Summary
A French court sentenced Dominique Pelicot, 72, to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping his ex-wife, Gisele Pelicot, and arranging for other men to rape her while unconscious over nearly a decade.
Of the 51 co-defendants, all were found guilty, with sentences ranging from less than 10 years to 20.
The trial, marked by shocking evidence, spurred national debate on rape culture and consent laws.
Gisèle’s courage in waiving anonymity has galvanized feminist movements, with campaigners calling her a national hero for sparking societal and legal reflection on sexual violence.
In Germany at least, jail time doesn’t scale linearly with the count of crimes or victims. Jail time isn’t primarily meant as revenge or punishment, but more as the time required to revisit the mistakes you did and to make you again a functional member of society.
It won’t necessarily make a difference if you murder one person or 10 or 100. Typically, the sentence will be 15 years. If the judge thinks you’re too dangerous to ever be released again they can order you to stay in prison after the 15 years end (“Sicherheitsverwahrung”) but also this decision will be revisited at some point.
Dear Americans;
This is what happens when your prisons don’t rely on private profit motives to operate.
Signed: The civilised world.
Are German prisons as scary as US (from what I’ve seen on TV) prisons or South African Prisons?
I’d rather die than spend two seconds in Pollsmoor prison.
I’ve seen a 60 minutes episode comparing German and US prisons on YouTube can recommend.
It’s very different.
No, I think there are some that are comparable to mid-class hotels and some that are a lower standard. But in general none should be as bad that you’d rather die if you didn’t want to die before your imprisonment.
Yes and rightfully so. The punishment is taking away the freedom to move and not torture or slavery as it can be in the US.
Nope, not even close from what I hear about the US prison system. It still sucks obviously and we just had a scandal in Augsburg where inmates have been tortured (beatings, not enough water provided, forced to stay naked, sleep on the floor etc).