A judge's decision not to imprison three teenage boys for the gang rape of two girls, citing a desire to avoid 'criminalising' them, has sparked outrage. Sarah Vine, writing on the Daily Mail's Alas Vine & Hitchens podcast, argued this shows how far British society has sunk.
The Case and Sentencing
Last week, it emerged that three boys—two aged 14 and one 13 at the time of the attacks—were spared prison by Judge Nicholas Rowland. The judge cited their age, good behaviour during the trial, low intelligence, and one boy's ADHD diagnosis. The boys had lured two teenage girls to meet them, raped them, and filmed the attacks on their phones. A knife was used during the second assault. The sentences, handed down at Southampton Crown Court, triggered a public backlash and a referral by the Attorney General to the Court of Appeal over concerns they were 'unduly lenient'.
Vine's Reaction
Speaking to co-host Peter Hitchens, Vine described the sentence as 'extraordinary' and linked the boys' actions to the corrosive effects of online pornography. 'The judge seems to have prioritised the boys' wellbeing over the wellbeing of the victims, who are very young too,' she said. 'They will have to deal with not only the act itself, but also the fact that it has been widely shared and therefore, they have been very roundly humiliated and abused. This is a thing that will follow them around for the rest of their lives.'
Vine added: 'I think a lot of society's problems stem from the unfettered access we allow children to very violent online porn. If you drill into this case and you look at the children's behaviour, you can see the behaviours and norms that exist in the world of online pornography. I think if you are old enough to rape someone, you are old enough to go to jail for it and I hope, when they review this case, that they do all get custodial sentences. This is absolutely an example of how things are just completely collapsing, not only in our justice system but in our society.'
Victim's Account
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, one of the victims, now 15, said she can 'always feel their hands' on her and 'can't sleep at night'. Her parents are calling for the attackers to be jailed, with her father saying the case will have a 'lifelong impact' on his daughter and the family, amounting to 'a life sentence for her'.
Hitchens' View
Hitchens broadly agreed with Vine, describing Britain's criminal justice system as 'street theatre'. He said: 'This is one of those flashes of lightning where the actual nature of the system is revealed. The justice system doesn't really affect an awful lot of criminals at all, most are never detected, never prosecuted and never punished. The Roy Jenkins revolution of the 1960s replaced what used to be called the due punishment of responsible persons… with a social work approach where crime is the result of an unfortunate upbringing, bad housing conditions and abuse. There's always an excuse for it.'
He continued: 'Rape is a crime that the left quite rightly reviles as much as the right… there are many other cases of hideous crimes, where defenceless people have been treated horribly by criminals, where those criminals have been let off in a similar way. It's not just this - as I said, this is a flash of lightning over the landscape that for a second, allows you to see how horrible the system is. If political conservatism had any sense, it would have tackled this years ago.'
To hear Vine and Hitchens' arguments in full, search for Alas Vine & Hitchens now, wherever you get your podcasts.
