Those who have more money suffer less in court: the case of Dani Alves and the price attached to sexual rape

Yesterday, Monday, March 25th, it was announced that Dani Alves, a former football player, had been freed after 14 months in pre-trial detention. Having been found guilty of raping a young woman in Barcelona, ​​as reported by Sic Notícias, he was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison. However, he was given the option of paying bail of 1 million euros and going free. The former player got the money and off he went, free. In addition to being legally prohibited from approaching the victim, he only has to hand over his passports and appear every week at the Barcelona Court.

So, is a crime less serious depending on the possibility of paying bail? Will a rapist now walk free through the streets?

I leave here the questions asked by Paula Cosme Pinto, in her post announcing this undue freedom:

“Can men who move in spheres of power buy their freedom? Is justice different for the rich? How much is a woman’s life worth? What message of impunity does all this send to other potential aggressors?”

The “price” of a woman

Seeing a rapist go free at the cost of 1 million dollars makes me feel like a character in a dystopian simulation, in which all women have a price tag on how much it costs to pay for their sexual rape in ‘Justice’, which only men can see… So, in this horrifying simulation, a man would be able to see if he had the money to pay for his horror, since, by paying, he would know that he would get away with it. The point is that for the victim that Dani Alves raped, this is not a simulation, but reality.

This whole situation makes it clear that people with money can sexually rape someone and go free, as it is a activity paid to state ‘Justice’. Call it “bail”, call it “price for unitary sexual rape”, which in this case will amount to the same thing.

The role of a rapist’s friends and acquaintances

As can be seen in the JN news, with information provided by the international press, taking into account the former football player’s various accounts blocked in Brazil, Dani Alves will have managed to pay bail thanks to the help of several friends. Now, Dani Alves is not allegedly The rapist, even if it were serious, is actually guilty of raping the girl. And even so, do you have friends helping you get out of prison? It’s bad enough not to draw attention to a friend’s misogynistic comment, let alone bail him out for a proven crime of rape. What men are these?

Please, men who read me, don’t throw stones at the alleged victims just because the alleged rapists are your friends or family. Try your best to be impartial and analyze the situation, without talking about what you don’t know just because you think “this friend of mine would never do that”. Also, don’t bail out rapists. If you want to donate money, there are victim support associations, such as APAV or Quebrar o Silêncio.

Further on the issue of classes: a final note

Justice is not fair. In fact, justice is often not fair.

A crime should not be more easily solved when you have money, that is not justice, it is inequality. In this way, measures that attempt to impose justice based on an increase in costs only further exacerbate differences in economic capacity.

For some people, it makes no difference a few hundred thousand euros more or a few hundred thousand euros less; but for all people who are victims of rape, this episode will have an incalculable weight on their lives, especially if the rapist goes free.