Why Is Sexual Crime Treated More "Leniently" than Drug-Related Crime?

ShiftStorm

I read this article: http://http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/scottishborn-madam-charged-with-running-multimillion-dollar-manhattan-prostitution-ring-3041198.html

and was surprised to see that the Madam in question will be given maximum 7 years time in prison if convicted.

Can anyone explain to me the reasons why drug-related crimes are given up to 20+ years but prostitution and sexual crimes are treated leniently in comparison?

neuro-praxis

Sentencing is a matter of precedent (what went before) and the discretion of the judge involved (with all their own personal prejudices in tow).

Btw, what case are thinking of that got 20+ years for drugs? I've never come across anything that severe.

PseudoFamous

Your title is back to front.

ShiftStorm

Thanks Pseudofamous - unfortunately I can't edit it now!

Ta for the explanation N-P, I guessed as much. But why has precedence gone this way?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0217/breaking32.html

In this article, Gilligan is sentenced to 28 years for drugs-related offences and not for any of his other crimes.

neuro-praxis

My guess is that it's political. "Drugs" is considered a prominent social issue. It's something people feel they can talk about and something people tend to have an opinion about - it's also something that visibly affects individuals and communities. Wealthy people fear that their children will get wrapped up in it and therefore a zero-tolerance attitude can prevail, beginning with propaganda campaigns at school (full of misinformation about drugs).

Sexual crimes however are hidden, and it is often (although not always) those already caught up in poverty (and therefore invisible to "decent" society) who are victims of it. Failing that, sexual crimes, for whoever has to endure them, are covered in pain and humiliation, and therefore people are less likely to make them a hot topic.

If sexual crimes were to become something that people spoke to politicians about, and having a policy on addressing sexual crimes was something discussed in the run up to elections, I expect there would be a push for harsher sentencing. If politicians needed to have a stance on the issue in order to garner votes, I reckon they would certainly do something about it.

Just a few thrown-together thoughts on the matter! You might get more interest in the Humanities forum.

MissFlitworth

byrned17 wrote: »

In this article, Gilligan is sentenced to 28 years for drugs-related offences and not for any of his other crimes.

I'm not 100% familiar with the Gilligan case (for which I am scarlet) but I think the reason he didn't get a sentence for any of his other crimes is that there wasn't enough evidence to convict him for them. In Ireland there are minimum sentences for convictions for drug related offences when you're convicted of selling for the purposes of sale or supply. . Gilligan would be a bit of a special case drugs wise cos he'd brought in 180kg (that he was caught for) of cannabis resin, so he would have a fairly extreme sentence.

From the judgement

"With regard to the charges in relation to possession for the purpose of sale or supply, which offence carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, this court feels that the offences must be dealt with severity. Even if one has regard to the 180 kilograms involved in the six charges, those drugs would have street value of well over one million pounds. The surrounding circumstances clearly show that the accused had a serious involvement in organised crime. While it was not the law at the time these offences were committed, it is now the law that possession for the purpose of sale or supply of as little as £10,000 worth of cannabis resin warrants a 10 year sentence unless there are exceptional circumstances. This, of course, is not in any way binding on us, but we think it can be used to give some sense of proportion to the sentence that was actually imposed on the applicant."

How do Irish prostitution/sex crime cases normally get sentenced? The article you linked to initially is for an American case so the sentence there wouldn't really be comparable to what happens here

Rothmans

Sex crimes are treated just as harshly as drug-related offences.
Two things spring to mind here. Smuggling huge amounts heroin/cocaine etc has the potential to harm a hell of a lot more people than a single sex offence.
Additionally, it is very difficult for the prosecution to be successful in a rape case as it is often very difficult to prove rape, given that it is often one person's word against another's.
In fact, it is estimated that in Ireland, for every conviction of rape, 99 more incidents of rape go unreported/unprosecuted/ unsuccessfully prosecuted.

cson

Rothmans wrote: »

In fact, it is estimated that in Ireland, for every conviction of rape, 99 more incidents of rape go unreported/unprosecuted/ unsuccessfully prosecuted.

You're going to have to substantiate that; that sounds far too high.