Aborigines ‘don’t know rape is illegal’
According to Richard Trudgen, CEO of the Aboriginal Resource and Development Services (ARDS)
In a report titled An Absence of Mutual Respect, researchers spoke to Yolngu people from a cross-section of the community, including interpreters, locals and community leaders. They were quizzed on the 30 most commonly used English legal words such as bail, commit, arrest, charge and guilty.95% of the people questioned didn’t know the meaning of the words.
This can lead to “quite devastating consequences”, said Mr Trudgen, who referred to the case of an elder who had asked him if rape was illegal. “When I said yes, he told me `none of our young people know that’.So on this flimsy anecdotal evidence Aborigines don’t understand the concept of rape. I’ve been amongst the Yolgnu people of Arnhem Land and this conclusion is bullshit! Every society protects it’s women to some degree and all know that taking a woman against her will is simply not on and deserves punishment, legal or not. They may not know what bail, commit, arrest, charge or guilty means but they know what violence means. Bloody apologists
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Even if they didn’t know it was illegal. ignorance of the law is not a defence.
Absolutely! Equating a lack of knowledge of a particular word with a lack of understanding of the wrongness of the actions it refers to is truly bullshit.
If they are honestly suggesting that young aborginals in that community believe it is fine to take women against their will, then there is a serious short fall of parenting going on!
But as Kev says, its bullshit. Everyone has a basic understanding of right and wrong, and everyone, even rapists, know that rape is wrong.