Effect of the rapes on the girl and her subsequent therapy here;

More details about the the “relationship” between the girl and her attackers here;

The Crown-Prosecutor’s motivations here;

Now, I have the Courier Mail in front of me with a big 3-page spread about the case, including the complete sentencing remarks, but I can’t seem to find the articles on the net.
It seems that the judge had previously been very lenient with sex offenders: given probation or suspended sentences, even to those with extensive histories of abuse. So this isn’t an isolated incident.

Hexy, I remember that the girl was in foster care, but was returned to her community after the Department of Child Safety worried that they would face accusations of a second Stolen Generation, what with the disproportionate number of Indigenous kids fostered out. (But I read this in the Herald Sun, so, grain of salt and all. Doesn’t really help that the Herald Sun doesn’t believe in the first Stolen Generation. Comments on their site are ranging from “the PC lefty commie judges let these boys off because they’re Aboriginal” to “the Aboriginal boys were let off because of the lefty commie PC judges”.)

And the sight of a three-inch cockroach just sent me into a jibbering mess. DO NOT WANT

It is good that this rage has been let loose now. BUT this sentence was handed down on the 24th of October. Why has it taken over 1 1/2 months for this case to hit the air waves.

If this girl had been non-aboriginal the media would have been all over it, even though the court is in a remote part of Australia.

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It’s one thing to make that argument for property crimes, drug crimes, and minor assault. But this is rape of a child. In the absence of true rehabilitation programs, the only way to treat sex offenders is to lock them up as long as possible to keep them from offending — for at least as long as they’re in prison.

As I said in the rest of the comment from which you quoted, I agree that this is a serious sexual assault. Nonetheless, I think “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” is a pretty problematic way to deal with a 14-year-old. (The 26-year-old repeat offender is another matter.) Not to mention that if Australian jails are anything like North American jails, they are brutal and brutalizing places.

Don’t get me wrong; I think this judge’s sentencing decision is absurd and the way she arrived at it is disgustingly sexist and racist. It’s just that — particularly with regard to the teenagers — I actually don’t know what a good sentence would be.

Do a quick google on the term “Stolen Generation”

Wow, hexy. That has a lot of similarities with the residential schooling policies of the Canadian government, and it looks like the effects were similar, too.

There are a disproportionate number of Aboriginal children taken into foster care in Canada, is my understanding, to the point where social workers on reserves are referred to as “baby stealers.” I’ve been researching the Tisdale rape case here (three white men sexually assaulted a Saulteaux Cree 12-year-old), and one of the most heartbreaking things about that case, like this case, was that the victim was removed from her family and put into foster care very shortly after the rape, for reasons that make sense on their face, but imagine actually being that child.

The other thing is the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in jail. I don’t know the numbers for this in Australia, but if it’s anything like Canada, the prospect of sending even more Aboriginal people to jail is pretty troubling for anyone with progressive values.

It’s one thing to make that argument for property crimes, drug crimes, and minor assault. But this is rape of a child. In the absence of true rehabilitation programs, the only way to treat sex offenders is to lock them up as long as possible to keep them from offending — for at least as long as they’re in prison.

Farhat:

If her homeland and home are the way they are I’d say this is the best thing that could happen to her. I can’t imagine the terror she might feel being around people who have gangraped her walking around freely.

I’m going to presume you don’t know much about Indigenous Australian history. Do a quick google on the term “Stolen Generation”… it might clue you in as to why the removal of a young black girl from her family and homeland “for her own good” is such a problematic issue, as well as the century of institutionalised rape and child abuse that leads to people dismissing charges like that now when the victim is Indigenous.