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Ex-student in Rutgers webcam case is spared prison

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Zilch

Banned
30 days in jail
3 years probation
court-ordered counseling
$10,000 paid to program that helps victims of bias crimes
 

Kinyou

Member
that kid is gay himself, thought he would've liked jail
banned20ouxrj.gif



On topic; 30 days doesn't seem like much. I guess you can't blame him alone for the suicide but he still gets off easy....
 

ToxicAdam

Member
I never agreed with the convictions in the first place. Should have only been house arrest. But that's probably not part of the sentencing guidelines for the crimes he was convicted on.
 

nib95

Banned
Tbh, I think the sentence sounds pretty fair. One would never have guessed a little webcam vid would lead to suicide, though based on the OP, not sure they know conclusively that it was responsible for the suicide.

Either way, his future career options and life are severely jeopardised. Criminal record and reputation and all. He'll certainly learn from this episode I'd imagine.
 

daycru

Member
He's not going to have anything happen, his career isn't going to be affected. He's going to go back to his rich family in India. India does not give a fuck about some dead American gay kid.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Ravi is a douche who liked to be popular and court gossip.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/06/120206fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all

I recently met Tyler Picone in a crowded Au Bon Pain, on the Rutgers campus. Picone, who grew up in nearby South River, was charming and assured. “I ran my high school,” he said, smiling. “President of the class, editor of the paper—if you wanted to do anything, you had to go through me.” He recalled his brief interaction with Ravi, and I showed him the I.M.s by Ravi, Tam, and Bigeaglefan75. Much of the exchange—including the bit about January’s gayness—made him laugh. When the language turned more abusive, he said, “Yikes, calm down,” and, “This is so high school.”

When he finished reading, he said, “I’ve seen so much worse.” And he discerned a tonal difference between Ravi and his friends. “The stuff that Dharun says is understandable, in a sense. If you find you’re sharing a room with somebody gay, and you haven’t been raised in an open home, you’re going to say, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do? He’s probably going to want me.’ But his friends are assholes.”

Picone imagined that, had he and Ravi become roommates, they might have become friends. But he acknowledged that to speak so generously of Ravi—to unsettle the portrait of him as the perpetrator of hate crimes—was unwelcome at Rutgers. “I wish the gay community wasn’t so angry—so angry. I’m all about forgive but don’t forget.” He added, “Dharun didn’t want Tyler to die.” Rather, he said, Ravi had probably wanted people to be amused by his actions—to “think of him as this bro.”

Once Ravi understood that he would be living with Clementi, not Picone, he felt that he knew these essential facts: his roommate was gay, profoundly uncool, and not well off. If the first attribute presented both a complication and a happy chance to gossip, the second and third were perceived as failings. “I was fucking hoping for someone with a gmail but no,” Ravi wrote to Tam. Clementi’s Yahoo e-mail address symbolized a grim, dorky world, half seen, of fish tanks and violins. Ravi’s I.M.s about Tyler’s presumed poverty were far more blunt than those about sexual orientation. At one point during his exchanges with Tam that weekend, Ravi wrote, “Dude I hate poor people.”
 

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Much can happen in 30 days in prison.

He's going to jail though.

No prison.

Not that jail doesn't suck, since I've been in there once. But it's not as scary as prison.
 

Daft_Cat

Member
I actually don't think the sentence is all that unfair in legal terms. Had the case not received all that media attention, he would have received even less.

However, what he did was morally vile, and his continued punishment in the court of public opinion is all that really matters.
 
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories...ists-oppose-jail-time-in-rutgers-case-636840/

In the two months since he was found guilty of using a webcam to spy on his roommate, Dharun Ravi has gone from being a symbol of anti-gay bias to being something of a folk hero, with rallies of his supporters urging the court to "free Dharun."

What may be most surprising is how many of those arguing in his defense are prominent gay rights advocates.

With Mr. Ravi scheduled to be sentenced today, many of them have argued against the prison term prosecutors have recommended. They say that Mr. Ravi is being punished for the suicide of his roommate, Tyler Clementi, although he was not charged in it, and that pinning blame on him ignores the complicated social pressures that drive gay teenagers to kill themselves.

As repugnant as his behavior was, they say, it was not the blatantly bigoted or threatening actions that typically define hate crimes. Some fear that a sentence that over-reaches might provide tinder to anti-gay sentiment -- a New Jersey talk-radio host complained soon after the verdict of the "gay lobby" railroading Mr. Ravi.

While Clementi's suicide in September 2010 galvanized public attention on the struggles of gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers, the question of how to punish Mr. Ravi has revealed the deep discomfort that many gay people feel about using the case as a crucible.

"You're making an example of Ravi in order to send a message to other people who might be bullying, to schools and parents and to prosecutors who have not considered this a crime before," said Marc Poirier, a law professor at Seton Hall University who is gay and has written about hate-crimes legislation. "That's a function of criminal law, to condemn as general deterrence. But I think this is a fairly shaky set of facts on which to do it."

In an op-ed article in The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., this month, Jim McGreevey, who resigned as New Jersey's governor after declaring himself "a gay American," argued that Mr. Ravi's conviction "showed how far we have traveled from the hateful, homophobic past."

"The criminal justice system worked, this time for a gay victim," Mr. McGreevey wrote. "But there was something disquieting about the prospect of retributive punishment being meted out on behalf of a gay young man."

Mr. McGreevey, who now counsels prisoners, argued that jail time would neither rehabilitate nor send a message. "Perhaps the long trail of gay history inevitably leads to this call for punishment," he wrote, "but it need not."Mr. Ravi set up a webcam to spy on Clementi three weeks into their freshman year at Rutgers University, after Clementi asked to have the room alone so he could be with a man he had recently met on a website for gay men.

Clementi's suicide three days later prompted an outcry from celebrities and politicians, and pushed New Jersey to pass one of the nation's strictest anti-bullying laws.

In court, prosecutors used an extensive electronic record to show how Mr. Ravi had sent Twitter and text messages declaring that he had seen his roommate "making out with a dude," and encouraging others to watch. The jury convicted Mr. Ravi on all 15 counts, including invasion of privacy, hate crimes and tampering with evidence after he tried to cover up his Twitter trail.
 
Tbh, I think the sentence sounds pretty fair. One would never have guessed a little webcam vid would lead to suicide, though based on the OP, not sure they know conclusively that it was responsible for the suicide.

Either way, his future career options and life are severely jeopardised. Criminal record and reputation and all. He'll certainly learn from this episode I'd imagine.

I mean, I can understand that. I'm not saying he pushed Tyler off that bridge. But too many times being bullied can lead to someone taking their life. To say that the people doing the bullying have no responsibility...or to be more accurate...30 days in jail of responsibility seems to be a bit off. But that's just me and I'm not a judge, lol.

"Clementi’s parents, prosecutors and even gay rights groups have argued that Ravi didn’t deserve the maximum sentence, but shortly after the judge’s decision, Steven Goldstein from the group Garden State Equality, issued a statement that said in part:

“We opposed throwing the book at Dharun Ravi. We have spoken out against giving him the maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and against deporting him. That would have been vengeance beyond punishment and beyond sending a message to the rest of society.

“But we have similarly rejected the other extreme that Ravi should have gotten no jail time at all, and today’s sentencing is closer to that extreme than the other. This was not merely a childhood prank gone awry. This was not a crime without bias.”

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/05/21/dharun-ravi-to-be-sentenced-in-rutgers-webcam-spy-case/
 
Hopefully he'll be e-stalked for the next few years and "outed" as someone who drove his roommate to suicide at every burger-flipping job he's capable of getting hired at after this.

oh yeah the only way to stop bullying is for society to bully as well /sarcasm
 
30 days in jail
3 years probation
court-ordered counseling
$10,000 paid to program that helps victims of bias crimes

Altogether I think that's actually quite reasonable for the crime. Not something you shrug off but not excessively vindictive either.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I can't really disagree with too much about the ruling at the end. :/


...okay?

I don't think 1st degree douchebaggery is a crime.

That was my point connected with my earlier post. He's a douche, which isn't a sentenceable crime. I don't think he should have been convicted of Hate Crimes based on the actual evidence.
 

Amagon

Member
Tbh, I think the sentence sounds pretty fair. One would never have guessed a little webcam vid would lead to suicide, though based on the OP, not sure they know conclusively that it was responsible for the suicide.

Either way, his future career options and life are severely jeopardised. Criminal record and reputation and all. He'll certainly learn from this episode I'd imagine.
My thoughts exactly. I don't think sending this kid to prison is gonna help him out. Though, 30-days in jail is pretty lenient but the dude is already screwed out of his future after this whole debacle.
 

Kinyou

Member
He's going to jail though.

No prison.

Not that jail doesn't suck, since I've been in there once. But it's not as scary as prison.
Is prison even that tough? Everyone makes it sound like you'll be raped 12 minutes after you step inside but to me that sounds like some myth.
 

Vilam

Maxis Redwood
If the first attribute presented both a complication and a happy chance to gossip, the second and third were perceived as failings. “I was fucking hoping for someone with a gmail but no,” Ravi wrote to Tam. Clementi’s Yahoo e-mail address symbolized a grim, dorky world, half seen, of fish tanks and violins.

...what??
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
I agree with the sentence. This boy should be out there doing community service saying how damaging it can be to bully a person for their sexuality.

There's zero chance he thought that his roommate would commit suicide, and it's also safe to say that he won't repeat this. It's better to use him as a spokesperson than an example.
 

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
Is prison even that tough? Everyone makes it sound like you'll be raped 12 minutes after you step inside but to me that sounds like some myth.

Every day, GAF suprises me. Thank u for writing this. I'm sure it takes weeks before they rape u and if you haven't been raped in weeks, sounds like a vacation.
 
Oh fuck you and your pretend high road bs. A kid is dead because of this scum and if there were any justice, any chance of a decent life would be taken from him forever.

For fucks sake dude...the kid is dead because he committed suicide and that was his own choice. Nobody forced him to do it.
 
Is prison even that tough? Everyone makes it sound like you'll be raped 12 minutes after you step inside but to me that sounds like some myth.

Prison rape is not a myth, but he's going to jail not prison.

A kid is dead because of this scum

Nah. He left a suicide note which never became involved in the case since apparently whatever was in it had nothing to do with the case. We simply don't know what was going through his head. You're trying to make this something it's not, but then again your violent fixations are nothing new and only tolerated because you dress them up with the pretense of fighting for civil rights.
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
Oh fuck you and your pretend high road bs. A kid is dead because of this scum and if there were any justice, any chance of a decent life would be taken from him forever.

So there's no chance of "justice".

Would you rather punish him or just lower the amount of bullying in general? This guy could do a lot of good outside of prison.
 
After watching 20/20 interview with guy I thought he probably should have been found innocent. If people doing harsh, mean, life destroying things grants you 20 years in prison let's put employers in jail for paying shit/laying you off.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
After watching 20/20 interview with guy I thought he probably should have been found innocent. If people doing harsh, mean, life destroying things grants you 20 years in prison let's put employers in jail for paying shit/laying you off.

The one lawyer on that show was such a schmuck.
 
your thought philosophy of two wrongs making a right is IMO not the best ideology.

Well, think whatever you like, but Ravi is a remorseless piece of filth that deserves, at best, to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

I guess with your philosophy, though, we should just let all criminals walk the streets because two wrongs don't make a right.
 
Well, think whatever you like, but Ravi is a remorseless piece of filth that deserves, at best, to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

I guess with your philosophy, though, we should just let all criminals walk the streets because two wrongs don't make a right.

So how good would it make you feel to give him, say, the electric chair yourself? Be honest now.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
If Ravi got life in prison then I want a lot of CEOs fucking burned alive for the shit they pulled in 2008 that probably lead to a lot more suicides than this.
 
If Ravi got life in prison then I want a lot of CEOs fucking burned alive for the shit they pulled in 2008 that probably lead to a lot more suicides than this.

There doesn't have to be one extreme or another. I think 30 days is too light. I think 20 years or death is too too harsh.
 

apana

Member
Rot in prison for the rest of his life? It's disgusting that this kid has to bear the brunt of everyone's resentment and anger. I agree he is an idiot but by these standards we could sentence half the kids in America to 10 year prison sentences.
 

Kinyou

Member
Every day, GAF suprises me. Thank u for writing this. I'm sure it takes weeks before they rape u and if you haven't been raped in weeks, sounds like a vacation.
Yes, because that was what I was referring to, that when you not get raped, prison is awesome. Also don't post all statistics at once, I'm sure that you have seen it in movies and TV-shows, so it has to be exactly like that.

Prison rape is not a myth, but he's going to jail not prison.
I looked it up a little, seems like about 15-20% of convicts get sexually assaulted. So it's high, but not "anyone-who-goes-to-prison-gets-raped" high. (though being young would have made him a more likely victim)
 
Rot in prison for the rest of his life?

Mercury Fred is just a garden variety sociopath who invokes his sexual orientation in order to justify his vindictive and sadistic fantasies. I do wish people were more willing to divorce his politics from his batshit insanity. Dude needs help.
 

giga

Member
Well, think whatever you like, but Ravi is a remorseless piece of filth that deserves, at best, to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

I guess with your philosophy, though, we should just let all criminals walk the streets because two wrongs don't make a right.
Citation?

Ravi didn't murder Clementi did he? What constitutes a life sentence?
 

Monocle

Member
30 days in jail and 3 years' probation is an inconvenience. This guy should get a prison sentence and compulsory counseling of sufficient length to cure him of his dangerous attitude.

that kid is gay himself, thought he would've liked jail
Really?
 
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