Should "pretty" people be sent to jail for raping children?

[NNN0LHI]

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-11-22T175933Z_01_BAU264754_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-TEACHER.xml

Florida woman gets probation for sex with student

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Debra LaFave, a former Florida school teacher, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to having sex with a 14-year-old male student and was sentenced to 10 years of community control and probation.

LaFave, 25, pleaded guilty to committing two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on the Greco Middle School student.

LaFave could have been sentenced to 30 years or more in prison if she had been convicted in a trial, which had been scheduled to begin next month in Tampa.

LaFave's attorney, John Fitzgibbons, made headlines in July when he said his client was too pretty to survive prison. "To place an attractive young woman in that kind of hell-hole is like placing a piece of raw meat in with the lions," he said then.

[matcom]

1. if its rape, sure

i'm leaning twords consensual in this case however

[ComerPerro]

2. There's no such thing as consensual sex with a 14 year old

She is a sex offender, and should be treated as such.

She should get the same treatment as a male teacher of the same age having sex with a 14 year old female student.

[matcom]

4. i'm not going to get into a flame war over this

so don't bother.

i disagree that a 14 year old can consent. i lost it at 14 (no, not to a hot teacher) but i, and the girl i was with, certainly consented.

i'm done. i'll watch you all duke it out over this

[ComerPerro]

10. Well done

on losing it at 14

;)

[LincolnMcGrath]

22. predator

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5437587&mesg_id=5437587

[NNN0LHI]

5. This sentencing guidelines for this woman said she should have got...

...14 years hard time. This is bullshit what they did here.

Don

[ComerPerro]

9. She won't get that. And, besides,

given all the nation's rhetoric about sexual predators and sex offenders, I'm not suprised at all by the sentencing guidelines.

I'm not saying 14 years is justified.

But I don't think she should get off with just a warning. I'd say at least some jail time is in order.

I think they should do to her whatever they would do to a male teacher in this same situation.

[NNN0LHI]

13. 14 years is what a male teacher would have received in this case

That is exactly what she should have got. Anything less sets a bad precedent. I might have a hard time even convicting a man of a similar crime if I were on a jury after seeing this.

Don

[ComerPerro]

17. I'm not very familiar with the case, so I don't know all the details

[mnmoderatedem]

38. If I understand correctly

The victim's family agreed to the plea deal and light sentence to avoid the media circus for the victime. Otherwise she may be facing hard time. So the "double standard" idea may be a bit overblown as far as the sentencing is concerned. Clearly there's a societal double standard in place though...

[JI7]

7. i don't think statutory rape where both sides consent is as bad

as rape where it's forced and no sides consent. it should still be punishable for the adult. but i still think there is a difference in offensiveness.

and the comments from her attorney about being too pretty for jail is just ignorant.

[ComerPerro]

12. Please don't misunderstand

There is a very clear difference between statutory rape and actual, physical rape.

What I am saying, though, is that we seem to be in agreement that in cases like this the adult should be punished.

[tvfipp]

19. We in the Tampa area are nauseated!

Her Attorney's continued rhetoric about being too pretty to go to prison??? Give us a break. I guess she'll set the "pretty defense" precedent - sorry your Honor this person is too pretty to be in prison for murder.
Watching her smirk during the courthouse exit interview she was grinning like the Cheshire Cat, rolling her eyes when her Attorney stated she would continue with her Psychiatric treatment.
This chick showed no remorse, her statement of repent was flat, scripted and contrite.
There is definitely discrimination of all kinds and in all facets of life in this country. Shame on the lame Prosecutor for such a tiny slap on her wrist and a slap on our mutual faces. Crap she does not even need to wear a monitor (unlike Martha - sorry Marthe guess you are not "too pretty" The boys mother wanted to keep him away from the embarrassment of trial, understood, but this Prosecutor had enough evidence to demand a min. of 3 years in prison w/o the boys testimony.
Being a woman I can honestly say this bitch is a disgrace to my sex.:wtf:

[ComerPerro]

23. Welcome to DU

[NNN0LHI]

3. So if your 14 year old daughter had sex with a 25 year old man...

...who also happened to be her teacher you would just write it off as consensual and say it was alright?


Don

[wakeme2008]

15. Right had that been Male teacher and 14 girl

There would be no question about jail time.

[Greyhound]

25. OK I don't have a daughter, but I'll answer as requested.

I wouldn't be happy about it, but if everything else was the same (nobody was hurt, everybody wanted it) I wouldn't want him imprisoned. Every woman is somebody's daughter and they all screw some of the wrong people, it's life and you deal with it.

[NNN0LHI]

27. I raised 2 daughters and if one of their teachers had had sex...

...with one of them when they were 14 years old I would have wanted the person in prison to discourage any other teachers from doing the same thing to any other kids. Thank you for answering.

Don

[Lochloosa]

30. Good that you don't have a daughter.

It's rape, plain and simple. Male, Female it does not matter. It's the law.

[Greyhound]

34. Calling this rape diminishes the atrocity of rape. n/t

[Oceansaway]

6. i agree !!

[Greyhound]

8. This case is not about pretty people.

Nor was there any rape in the true sense of the word. All of the sex was consensual and the judge was right.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Answer the question in post #3 if you don't mind n/t

[stray cat]

14. Don't forget bipolar mentally ill women

Not an excuse but perhaps an extenuating circumstance for sentencing and she will never teach again and the student doesn't have to go through a very public court case.

[EFerrari]

28. Factoid: It takes an average of 8 years for bi-polar people

to get the right combination of medications to stabilize them.

That's the AVERAGE.

[NNN0LHI]

32. She should have been given credit for any extenuating circumstances

Just as anyone else convicted of the crime of having sex with a child should be given. Problem is her lawyer wanted and received even more time off her sentence because of her prettiness. What do you think about that?

And if everyone was as worried about going through the very public court case as you suggest this student is, no rapists would ever go to jail.

Don

[BlueIris]

35. Yeah, but...and while I am not intimately familiar with the circumstances

of this case, or how her bi-polar disorder may or may not have factored in--look, I have a great deal of sympathy for bi-polar sufferers, particularly those who find themselves in the grip of disorienting hypersexuality during manic phases. I don't buy that her disorder should be a mitigating factor in her scentence. A normal adult during a hypersexual, manic state would choose partners her age, not children over and over and over again. She's still a child molestor, no matter how many victims the manic state might have motivated her to seek out.

[Ganja Ninja]

16. Pretty people are like the rich.

Their crimes are just not as heinous.:sarcasm: It's how I manage to stay out of jail.:shrug:

[bunkerbuster1]

18. Only the little people do jail time

With very rare exceptions.

[Greyhound]

26. Truer words were never spoken. n/t

[WinkyDink]

20. Let's see...Gary Glitter might face a FIRING SQUAD, and ole Deb here

fulfills many men's retroactive dreams.

Justice, blind, etc.

[SheilaT]

21. What I don't understand

is how any woman over the age of about 18 would find a fourteen year old boy sexually attractive. Yuck.

Which has nothing to do with consent or sentencing guidelines or anything anyone else has commented on, but I still don't get it.

[BlueIris]

31. Those women would find the boys attractive because they're pedophiles.

Well, actually, and DU psychologists can correct me if they wish, I believe that a child molestor attracted to prepubescent children is a pedophile, and a molester attracted to pubsecent children is a haebophile. This woman may fall into the latter category--and then there's the issue of her alleged bi-polar disorder.

But, a person with a psyche damaged enough to think it's acceptable to have sex with minors isn't doing it because they find the minors "attractive" in the sense a normal person finds his/her partners attractive, they suffer from permanently warped mentalities. It's not an attraction for their victims in the sense we define normal attraction among healthy people.

[populistdriven]

24. I agree she should go to prison but there is a biological problem here

Strictly scientificly speaking, if the human race were incapable of sex before the age of 18 we would have gone extinct a long time ago.

Everyone chooses to ignore this fact on both sides of the issue.

[NNN0LHI]

29. Then try and change the laws. I have no problem with that

If that is what people want I say go for it. Though I doubt I would vote for any lawmaker who was promoting the idea of making it legal for 25 year old teachers to be having sex with their 14 year old students. As a matter of fact I would be stridently against such an idea.

Don

[MadHound]

33. Well, isn't this a fine double standard

I know full well that if I were twenty five, and had consensual sex with a fourteen year old girl, I would be headed to jail, more than likely for a long time.

Yet this woman gets off with a slap on the wrist:wtf: I'm sorry, but this is a hypocritical double standard, period. And yes, at fourteen, if I had had such an encounter it would have been a wet dream come true. However, for many young girls, having sex with a cute twenty five year old man would be the same.

If we're going to enforce these laws, and there is some debate as to whether or not we should rewrite our laws, then we need to enforce them equitably. And we all should remember one fact, boys mature emotionally at a slower rate than girls, therefore the potential for damage is greater.

And as far as her lawyer's statement about "too pretty to survive prison", well, isn't that another fine double standard. Many many good looking guys are thrown in jail each and every day. It sets a bad precedence to hand down this double standard in this case. A woman getting off because of her looks is absolutely ridiculous, and should be an offense against both men and women.

[mmonk]

Wasn't this about the victim's parents

wanting to go ahead with a plea bargain to avoid publicity? I think you're making much more about this than is there. Do I think there should be more punishment? Yes. I don't however, agree that this is the premise (pretty person able to avoid harsher punishment) of what happened, however.

[Catherine Vincent]

36. Then that pretty piece of meat shouldn't have had sex with a 14 year old

That just goes to show you that the well off and/or petty ones get away with everything.

[graywarrior]

37. LaFave is fulfilling the terrible loss of missing blond girls

She MUST be set free. She's a symbol that blond girls can, and will, be saved.

[lonestarnot]

39. Did you leave out the family money aspect? Not sure if this is the case

but pretty is as pretty does, and the surface shit is a dime a dozen. I think their is money involved.

[NJmaverick]

40. If I was 14 I would be grateful- not wanting to put her in jail

Damn this women is almost every 14 year old boy's dream come true. Sure it isn't very appropriate, but I doubt any harm came to the boy. When I was his age, I would thought I had died and gone to heaven if I slept with a hot teacher like that.