions might be linked to abuse they themselves suffered? You seem to think that sympathy for the child should be first and foremost, but only so long as they conform to your idea of a "victim". If this poor girls trauma leads to her committing crimes, do you think that sympathy should disappear? They deserve sympathy for their trauma only until the trauma affects them in socially acceptable ways? You say he's responsible for his actions, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW THAT (and neither do I). If this poor girl ended up dying from an overdose due to her trauma, would you say she was responsible for her own death, or would you place the blame on the cause of her trauma? If yes, then what if instead of an overdose, she get's into a car accident, who's responsible then? It's called the cycle of abuse because IT'S A CYCLE. People are abused, experience trauma, then that trauma leads them to committing abuse against others. The only way to break the cycle to to accept that ABUSER ARE OFTEN VICTIMS THEMSELVES. Accepting that doesn't equate to making excuses, it means understanding the actual root of the issue, so that it can be properly addressed and the cycle can be broken.
You have no evidence that Tyler was sexually abused, this is a story you are telling yourself to feel better about what he's done, that is called cognitive dissonance. Regardless, he is not completely out of control of his actions even if he was. There are many more abuse victims than abusers, it is not a 1:1 guarantee that you are destined to be an abuser if you were abused, the 'cycle' is not an excuse. Responsible adults seek treatment for their mental health issues, they don't rape kids to alleviate them. Tyler deserves no sympathy or special treatment, though he has received special treatment, which is what makes this case so sickening. He has been convicted as a responsible adult so yes, there is evidence that he is in control and decided to commit this crime, otherwise he wouldn't have been tried and convicted as he was. What you are doing is rape apology 101 by centering the abusers story over the actual victims, devaluing the significance of his terrible crime, and making excuses/justifications for his actions. You are perpetuating the legal and societal systems that allow for sexual abuse crime to continually fail to be prosecuted equivalent as the heinous act it is. [A resource for you to help you grow.](https://students4sc.org/2020/07/27/understanding-rape-apology-and-dismantling-rape-myths/)
> You have no evidence that Tyler was sexually abused, and he is not completely out of control of his actions even if he was. https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/melbourne-mum-calls-out-system-over-babyfaced-rapists-light-sentence/8883fcfa-c7d4-4084-a92c-13e40f084a93#:~:text=16%2Dyear%2Dold.-,Judge,-Maidment%20accepted%20that > There are many more abuse victims than abusers, it is not a 1:1 guarantee that you are destined to be an abuser if you were abused, the 'cycle' is not an excuse. What the fuck is with everyone's obsession with "excuses"? What is going on in your head where acknowledging that there is additional context to a crime equates to making excuses? If someone steals food to feed their family, would you accuse them of making excuses? The literal entire reason we have judged determining sentences instead of just setting mandatory sentences for every crime is specifically because we understand that there can be factors that warrant offenders to receive lighter sentences. > Responsible adults seek treatment for their mental health issues, they don't rape kids to alleviate them. Spoken like someone with literally 0 experience dealing with mental health issues. People with mental health issues are probably the only people on the planet who get blamed for their illnesses. "Go get treatment" you say, but do you have any idea what that actually involves in Australia? Psychiatrists are specialists and are EXTREMELY hard to get appointments for. Just to get started on any serious treatment, you're going to be out of pocket by at least a few thousand dollars, assuming you can even find someone taking new customers. > Tyler deserves no sympathy This is the exact horse shit I'm talking about. Everyone deserves sympathy. People don't deserve to be judged their entire lives based on a single mistake, everyone deserves the chance to make up for their crimes. > He has been convicted as a responsible adult so yes, there is evidence that he is in control and decided to commit this crime Was he though? He took a plea deal, the terms of which we don't actually know. > What you are doing is rape apology 101 by centering the abusers story over the actual victims, devaluing the significance of his terrible crime, and making excuses/justifications for his actions. No, I'm not. I'm not making excuses and fuck you for accusing me of doing so. > You are perpetuating the legal and societal systems that allow for sexual abuse crimes to continually fail to be prosecuted equivalent to the heinous crime it is. Again, fuck you. People are like you are the reason why mental health issues are so badly stigmatised in this country. Because apparently you can't even talk about the role of mental health in criminal activity without being accused of being a rape apologist by random asshole who have NO FUCKING IDEA what they're talking about.
Sorry, no. Catfishing and raping a child is not a mistake, it’s a decision. He made a choice and these are the consequences. Most people deserve understanding and *empathy*, maybe not sympathy — I even have it for people who are child attracted. I do NOT have it for people who take steps to harm a child. You do not get to damage another person because you are damaged. You do not get to take the position of victim when you are the perpetrator. Unless you’re a rape victim yourself then you have absolutely no idea how this shapes your life. She will most likely struggle with trust and sexual dynamics well into her adult years. He gets 11 months of hardship? Nah, fuck that. This should be as heavy a sentence as a murder.
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That's just fucking wrong!
When I was 12 myself my rapist was sentenced to community service only as he was old and therefore "more vulnerable in prison". This weak ass sentencing has affected me to this day and is a surprisingly large factor in my trauma, knowing that if I were hurt again justice would not be carried out properly. It had left me feeling powerless in a system meant to protect me. Why are judges always so fucking leniant when it comes to child sex abuse cases (the answer here is obvious)
I'm sorry that happened to you.
Perhaps a letter writing campaign to the Attorney General? Is that the right person who would look into this if there was enough public outrage? Who would you write to? Obviously there's not enough being done by the courts to discourage this sort of atrocity. A public backlash would hopefully deter this sort of scum from doing something so vile in future, god knows the system isn't helping. I don't know what I'd do if my grandchild were touched by a slimeball like this.
can't wait to run into him on the street next year. also, the judge should have put him in for YEARS. not one year. fckn ridiculous not as ridiculous as the guy who raped 3 girls and didn't get any time though: https://7news.com.au/news/vic/why-victorian-man-was-spared-jail-after-sexually-abusing-three-girls-c-2317248
Absolutely disgusting. Basically just a slap on the wrist for a grown adult raping a child.
Just another day of the legal system being a total and utter failure.
Gonna assume he comes from some rich family with ties high up?
Have you not been paying attention, like at all?This is melbourne, criminals no matter of what class are important than law abiding citizens.
The only explanation
Please tell me there will be an appeal....
I’m really left wing politically however for CSA I would literally lock them up for life for repeat offenders, or the crime is so severe they should never be free or off board them. Society should be ashamed we place the rights of child predators & expense of locking them up above children’s safety.
Someone check the judges computer hard drive
On the one hand I don't think this guy should be punished by being raped in prison even if only for a year. On the other hand, I'm not sure why this kind of crime isn't punished with castration on a first offence.
I was just saying almost the exact same thing before I saw this! I don’t think anyone deserves to be raped. Rape in prison is a failure of the system. The threat should be removed before they’re released, given how likely they are to reoffend, especially child predators. I dunno why this isn’t a viable solution — I guess rights about bodily autonomy make it a weird moral grey area.
Slight and childlike.. almost like the little girl who just turned 12? As if this doesn't send a message about whose welfare is deemed more important.
Jfc. That poor young girl and her loved ones.
If that were my child I’d be waiting for him at the prison gates in 12 months
He should be castrated and the key thrown away. Where are the young girls rights? She gets a life sentence and this pedo gets only a year in jail.
These sentences...one day the family member of a victim is going to go full Gary Plauché.
This is fucked up
Weak as piss
Time to set a reminder for one year, just in case anyone runs into him in public...
Sometimes I wonder if the law system even considers psychological damage. That girl’s life became a lot more challenging than one year of prison. People who are raped are more likely to suicide… but this is suicide and technically not murder. Sexual assault reduces quality of life and can kill the victim, just a lot more slowly and invisibly.
Magistrates looking after their own once again
Australian magistrates are bollocks.
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Add to that u/Geoff_Uckersilf who has blown up my notifications claiming that I'm not listening to '[the other side of the story](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/160de3h/comment/jxsf6u5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)' (Tyler's side of the story) and that 'he's not like other rapists'. u/Geoff_Uckersilf also [blamed the distraught mother for the rape of her child](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/160de3h/comment/jxnzom4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). u/ SirSassy Cat (I can't tag him because the gutless cnt has blocked me) and Geoff are doing anything they can to place blame elsewhere or find a justification for rape, other than blaming the rapist himself. Both think that Tyler deserves sympathy and understanding because he has a mental health issue. For them both because they're so gutless that they've blocked me so I can't reply to their threads - there are no mental health issues that make you rape someone. There are no 'special case' rapists. This is especially true for someone who rapes a child. By supporting Tyler, or sympathising with him, or trying to diminish his accountability for this crime in anyway, you are enabling future rape to happen. You are in league with the pedos which makes you only one level above them, which is pretty fkn low.
In prison he's going to get passed around like a joint at a party. And it still won't be enough to make him pay for what he did.
Jesus fucking christ, I don't watch the news so first time hearing about this. Fuck that Judge and deviant little shit. 1 year for that, unbelievable...
He looks exactly like most 20 year old men to me? I.e. very very young and while at their full height, will probably fill out over the next 5 years. I dont see how that is a consideration. I dont know what the judge is smoking in saying that he looks considerably younger than his years. He could pass for school age, but that's only because 2 years ago he was in school.
Should have been put into the ground immediately and saved the taxpayer dollars
Niceeeee, breaking and entering, rape, child abuse, blackmail, probably a couple others only catch 12months?
When he gets out I'm sure there will be plenty of people lining up to administer some public justice. I hope his address is made publicly available. Little maggot
Tyler Sullivan is a convicted rapist and paedophile at age 20. This MF monster can never, ever be forgiven or forgotten. Tyler Sullivan, remember that name and repeat it frequently as you curse his scumbag arse!
‘Slight and childlike’ well, he'll have fun in prison...
what a nietzsche sentence
Was watching the news earlier about some brothers in NZ who SA something like 70 women, and they only got 16 years with a mandatory sentence of 8 years What sort of BS is that?! Should throw those mofos in a deep hole, and fill it with cement
We should have a tv reality show where we send all the judges into prison and see which one will survive
Funny he didn't have any ounce of concern for his victim.. why should we on his behalf?
This is so messed up to only get 1 year for raping a 12 year old. Children are literally the future, and those who would use them for sexual gratification have no place in any society. I don't understand how such a light sentence is justice for the victim and victim's family, nor does this sentence serve as a deterrent to any future pedophile rapists. This sentence is so light, there are pedophile rapists watching this news and thinking it's worth the risk. This is fucked
Imagine sentencing someone based on their appearance: who gives a flying fuck what he looks like? He’s an adult. Child rapists have a shit time in prison regardless. 11 months instead of 15 years, knowing that child predators are a huge reoffended risk. What a fucking disgrace.
Well said. Should be that If he re offends, both him and this Judge should get life in prison.
u/SirSassyCat is all over this comment section espousing that Tyler just needs a couple of years of therapy and he'll be right as rain so nothing wrong with this sentence. Not sure why he's so keen to defend a convicted child predator.
The fact that you equate defending the legal system with defending a child predator should be enough for you to realise that you're out of line. At no point have I ever indicated that I agree with the sentence, because I don't. My arguments have only ever been that people on this sub are asking for vengeance, not justice, that the goal should always be rehabilitation first, punishment second and that random people on the internet don't have a better understanding of justice than a literal judge.
Almost every single person has pointed out that the sentence is in-line with neither community expectations or the prescribed mid-high range of the possible sentences given it's nature. We get it - you either REALLY don't want a sexual predator of children to face any punishment or fancy yourself a lawyer (you're not). Go back to playing video games mate, it's what you know
> Almost every single person has pointed out that the sentence is in-line with neither community expectations or the prescribed mid-high range of the possible sentences given it's nature. Then it will be appealed. It isn't fucking rocket science. If the sentence is determined to be less than is warranted, then it can be increased. > We get it - you either REALLY don't want a sexual predator of children to face any punishment or fancy yourself a lawyer (you're not) OK, so everyone here is saying they know better than a literal judge and I'M the one pretending to be a lawyer. But just so you know, what I am is someone who's experienced mental illness both first hand and second hand. Someone who understands that trauma can fuck you up and cause you do do things you wouldn't normally do, especially when not treated properly. Someone who understands that treatment CAN actually change a person. Because I can tell you right now, each and every one of you would change in ways you cannot imagine if you experienced significant enough trauma. You would do things you could never have imagined doing, because significant enough trauma can very quickly turn into the single biggest factor in everything you do. The nicest person you ever met can turn into a violent abuser, the funniest, most outgoing person can literally become to scared to speak. It is in fact the thing that makes their crime so heinous, the trauma he's afflicted on that little girl could potentially change the course of her entire life. But just like we shouldn't judge that poor little girl for the actions that her trauma might lead her into doing, so too should we account for the rapist's own trauma when determining accountability. It's called empathy and everyone deserves it, even when you would rather not think of them as human.
Don't worry buddy, vengeance is all they know.
"Hitler loved his wife, and I think loving your wife is a virtuous thing" "Dont know why you're defending a literal mass murderer". He's not defending a convicted child predator, he's attacking the idea of vengeance being the motivator for sentencing. If you're too emotionally invested in the news that your reading comprehension is so negatively affected as to not understand that, I wouldn't advise making a call out post against them and announcing your affliction for all to see.
Holy shit bro you just get worse and worse, you actually live in the same city as me? How the fuck are you real? Why'd you bring Hitler up? Literally what are you? You're like a 13 year old boy and narcissism rolled up into a neat little redditor ball. Every message reeks of "i'm smarter than everyone else"
Are you gonna address any point I made or are you gonna just virtue signal to everyone else about how holier than thou or sick I am or whatever? The fact that I brought Hitler up and that that's getting to you is emblematic of too much emotional investment ruining the conversation. I used Hitler to make a point, that's pretty obvious.
Wasn't calling you holier than thou, i called you several things but not that so it's interesting you came up with that one. Every reply you make proves my idea of you more correct, you're literally feeding me ammo to throw back at you. You use phrases like virtue signal and call me emotionally invested when i ask why Hitler was randomly mentioned for a sloppy analogy, that makes me think you're more like what you're implying i am, than i am. I didn't address any of your points made because you weren't addressing them to me, i was already having a separate discussion with you, i just scrolled further down the comment section and saw your reply and was incredulous that it could get worse, so i took the opportunity to voice my disbelief
Nice misdirection, but u/SirSassyCat has also expressed that Tyler Sullivan is a sympathetic character who was '[just fulfilling the cycle of abuse](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/160de3h/comment/jxmmrm3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)' when he raped a child, so as to remove Tyler's accountability for his crime. u/SirSassyCat claims that Tyler was abused as child himself and deserves sympathy as a victim of child abuse, **based on absolutely no evidence at all**. Like totally pulling it from fucking thin air, Tyler's defence counsel didn't saying Tyler was abused, you'd think that if he was they'd have tried to use it in his defence, but they didn't because it didn't happen. But u/SirSassyCat has built a whole fantasy argument of sympathy for Tyler based on this while willfully ignoring the actual facts of the case that this was a premediated attack against a very young child. All to defend a child rapist. So there's a subtext to what he's doing here and why he's even saying these things. What is motivating him to ignore the very real and heinous thing Tyler has done when playing out hypothetical thought experiments to defend a rapist. The mental gymnastics he (and you) are going through to justify why you're saying any of what you're saying is ridiculous. And regardless of whatever goal anyone defines as why we put people in prison - be it rehabilitation, punishment/vengeance, deterrence, segregation from society to protect society - whatever it may be (and there are many theories on what function prison serves, not just rehabilitation as u/SirSassyCat is clinging to), at the end of the day **1 year of prison for such a serious crime as child rape is not enough to achieve any of these goals**, and children will be at risk again very soon, and his victim's safety has been valued lower than the criminal himself. There is no possible defense for this sentence, it is a total failing of the justice system to protect sex crime victims.
This is either comical or sad, writing all this shit when you can't even read or interpret a nuanced argument about rehabilitation, jump to the wrong conclusions and instead build an army of strawmen arguments. Truly sad.
Hopefully he gets a cell with Adrian Bayley, they can discover the joys of prolapsed anus.
Quite disappointing really.
That makes no sense. How about lock him up for life without bail and make sure he's in a safe prison?
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What the hell is the relevance? Did this guy ACCIDENTALLY rape the child? If not shut up.
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A .22 would solve this
The number of legal experts on this page is astonishing . I have rarely seen so many outside of Facebook !
The judge is probably a pedophile and wants his fellow man not to go to jail
And you wonder why people kill people, if justice doesn’t fit the crime then people will do things how they want
I am absolutely against vigilante justice but if you are going to give 6 months for that woman who killed someone in her car when she shouldn't have been driving, and 12 months for this at some point along the line you will end up with people completely disillusioned with the system who then seek out to right the wrongs that they perceive the courts have committed with their judgements.
i swear criminals in this country have more rights than the average citizen
The real question of criminal punishment isn't just community standards or deterrent factors, at the end of the day it is a complicated process with over 9 factors that the courts have to consider. As far as I can see the judgement isn't on Austlii yet but there's always more than a headline to a person's life and what made them commit the crime they did. Not to underestimate how horrific it must be for the girl but our courts don't do mob mentality. I don't think any of us have actually had the judge or Magistrates' position where someone's life is in your hands and needless to say that it's not a sentence they would make because it's popular. I'd also wager most of us haven't been to prison and can't even really consider the weight of spending a night let alone a year there. All this is to say there's always more to this than meets the eye, read the judgement when it comes out and see if you agree with the court then.
There is no extenuating circumstances for raping a child. None Not a single one Put him in a cage and fill that cage up to 1.5m with water and drain it for 15 minutes a day so he can eat and then fill it back up.
And during all of that, you managed not one single word for the 12 year old, who now has to try to navigate life with this trauma. Do you know how high the suicide rate is for ppl who experienced CSA? I don't give a flying whatsit what this dude's background is. His sentence is far too lenient, and he deserves to rot in jail. No person's circumstances excuse CSA. No. Person.
>Not to underestimate how horrific it must be for the girl Please read what I have said, at the end of the day if torturing pedos and flogging them on the streets was effective at making our communities safer and preventing these crimes happening then I would whistle a different tune.
I apologise. I missed the 10 words you saved for the victim Please read what I have said... I said nothing about torturing or flogging. I said he deserves to rot in jail
Same principle at the end of the day, putting someone in jail isn't free it costs thousands upon thousands of dollars. Those are dollars that can't go towards other areas. Just look to America to see what overpopulation in prison can do. Honestly I do respect that you're at least not advocating for the death penalty to be returned and if it was my daughter I'd agree with with every ounce of my being. But the answer is **complicated** that's what I wanted people to appreciate before their bloodlust took hold.
He’s going to learn how bad rape is in jail. The perfect punishment
As much as this guy is a worthless piece of shit (as a rape victim myself) I don’t think anyone deserves to be raped. He needs more time. If I had my own way in my own (perhaps twisted) logic, I think child rapists should have a requirement for release that they remove the threat and chemically (or physically) castrate before release. That seems like a more logical punishment to me.
The Australian justice system is inherently broken - if you engage with criminal lawyers regularly through work you'll notice the vast, vast majority of them come from either insanely privileged backgrounds or have approached the justice system with pre-conceived and unshakeable notions that criminals are always victims of circumstance and just need a chance to change, or a combination of both factors. More often than not, you'll find lawyers and judges when engaged at length consider their role as more within the line of social work. The problem's always been exacerbated by the widespread belief that restorative justice and rehabilitation are the ONLY factors we need to think about. There's multiple people in this thread saying this very thing. It's a complete aberration of the system itself, and it disregards both the fact that sentences do need to act as a deterrent and more importantly as a safeguard for wider society. We see this constantly with dangerous/drunk/drug driving offences in the dozens being suspended over and over again for offenders prior to them inevitably killing someone on the road. I encourage anyone who actually does want to do some reading to go and actually read the main studies that we've used to advocate for restorative justice for decades now. They're some of the most blatantly biased and cherry-picked documents I've ever seen, and essentially use a few cases of 'the offender stopped offending and the victim/family was happy with that!' whilst disregarding the absolutely vast majority of victims who are disgusted by the approach or who ask for the DPP to appeal the light sentence.
He will be treated like that in prison. That year can't end fast enough for him.