I was more thinking the Python situation haha

I know you're just starting shit, but...
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-glances at the everglades-
How you holdin' up there, Florida?

It's a photoshop

It worked for me. O.o
It's the same pic but Australia is upside down. As it should be.

I can't type anymore now and your eyes are probably starting to cross, so I think I'll leave this here for the time being. Went on way longer than I meant to yet again <_<

I think anyone involved in the conviction process or release process should have a degree in psychology. Maybe that's already a requirement, idk. But it seems too important to just leave up to anyone.
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That said, there's some people I'd be quite happy to hear were never getting out of prison haha..
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I think your story could help and/or at the very least give hope to some wrongly convicted if nothing else. Even if it just encourages them to have some evidence re-examined or get an appeal etc. You may even be able to work with programs like the innocence project or such to set up places you can talk to people or provide resources etc.
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Haha well, it's good you have your boundaries in mind, although with topics and occurrences such as this, it's VERY hard not to get emotionally involved with people on a 1v1 capacity, despite the best intentions. Usually best that can be hoped for is to not end up spread too thin

This was way before the me too movement. So I don't think this woman ever got justice. I could be wrong (it's been over a decade since I read the book), but I think her family basically decided to turn her into a villain rather than admit the dad was an abuser and stopped talking with her.
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Anyway, the main reason for me hashing out all this is because, as you said, there's different spectrum of abuse and crimes, different types of victims/survivors, different hopes and concerns for rehabilitation.
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And this is mostly just dealing with people who DID commit crimes, not ones who were falsely accused, who have many of the hurdles you mentioned and more to overcome

More relevant to the subject we were talking about, is the guy who lured another young man around the same age into a sexual situation, and then proceed to torture him to death, on camera. He released the video on a gore pon website, where it stayed up for several weeks iirc before someone clued in that this video WAS real, and the guy in the video was a missing person, who turned out to be an immigrant I believe who had come over to take college courses in Canada.
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I can't remember, but I think the guy responsible also potentially mailed body parts of his victim to people.
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I read a book once called "don't - a woman's word." Despite the title, it's not really about sexim from what I recall. It's written by a woman who suffered near constant sexual abuse at the hands of her father (or step father iirc), and later at the hands of his friends

And yet, when society feels unsafe, it's not always hard to blame them for lashing out. There's another case of a schizophrenic man who beheaded someone on a bus several years ago. They've been talking about his release for some time now, which makes a lot of people VERY concerned. Everything about his release is incumbent on his ability to stay on his medication, and the ability of the medication to be effective. It's a hard thing to moniter-- if they do at all. It makes me uneasy myself. Not because he's schizophrenic, but because of the level and type of schizophrenia he has, and the way it's displayed itself. And at the end of the day, no one wants to be the guniea pig his release is tested on.

But anyway, so now he can't get a job. But he's still trying. He needs money to pay rent for the apartment he's been placed in. Which, unfortunately, he can't go home to, because people keep putting graffiti on the door, or smashing his windows in with rocks, putting death threats under his door, putting his picture up all across town.
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And then, when he does something wrong, people will jeer and act justified like "see? I KNEW the bastard couldn't change."
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The purpose of the offender list is to make people aware, so they can be on the defensive. "Hey this guy? He was 20 and had sex with a 16 year old. Maybe don't leave him alone with your teenager."
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People choose to turn it into a witch hunt. Sometimes I can't blame them, but others it just makes things worse.
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Society unwittingly steals justice from itself by taking it into their own hands.

That's something society tends to forget in their "righteous anger."
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If someone commits a crime, and is genuine in changing. And let's say we can guarantee this fellow would never commit a crime again. He's released, does the therapy, the check-ins, stays away from trigger areas, etc etc etc.
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But now he needs a job. People take one look at his record and into the trash his resume goes. <- this is the kind of event that, when repeated enough, often triggers people commiting crimes anyway. People become restless and angry and hungry and desperate, and suddenly we're on our way to the night's watch for stealing some cheese. (I was going to do a Les miz reference but GoT won out).
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I'm by no means saying anyone is OWED a job, just that desperate times, rejection, and a loss of hope has been observed as the perfect recipe for bad situations. It's how a lot of people end up in gangs.

-CAN the perpetrator be rehabilitated? Is there any hope? Are they driven? Will they make the effort? And this can be tricky. Because some people who commit crimes can be very convincing liars. And very charming when they want to be. It's difficult to distinguish who is lying and who is genuine-- polygraphs aren't reliable. All we have is their track record and their testimony and behaviour, which can be misleading. Anytime a criminal is released, society is taking a gamble, with more to lose than it will gain if they're wrong.
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If they can be rehabilitated, what needs to occur? People aren't the same. The help they need may not be the same. Do they need intensive therapy? A tracking bracelet? Medications? All of the above?
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And WHERE do they get released? Where can all of this occur that this person, if they revert, will cause minimum backlash? Where they can still have access to the resources they need? Where they won't be hunted down and killed in the streets?

That said, the victims may never be ready to hear their rapist has been released. But, in some scenarios, that doesn't always mean the person deserves to die in prison. Which at the end of the day why their testimony can be heard at parole hearings, but independent parties make the decision.
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Now I have to take a second to remember what my next point was. Something about blue cheese and Scotland probably

The victims of rape often go through seemingly endless trauma and harassment. It's something that's become branded on their life, and they have to try and figure out how to grow anything on the scorched earth left behind.
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Offenders who go through rehabilitation sometimes feel the need to reach out to their victims. Maybe to "put things right." This can be insanely traumatizing to victims and their families. As can hearing their assailant is getting released. Some already have nightmares, some who have progressed past that may start having them again. It all can end up be turning a scar into a scab that can be ripped off and bleed everywhere once again. A lot of victims take a long time feeling safe in their own homes again, having any kind of functional relationship in terms of romance, connecting with their children, etc.
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And the families go through much the same.

Rape isn't drugs or alcohol, but the basic premise can still be applied. Which is part of why paedophiles that get released are ordered not to be anywhere near children. Playgrounds, anywhere. Yet some paedophiles choose to go to them anyway, which puts themselves and others at risk.
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Not every offender, even purposeful offender, will repeat if the right measures are taken. What it comes down to in the end I guess is:
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-does releasing them violate the victim further?
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This one sounds simple, but I think is very important. No victim wants to see their offender released. And as in the case I mentioned, it's bordering on cruel and unusual punishment to put some of them through that.

There's people who maybe have raped. Gone full out, found their victim in a dark alley, etc. And the issue is, once you have a thought, once you've ACTED on a thought, the chance of repeating is far greater.
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Whatever the circumstances are, at the end of the day no amount of rehab will ever help someone who isn't COMMITED to it. People who do drugs in the past and get clean have to make a commitment to never go back to them. And it's not a "new years resolution" type thing. It's a daily, even hourly thing.
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Craig Ferguson has a book, and in it he talks about his battle with alcoholism, and at some point he talks about how he never even has so much as a sip of wine at a party and people ask him "you don't want to drink anymore?" And he says something along the lines of "I don't not WANT to drink, I CAN'T drink." As in he doesn't have the ability to stop himself from being lured back down that hole. So instead he doesn't even let himself get anywhere near it

Which is the other side of the coin. I don't know what it's intentions were, but as far as I can tell, prison is not MEANT to be a rehabilitation. It's meant to be a punishment. And prisons can be hell. For the guards and the prisoners alike.
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And some people I think do deserve that punishment. Maybe not being kept in conditions entirely like what you went through, but not so far off from what prisons at optimum function are supposed to be. A lot of the people in prisons (not all, but a lot) are dangerous, and would commit crimes again given an opportunity. Some may deserve therapy, but to never be let out again.
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But some isn't all. There's people who can be shoulder deep in the drug world and come out on the other side and never do drugs again.

I mean, we all know WHY those laws exist, and they're very important laws. But people are willing to abuse them. It's also tricky because while 15 and 17 dating isn't so horrendous (although theres still a maturity gap), add 1 more year gap on either side and suddenly my mood toward it shifts entirely. 15 and 18? Not a fan. 17 and 14? One of you is behaving beyond inappropriate. That's just how I feel about it. But age and development, physical and emotional, are insanely important, and the gap when you're in that age range of even a year can be exponential.
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But the point was an 18 year old who has consensual sex should not be thrown in with the same group as the child-raping couple I mentioned earlier. What they did is not even on the same level, so why give them anything close to the same punishment?

@jasonmon
Your leg of the comment journey begins!
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Haha I know what you meant, my brain just likes misinterpreting things sometimes. Usually it ends up being entertaining so I share it on the off chance it makes someone else laugh.
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Well, in that case you've come to the right place. I'm pretty sure I just spammed Aviva with 3 or 4 comments in response to them saying 2 sentences.
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It's interesting you keep bringing the 18/17 year old thing up because I actually randomly had that as a thought shortly before we started talking about this. I think it was inspired by something to do with the me too movement, but I ended up thinking "it must be very difficult for a couple who start dating when one is 15 and the other is 16 or 17, and then they age up, and suddenly they're no longer a couple because one of them is now a rapist."

As an added note-- don't feel too envious, I only sound even somewhat okay on "paper." When I try to speak out loud it usually ends up a mess x) what started as "this is what I think, and this is what I think you should do, and here's what you need to be concerned about, and this, this, this, and this is why," my brain blanks and I end up sounding like:
"..I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why?"
"Well, um. Because. There was a reason."
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As a side note I did see you tagged me awhile ago in a chat that someone was asking for advice in. I was sick at the time, and by the Time I got there it seemed guest_ had covered most everything, so I just thought I'll just let this be

Still @aviva
One thing I do (and I believe guest_, another user with somewhat long-winded responses) is sometimes even type my comments outside of the comment box, in like an email to myself, or a note document. Usually this is because I want to talk about something, but don't have time, but sometimes it's also because I want to make sure I word a thing right. Stepping back may give me time to think about what I said, come up with additional points, or reword it. Hell, you don't even have to post them.
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I think you've probably got a good head on your shoulders, and giving a voice to your thoughts takes practice.

@aviva haha tbh part of why my comments get so long is BECAUSE I overthink. If I were better at summarizing my thoughts I'm sure my comments would be a lot shorter and to the point. Still, if you have thoughts on the subject you haven't voiced, this is as good a place to start as any. There's not a lot of opportunities to talk with people about trigger subjects like this where it doesn't devolve into a hostile shit-storm.
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Usually once you start typing and making points about something it can help your brain click onto other subjects, and, if you're lucky, they might even be related to what you're trying to say (or, if you're like me, I can go from typing a sentence about blue cheese or something and somehow end up on weather conditions in Scotland... -_-).
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Best thing I've found, and maybe jasonmon has some thoughts too, since he managed to put a very trying situation into words, is to just start. Just start typing, whatever occurs to you.

^^^^ in case I send another 50 messages in a row (I never know what will happen) don't forget to read aviva's comment so it doesn't get lost in my shuffle.
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Jasomon, you can feel free to read this but just FYI this next comment(s) isn't really directed at you. I'll tag you when I get to yours to make it a bit easier

@catfluff you know I have heard that pun a million times, made it myself, and somehow completely did not see it coming x) that's a pun to be relished

I literally had no idea. I always thought ketchup was just made from tomatoes. I can't believe how long it's taken me to catch-up with the facts.
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I'm not even sorry about that.
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Seriously though, that's very interesting. That's the new thing I get to learn for today!