I know that frustration intimately. And I have so many questions. Like, how do we as first and second wives, extract at least some economic justice from these situations? And what is up with the women who marry, or even just sleep with these shitheels after they have already abandoned a bunch their wives and children?…

Seems to me like Sigma Phi Epsilon has some explaining to do. I’m not buying they didn’t know he was expelled and banned from campus.

I was reading Carolyn Hax’s advice column today, and it was one of those where “readers give the advice.” This person wrote in about the wonderful family she married into.

I read that as “Never caged” damn I wish we could just cage up all the rapists puppy mill style one on top of the other.

Ugh. I am so sorry this happened to you. I don’t understand how these obvious criminals get off scot free!!!

I believe the saddest part is that my expectations are so low that I am actually grateful for a 6 year sentence.

“An endless burden was placed upon me, as well as on other girls who have come forward to me and told me what he has done to them. I became a one-stop resource for victims and potential victims of Mr. Drill-Mellum. Girls came to me and told me their experiences with him, and yet I was helpless to make a difference…

A 73-year-old lady in Ireland was brutally raped and her victim statement just ripped me apart. She dedicated part of it to all the women and children who were abused and silenced (by families and institutions) in Ireland for so many years:

I did a community leadership training that involved a day long justice session held at a local prison. I met our county prosecutor who talked about how difficult it is to prosecute rapes. She also said she sees herself as representing the victim. The accused is being represented by a lawyer, but there is no lawyer…

Um, I hate that I’m surprised by this because it shouldn’t be something to be surprised by, but good on U of M? Seems like they expelled him even before the police were involved, and banned him from campus (which he violated, but really, I know at my uni the campus was kinda large and it was easy to sneak in if you…

That’s so awful, I’m so sorry that happened to you. This kind of indifference/incompetence is so angering.

I post this comment every week or so, but I feel like it has to be said over and over.

My rapist admitted it to police the night of, he didn’t call it rape but admitted I couldn’t consent. I went to the hospital that night and documented all my injuries. He admitted to me in a text that he would plead guilty if I ever pressed charges. That wasn't enough for a Hennepin County prosecutor. I wonder if it's…

Don't care. Lock people like him up, throw away the key.

I’m gonna go with that one.

Exactly.

I’ll second that hope.

“His family clearly supports him through his actions, and he was able to negotiate a lower sentence on his own behalf. But me? I never chose any part of this.”

It would be glib to reduce the public circulation of victim impact statements to a “trend,” yet many victims are retooling the statement as a public document, used to write their own narrative of the crime perpetrated on them while still maintaining their anonymity.

Hennepin County is notoriously awful when it comes to prosecuting sex crimes. I know several women, myself included, whose perpetrators of rape, domestic violence, and violating restraining orders either were never charged or weren’t charged until multiple women came forward.