Nobody - or at least, far from everyone - is saying that Amy deserved a fine or imprisonment or to be put on an ofenders register for this. [...] We're saying that she committed an assault.
This is where the problem lies for me. I see assault as something serious enough to lead to all that stuff. I haven't seen the episode or even the clip, I've only read the blog piece linked. Based on that only, she came on too strong, she acted grossly inappropriately, she was in the wrong. But by calling it "assault" you bring down the weight of the consequences of assault, which are all the things you've listed as things you're saying she didn't necessarily deserve.
Those aren't necessarily the consequences of assault. There's no minimum fine of necessity of imprisonment because someone committed assault. The legal system doesn't work in such a black and white way.
I don't think she behaved badly enough to be charged with assault, is what I'm trying to say. "Committed assault" = "could be charged with assault" to my mind. I think she was out of order, inappropriate, reacting badly and offering unwelcome advances, but she didn't assault anyone. If that makes me a rape apologist then it's not something I'm comfortable with, but I can see why the article's author thinks there are so many of them around.
The thing is - it's very unlikely to happen by itself. It's there so that someone can be found guilty of a whole bunch of different stuff that, together, make it worth taking someone to court. So that you can charge with with "six counts of assault over a three month period, harrassment, and tresspass" - any individual case would probably get a warning, but you need any individual case to be something you can take into account when things get bad.
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andrewducker) wrote2010-05-25 01:04 pm
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[...]
We're saying that she committed an assault.
This is where the problem lies for me. I see assault as something serious enough to lead to all that stuff. I haven't seen the episode or even the clip, I've only read the blog piece linked. Based on that only, she came on too strong, she acted grossly inappropriately, she was in the wrong. But by calling it "assault" you bring down the weight of the consequences of assault, which are all the things you've listed as things you're saying she didn't necessarily deserve.
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