There are many troubling aspects of this case: the boy’s alleged sexual violence, the victim-blaming, the bias of the judge, how the video was shared amongst the community but not reported until the victim’s parents went to the police. But above all, this case exposes, how, at this moment in time, good men are permitted to get away with bad things.

Judge Troiano probably never expected to be overruled. He probably didn’t think twice about the case after he passed down the sentence. He probably never anticipated that his comments to make headlines. These comments, although passed down in court, were emblematic of a casual, widespread, and therefore exceptionally dangerous attitude towards sexual violence seeping through the highest echelons of society.

How can we begin to tackle rape culture, when judges are ruling that the sexual crimes of boys and men that come from good families and respectable reputations don’t count? How is it that in the face of a harrowing rape, a judge would focus on preserving the promising future of the alleged perpetrator, rather than seeking justice for the lived experiences of the victim? And how can it be possible that a young woman, who has summoned the courage to report her trauma, is portrayed as the destructive force whose allegations have the power to destroy a white boy’s future?

“Why are judges still ruling that the sexual crimes of boys from ‘good families’ don’t count?”