Someone must pay

In response to The Church must pay for what it did to my girl Age letter 14/6/2002

It is a simple fact that people who feel pain want others to share it. The father grieving for his raped daughter says that "to (him) and his family, the money doesn't matter". Nevertheless he then spends the majority of his letter calculating, comparing and complaining about the size of various payments offered. He is moved by a desire to inflict pain. Because, our society has lost the desire, the will and the moral agreement necessary to inflict this pain on the guilty person, a widening net is cast for those that are "just as guilty" because of inaction rather than action. In this, as in many letters on the subject, one can hear the frustrated scream - "Some one must pay". The witch hunt, aided and abetted by newspapers such as The Age, has urged on the mob, until taking money from a church community and giving it to a victim is considered the just way to response to a rape. Giving money as a payment for such extreme wrong-doing leads very easily to a corruption of motives and allegations of "blood money".
Secondly, there are many raped children without a rich target to sue. Should not all money taken from a guilty party go to community programs that benefit all such children ? The increasing madness of jury determined compensation payments is widely reported and generally acknowledged as a sick joke which our leaders and lawyers have only just decided needs attention. One aspect of the madness that few have mentioned so far is the immense inequity of compensation being paid to individuals. Two children raped. One may receive the care that only millions of dollars can provide. Another raped by a poor person will receive only the support of a community (perhaps even a church !) made poor in part by the very payment paid to the other.