Reid Boucher pleads guilty to sex crime involving 12 year old

[Uncle Rotter]

Things used to be far, far worse.

Underaged girls used to be married off all the time. The singer Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 y/o cousin when he was 22. The Rolling Stones had a song about hooking up with 13 y/o groupies.

President of the U.S. in the 1800s with the Woody Allen vibe

Frances Cleveland - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Number8]

Something like 8 billion people on the planet.

If even just .01% of the population is defective (and this dude is defective in the very real sense of the word) that means there are 800,000 truly despicable creatures in the world.

By the way, that calculation assumes that 99.99% of the world isn’t genetically or behaviorally reprehensible. Sadly, I think that’s overly generous.

Wrongs don’t make right, but honestly if I were that little girl’s father (emphasis on little girl) I’m not sure I’d have the fortitude to control myself. I hope I would, but can’t say with complete certainty or honesty that I’m certain that would be the case.

 

[kabidjan18]

I suspect the prosecutor had a really weak case.

A large element of the criminal justice system is the game of chicken between the prosecutor and the defense attorney. This case is really old. The light sentence makes me think that the prosecutor wasn't working with much.

Sometimes, it's the guilty disposition that matters, not the sentence. You could take this to trial, and if you won you might get a good sentence, but beyond a reasonable doubt for an 11 year old incident isn't easy to prove. And if you lose, he doesn't merely walk away free but also vindicated. So you offer him a plea he can't refuse. Because the sentence isn't the punishment for the crime.

Everyone he's ever known will disassociate from him. His job will fire him. His partner will leave him. He'll become a pariah and an outcast. And maybe that's not an adequate punishment. But it beats him walking free as an exonerated man.

 

[Don'tcry4mejanhrdina]

Priests or other religious leaders have to be tops.

Actually I believe it's teachers if I'm not mistaken to a much greater extent than priests. I imagine there's just more outrage around religious figures because they're supposed to be of greater moral standing, at least according to their belief system, and the fact that they move around a lot/it was covered up so the impact usually wasn't refined to a small area or fewer number of victims. Plus, when a female teacher molests a student, there isn't nearly the same outrage over it as when a man does it. It also seems even more predatory since they chose a profession with access to many children and are often married so the bullshit celibate excuse doesn't fly at all either.

Anybody that abuses children is a monster. Unfortunately most child abusers were abused themselves, not an excuse just a disgusting fact. Thankfully, most abused people don't go on to commit abuse.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I suspect the prosecutor had a really weak case.

A large element of the criminal justice system is the game of chicken between the prosecutor and the defense attorney. This case is really old. The light sentence makes me think that the prosecutor wasn't working with much.

Sometimes, it's the guilty disposition that matters, not the sentence. You could take this to trial, and if you won you might get a good sentence, but beyond a reasonable doubt for an 11 year old incident isn't easy to prove. And if you lose, he doesn't merely walk away free but also vindicated. So you offer him a plea he can't refuse. Because the sentence isn't the punishment for the crime.

Everyone he's ever known will disassociate from him. His job will fire him. His partner will leave him. He'll become a pariah and an outcast. And maybe that's not an adequate punishment. But it beats him walking free as an exonerated man.

i don’t know the particulars of the case at all, but i wonder if another variable here is 100% getting him on the registry, vs a good chance he is free to go and disappear to a new place where nobody knows who he is.

 

[Three On Zero]

Special place for these kind of people, but we won’t get into that on a hockey forum ….. let’s just say good riddance

 

[shaner8989]

How old was he at the time?

 

[Uncle Rotter]

How old was he at the time?

17 when it started

 

[AlysonChainz]

This has nothing to do with hockey culture. It just happened to be a hockey player who did the abuse. These things happen a lot, unfortunately, in all walks of life.

Hockey created the opportunity in this case.

 

[AlysonChainz]

People like Boucher will always exist. It is disgusting and vile but that's life for you.
What pisses me off is the non-reaction by the hockey organizations if they knew. And what completely baffles me is the plea bargain. How does he get no jail time, no record, barely a slap on a wrist? Is it because he's white rich guy with money? Does the prosecutor think sex crime is just no big deal? Do they think the girl would make a bad witness due to her trauma-related issues or what the hell went through their heads with this?? I get that he was underage himself, but at 17 and with this type of crime, it seems like simply an excuse.
And people wonder why rape victims are reluctant to come forward. Unbelievable.

Women and children are of little value...clearly. I mean it's crystal f***ing clear!

 

[AlysonChainz]

If you speak to psychologists, they will explain that in many cases, sex is directly linked to power.
The feeling of having power over someone.

It's a sick thing, but there are many many sick people all over the spectrum of humanity: poor, rich, young, old, male, female, all over the world.

It's one of the reasons why you see this kind of thing happen so often when there is a discrepancy in (perceived or real) power between individuals -
coaches : pupils;
boss : employee;
religious leader : kids helping in the church/synagogue/temple/etc;
politician : intern;
entertainment producer : aspiring entertainer;
modeling agent : aspiring model.

I've never been involved with anything that had this kind of crap happen around me (thank God), but I was also always taught to never feel inferior to anyone else in hopes that I was never put in a position of perceived power discrepancy.
To this day, I'll see the value in the person way before I even contemplate the supposed "power" of that person.

It's a societal problem and is not strictly a hockey problem.
However, because there is a massive power difference between the young aspiring player, to the coaches who can determine their future, developmental sports are definitely going to be rife with this shit.

How do we curb this kind of crap?

Well, having less private interactions between people of substantially different power values (coaches to young players) would be one thing to do.
Teaching our kids to have the self-confidence and self-worth to not only push back against such advances, but to instantly report them even if the act was rebuffed successfully; without any fear for repercussions.
Stronger laws and empowered investigative bodies to catch these people early after any actions that are in any way inappropriate.
Stronger screening and psychological evaluation of people who are granted positions of power - this should be absolutely bare minimum for all politicians, law enforcement, teachers, coaches, agents, etc.

It's hard to teach these boys when they aren't living at home with their own families. Priorities are skewed in this profession at a very young age. It feels antiquated and unnatural. Women and children pay the price, sadly.

 

[RiverbottomChuck]

K.A.P

 

[metalan2]

Actually I believe it's teachers if I'm not mistaken to a much greater extent than priests. I imagine there's just more outrage around religious figures because they're supposed to be of greater moral standing, at least according to their belief system, and the fact that they move around a lot/it was covered up so the impact usually wasn't refined to a small area or fewer number of victims. Plus, when a female teacher molests a student, there isn't nearly the same outrage over it as when a man does it. It also seems even more predatory since they chose a profession with access to many children and are often married so the bullshit celibate excuse doesn't fly at all either.

Anybody that abuses children is a monster. Unfortunately most child abusers were abused themselves, not an excuse just a disgusting fact. Thankfully, most abused people don't go on to commit abuse.

Yes, teachers are way bigger offenders, but there is a lot more of them. It's something like 100x or 1000x more pedophilia charges than priests or other religious leaders. Catholic priests are the ones in the news, but rabbis and other leaders do it at the same rate.