Blows my mind.
So his college cost of attendance went down with the free room and board he’s receiving - weird!
Ugh. Why do we not take rape seriously in 2016? Why is this still a thing that can happen?!
Victim blaming and rape culture at its finest, ladies and gents. Rape culture isn’t just overt blaming, it’s also these snide little comments thrown in.
Saw this last night and some quote from the judge about not wanting to ruin his life. (by imposing consequences for raping someone!)
What can we do? I have no idea any more.
I forwarded this to a Denver TV journalist – it’d be at least some tiny measure of justice if the story got traction beyond Boulder’s little bubble
Did I miss something? It sounds like he got 2 years in prison w/work release and twenty years probation…I don’t think that is easy or harsh for a first offense. Now if he would have gotten 2 years probation and no jail time I think we’d have something to argue about. I’m assuming his work release will be for the hours that he is in class and then right back to to the jail for two years…at least that is how work release “works” in my state. Also not said in the article is whether or not he has a school to go to, if not it’s into the working world. Without looking at data from the state of Colorado and various judgements against young sexual assault offenders it’s impossible to say whether this judge was “inside” or “outside” the norm and whether or not this young man will even be able to continue at a college near a jail.
Sentencing cases are always tough. My gut reaction is to lock offenders up. Then I remember that the U.S. has the largest prison population in the world, and I try to rethink that stance.
According to the article, the Judge sentenced Wilkerson to 2 years in jail, during which he may be released to go to school or work during the day, and 20 years to life of probation. Depending on the terms of probation, that could be quite onerous. He also now has a felony record.
It’s often hard for people to accept that punishing a criminal is only a part of sentencing. Sentencing is a policy decision of society that weighs a number of factors. Rehabilitation is another, and deterrence another. Vengeance is usually not an aim. Sentencing isn’t about restoring victims, giving them closure, or doing what they think is right. Frankly, my instinct is still to lock up rapists, but I think it’s worth noting that many other countries would consider this sentence substantial, and they generally have better crime rates than we do.
“On March 15, 2014, Wilkerson sexually assaulted a female student after she had too much to drink at a St. Patrick’s Day party while telling her friends he would take care of her.”
I don’t think it’s rape culture or victim-blaming or snide for a report on a sentencing to state the circumstances of the crime. This was defined as a “helpless victim” rape under Colorado law. It’s a specific category within the Colorado sexual assault code and determines the class of the felony. If she hadn’t been incapacitated, the facts wouldn’t have met the definition of this crime. If the perpetrator had forced the incapacitation, that would have been a different, more severe crime. So the reporter can’t even explain what crime he was convicted of without explaining her incapacitation and how it came to be.
If the article had said, “She had sex with eight different guys that semester” or “She wasn’t wearing underwear to the party” or “She told her friend Wilkerson was super hot,” then I’d agree with you about the victim blaming. But the language you take issue with is an essential legal fact.
Laws can very well codify rape culture. Example: spousal rape still not being completely illegal in all states.
I stick by what I said about it being emblematic of rape culture.
Not familiar with the specific details of this case at all.
But I see that the pre-sentencing report from the probation department recommended that the guy get no prison time (or maybe no jail time – the press report I saw was a bit vague on the prison/jail distinction).
So the judge’s decision of two years living at the jail except for daytime school/work appears to be in line with precedent rather than an outlier.
Anyone know exactly what kind of sexual assault incident this was? Given the consistency between the judge and the probation department, my hunch is that this sexual assault was something other than having intercourse with an unconscious victim.
Just a question. How easy is it for convicted felons to enroll at a college or university?
Since many colleges are open admission (e.g. community colleges) or only minimally selective by only basic stats, probably not hard.
A record of this kind of crime may cause concern with respect to living in frosh dorms and the like at a residential school, although a convicted felon trying to turn himself/herself around with college education would likely attend commuter-based community colleges and universities, and would probably not be interested in living in the dorms at all even if attending a school with dorms.
I wasn’t sure as a convicted sex offender if he would be restricted from being a residential student.
For campus dorms, that would depend on the campus dorm policies, if any, on the subject. Of course, many residential students at many colleges live off-campus, so any limitations would be based on whether the off-campus housing landlords have any such policies. State or local law may also restrict registered sex offenders from living in certain places, regardless of whether on-campus or off-campus landlords have restrictions.
Of course, convicted felons who do go to college are likely to be older non-traditional students, rather than recent high school graduates looking for the residential college experience.
Local Colorado station had a very short report on this – not much more info than in the article linked above. But certainly more visibility.
For the next two years, Wilkerson would be restricted from being a residential student because he has to spend his nights in jail.
Thanks @cardinalfang It was more a general question as we hear of more rapes on campus by younger offenders .
I wanted to make the case that Judge Butler regarded rape as a less serious offense than other crimes, so I used Google to look up sentences he had imposed for other crimes.
Turns out, the crimes for which he imposes criminal sentences, at least the ones reported in the paper, are heinous. Most would agree they are worse than rape.
A guy who beat up and robbed his girlfriend’s other flame got probation. Two guys who beat up a Jewish man who refused to remove his yarmulke got a few days in jail and a long probation. The defendants who got long sentences in Butler’s court were murderers.
“Laws can very well codify rape culture”
Of course they can. Are you arguing that this one does? Is it rape culture to distinguish a victim who is incapacitated by her own hand from one drugged by force? That’s all this law says. It defines all the different methods of rape and forbids them one by one.
We discussed registered sex offenders being admitted to college at length on another thread. The upshot is, community or online college might happen, but even schools that admit 99% of applicants are likely to say no. If a particular sex offender is not permitted to be around minors, then he cannot be on most campuses, even CCs. Every “open enrollment” school can choose to exclude students if it wants to.