Current Events > So about that Dutch Olympian

(+) Yeah! (+)

Its absolutely nuts that they sent a convicted rapist to represent them. I dunno if anyone can give me some insight, but from where I stand this is disgusting.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/30/netherlands-child-rapist-olympics-steven-van-de-velde

Apparently he's been banned from the village. I don't know who is enforcing that ban. It can't be the olympics since they allowed him to compete. It must be the other athletes telling him he better not show up.

shockthemonkey posted...

He only served 1 year for traveling internationally to rape a 12 year old. Its so fucking disgusting.

Oh, I was confused about that reading the article. It made it sound like he served the four years, but somehow played in 2017.

Edit: Oh nevermind I missed "But after he was extradited to the Netherlands, having serving almost a year of his prison sentence, he was released after less than a month."

Not defending what he did, what he did was truly reprehensible but in Dutch culture they view prison as a place to rehabilitate so you can come back to society and contribute to society. So to them he served his time, underwent therapy, showed that he's not a risk to reoffended again therefore he has a place in society again. I know that is different than other countries. I know that in the US if you're a convicted felon you can even end up being a Presidential candidate one day.

Which raises the question: what message does the Netherlands send to the world by allowing itself to be represented by a man convicted of a sexual offence?
This

Luteo posted...

Not defending what he did, what he did was truly reprehensible but in Dutch culture they view prison as a place to rehabilitate so you can come back to society and contribute to society. So to them he served his time, underwent therapy, showed that he's not a risk to reoffended again therefore he has a place in society again. I know that is different than other countries. I know that in the US if you're a convicted felon you can even end up being a Presidential candidate one day.

Being Dutch I can say that's not necessarily correct.

The problem here is that the justice system here tends to favor the offender while the victim can go fuck himself.

Especially when it comes to pedophiles since the justice department is alledged to be riddled with them (look up Joris Demmink)