Francesca R
Girl
Was it only me that did the double-take there?
http://www.virginmedia.com/music/pictures/toptens/popstar-sex-scandals.php?ssid=5
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Roman Polanski arrested (discuss)...
- Thread starter DropGems
- Start date
Was it only me that did the double-take there?
http://www.virginmedia.com/music/pictures/toptens/popstar-sex-scandals.php?ssid=5
Nope, I was just about to post something myself.
timhau
NWO Litter Technician
I wouldn't be so sure. Getting a rape conviction for The Baddest Man on the Planet is a bit different than getting one for a fragile, old Hollywood director.
I presume this has been discussed elsewhere, but what on earth was the mother thinking in the Polanski case? It doesn't absolve him of any responsibility, but the opportunity should never have arisen in the first place.
applecorped
Banned
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 20,145
Wasn't it a photo shoot?
Wiki:
According to Geimer, Polanski asked Geimer's mother if he could photograph the girl for the French edition of Vogue, which Polanski had been invited to guest-edit. Her mother allowed a private photo shoot. According to Geimer in a 2003 interview, "Everything was going fine; then he asked me to change, well, in front of him." She added, "It didn't feel right, and I didn't want to go back to the second shoot.
That doesn't answer the question, why would a mother allow a private photo shoot for a 13 year old girl with any man, let alone a man like Polanski who already had a reputation?
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Information Analyst
Penultimate Amazing
Then I stand corrected, the pauses and deliberations with lawyers before Polanski answering the question notwithstanding.
I think it would be naive not to recognise that there was a lot about the girl's behaviour that Polanski took as a green flag, no matter how old he thought she was. We do, however, run into the difficult area that even if he stuck around to take whatever sentence he might have got, public opinion now would almost inevitably lead to it being more severe now. Whatever next? People being re-tried because they weren't "punished enough" according to the different opinions of today, or even people seeking compensation because they were punished more harshly in the past than they would be now? Personally, I think under the circumstances, something in the region of four years would be appropriate.
Belz...
Fiend God
Agreed, let's keep the two seperate.
Information Analyst
Penultimate Amazing
That being the case, why do we have "victim impact statements"?
Belz...
Fiend God
Irrelevant. She is not the one prosecuting him. The state is.
Information Analyst
Penultimate Amazing
Again, that being the case, why do we have "victim impact statements"?
Good question. I presume it's to make the victims feel better, but I don't think it's the right thing to have it as part of the court proceedings. If a homeless person is killed, and they have no relatives to submit a victim impact statement, should the killer get a lighter sentence than if a well-loved member of the community is the victim?
Anyway, I'm not sure that's relevant. I don't know if they have 'victim impact statements' in the US, now or in 1977.
Aepervius
Non credunt, semper verificare
As mentionned earlier it wildly vary with historical and cultural setting. On some palce it is 12ish today, and it used to be 10, then it even depended whether you were homosexual or heterosexual, or even your gender (in France up to 1940 something it was/still is 15 with hetero, but 21 if you were homo).
As far as I can tell it is a real mess in the US where you can go from 15 to 21 as age of consent (21!!!!) with a median at 18.
Aepervius
Non credunt, semper verificare
That would be true, except apparently it was wells himself which gave the bit about the photo and influencing the judge. As reported above he now retracted. but still. That make something which was murky, even murkier. And certainly bring reasonable doubt on the judge conduct.
Aepervius
Non credunt, semper verificare
We are like old men at a bar slowly sipping a cheap beer and discussing the in and out of a political decision. We might not be competent (as in professionally competent) to discuss it, but it pass time.
There you have it.
madurobob
Philosopher
From what I've read, some of the "blame" for this has been laid at the feet of Polanski's lawyers. A few months ago, when arguing that any charges against Polanski should be dropped and the matter closed, they pointedly complained that California had made no attempt at extradition in over 30 years and that this was obviously a case they preferred to ignore.
California, apparently, decided to up the ante.
Checkmite
Skepticifimisticalationist
Because he was officially a guest-editor for the magazine?
I'm curious, though. Did Polanski have a reputation as having a thing for young girls? I hadn't heard that until now; but it has no bearing on anything as far as I'm concerned.
Well, he clearly has lied at least once; how are we to tell which time, though?
Dave Rogers
Bandaged ice that stampedes inexpensively through
There's something of a slippery slope fallacy there, I think. If Polanski had stuck around and served his time, this would be a dead issue, and there would be a reasonable case against anyone who wanted to reopen it on the grounds that changing attitudes had resulted in a consensus that his punishment was inadequate. In this instance, though, there's no question of a dead case being revived; the case is still very much a live case, and solely because of Polanski's subsequent, and illegal, actions. There's no reason why any action taken in this case should create any precedent applicable to a case where the guilty party has actually served a sentence.
Dave
Oh, that's alright then...
He dated Nastassja Kinski when she was 15, around 1975, however it's possible that this was not reported until 1979, when she was working on Tess.
And as I said before, I don't think this reduces his guilt in anyway, I'm just staggered that a mother would put her daughter in this situation. If anyone was taking photos of my daughter when she was that age, I or her mother would have been present.