raped

It’s very sad that one of the first instincts for many people is to blame the victim of any crime – whether it be rape, robbery, assault, whatever. It seems that some folks want to jump to the convenient explanation of saying that the victims were in the wrong place, walked alone too late at night, trusted the wrong person, drank too much, didn’t secure their property well enough, wore the wrong clothes. It’s as if they want to shift blame to the victim or to feel that they have been spared from crime themselves because they are so responsible and cautious.

It’s also sad that our society is far too tolerant of and tries to make excuses for bad behaviour and crime. People usually don’t just spontaneously commit crimes as an adult. There is usually a long history of their bad behaviour (bullying, theft, assaulting other children) being tolerated from childhood. And when they do commit serious crimes everyone searches for some abuse in their past that will explain and partially excuse their crimes.

As a society we need to start holding people accountable for their actions – even children (and their parents) because by the time they are adults it may just be too late – and we need to stop making the victims feel responsible. We all have a right to live a crime free life.