By Dr. T
It appears that the answer is NOT. If the most recent high profile cases of acquaintance rape on university campuses are any indication, then rape is not the crime it is purported to be. And the so-called “justice” handed down is far more sympathetic to the perpetrators than it is to the victims. Two years ago, Austin Wilkerson promised friends of a fellow University of Colorado-Boulder student, who was under the influence of alcohol, that he’d make sure she got home okay. Instead, he raped her, while she drifted in and out of consciousness, and then lied about what he had done.
In the past weeks, Wilkerson, 22, was convicted of sexual assault of a helpless victim and unlawful sexual contact. The law said he should face a possible prison sentence of four years to life. However, a judge in Boulder, Colorado, instead of meting out punishment in line with the sentencing guidelines, decided to sentence Wilkerson to two years on work release and 20 years probation. Work release prescribes that Austin Wilkerson is basically “free” to leave the jail each day for daily activities related to work and worker training and then return to the jail each evening to spend the night. A type of “jail sleepover”! What? Yes, Judge Patrick Butler said he “struggled with the idea of putting Wilkerson behind bars” mainly because he didn’t know that any great result would come of it for anybody. The Judge said he realized Mr. Wilkerson deserved to be punished, but his concern was whether or not Wilkerson could be rehabilitated. That was the Judge’s concern? What about the victim of this heinous crime? What about her life, her prospects for success and rehabilitation? By the attitude and pronouncement of Judge Butler, RAPE was less of the crime in this case than whether or not the life of the Rapist would be irreparably damaged by sentencing him to jail time in accordance with the recommended sentencing guidelines. Unbelievable. The Rapist was afforded MORE consideration than the woman who was raped.
This case can be compared to the recent Stanford University case where Brock Turner, a student, was found guilty of three felony sexual assault charges and sentenced to just six months in jail with three years probation. Again, alcohol was involved and the student victim was unconscious during the rape and assault. In Nashville, Tennessee, two former Vanderbilt football players who were convicted in January of raping an unconscious fellow student have been released from jail on bond. In all of these cases, family and friends vehemently defended these convicted rapists. They all appealed to the 
Court for leniency. In the case of Austin Wilkerson, friends and family claimed that the crime was a “traumatic incident” for him. They asked the judge to consider that Wilkerson has a promising future, and that he should not be defined by this one “incident.” In all of these cases, the judges went outside of the recommended guidelines in order to exercise their judicial prerogative in favor of the convicted rapist instead of the traumatized victims. In all of these cases, and many more like them, “justice” was arbitrary and the trauma, violence and physical and psychological humiliation inflicted upon the victims of these rapes was NOT considered as important or qualitatively equivalent to the lives and future viability of the men who assaulted and raped them.
This must not be allowed to Stand. The victimization of women and girls MUST end. In a civilized society that touts itself as the world’s “last best hope” for peace, justice and equality, women and girls must be valued, respected and given the fullness of citizenship that requires equal pay, equal access and equal JUSTICE. Either RAPE is a crime or it is NOT.