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Aleigh

Editor at Skirt!

I am: a doggie mom, a newlywed, a Scrabble enthusiast, a meticulous speller, a world traveler, and the editor of the Charlotte edition of Skirt! (Not usually all at once.) When I'm not writing about Charlotte's coolest women, you can find me cheering on my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, trying to p...

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Furious.

That’s me, after reading this blog post from The Curvature. (WARNING: This blog contains some serious language, but I think it is worth a read.)

A man in St. Louis has admitted to drugging, raping, and killing a woman (her death was caused by the drugs he gave her) in his quest to sleep with 100 women. His sentence? Five years in jail. And he has to pay the woman’s mother $5,622 to pay for her daughter’s funeral.

That’s IT. The man is eligible for parole after four years and then would be put on probation. For murder. And rape.

Cara, the author of the blog, makes a good point that usually when a man receives a puny sentence for rape or murder of a woman, it’s because of a lack of evidence or proof. In this case, however, the man admitted to his crimes. Here’s what she says:

But usually, thank god, the accused has not admitted to his crime. Usually, a man who is sentenced for raping and killing a woman hasn’t stood up in court and said that yup, he did it. I understand why plea deals exist, as much as I hate them. But they are often used inappropriately because people are apathetic and because it’s just plain easier. A woman is dead solely and entirely because a man decided to drug and rape her, and he may not see five full years in a jail cell.

What do you think? If this woman had been your daughter, or your sister, or your mother, wouldn’t you be outraged?  

It’s 2008. Isn’t it time for us to have evolved? Why has our legal system so failed us that a man who rapes and kills a woman can be back on the streets after a puny five years?