Rape to Battery

This morning a saw the headline Man Charged With Two Rapes Gets One Day in Jail. My first thought was What the Hell (or something like that), wondering what’s going on that’s causing rapists to get such light punishment. In this case the punishment wasn’t for rape. It was instead for battery, which appears to be the equivalent of getting into a bar fight. I know plenty of people that have been arrested for bar fights that haven’t spent a night in jail so I guess the punishment fits the charges, but the charges don’t seem to fit the crime.

Few people know why the charges of rape were allowed to be pleaded down to misdemeanor battery, but I hope the only reason is because a rape didn’t happen, otherwise they risk sending the message that rape is about the same as battery.