Roman Polanski should go to jail.
Thirty-two years ago when he was 43 years old, he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in the State of California. He broke the law and he acknowledged his guilt but fled the country before he could be sentenced.
In spite of what is being said by his defenders, it doesn't matter at all that the rape occured 32 years ago.
Roman Polanski should go to jail.
Thirty-two years ago when he was 43 years old, he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in the State of California. He broke the law and he acknowledged his guilt but fled the country before he could be sentenced.
In spite of what is being said by his defenders, it doesn’t matter at all that the rape occured 32 years ago.
No one in America would object the prosecution of a Catholic Priest who molested a 13 year old in 1977, even if the crime was discovered as late as 2009. Polanski’s crime has been known for the last 32 years.
No one would protest the prosecution of such a priest even if the abuse survivor said he or she said they didn’t want their attacker to be held accountable, as Polanski’s victim has stated.
We are a nation of laws and everyone is supposed to be equal under the law. Our laws apply to movie directors as well as priests.
Still, there are people who have rushed to defend Polanski’s heinous actions.
The Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum delivered a passionate defense of Polanski without disclosing the fact that her husband is a Polish Official who is actively fighting for Polanski’s defense, a fact uncovered by internet press watchdogs at Patterico.
There’s Harvey Weinstein, the co-founder of Miramax films:
“Weinstein entered the fray at the personal behest of Cannes film festival director Thierry Fremaux and will now use his considerable influence and campaigning heft to enlist the support of Hollywood.”
“We’re calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation,” Weinstein said, reviving a theme he adopted earlier in the year after he bought international distribution rights at Sundance to the HBO documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.”
There’s Joan Z. Shore of The Huffington Post who blames the rape victim for seducing her attacker:
“The 13-year old model “seduced” by Polanski had been thrust onto him by her mother, who wanted her in the movies. The girl was just a few weeks short of her 14th birthday, which was the age of consent in California. (It’s probably 13 by now!) Polanski was demonized by the press, convicted, and managed to flee, fearing a heavy sentence.”
(One has to wonder if Joan Z. Shore has daughters and also if she would be OK with them being raped at age 13 by a 43 year old man if they had “seduced” him.)
Then there’s Whoopi Goldberg, who played a rape victim in “The Color Purple” and says of Polanski’s crime, “It wasn’t rape-rape.”
“I know it wasn’t rape-rape. It was something else but I don’t believe it was rape-rape. He went to jail and and when they let him out he was like ‘You know what, this guy’s going to give me a hundred years in jail I’m not staying,’ so that’s why he left.”
One is left to wonder why Roman Polanski is so special among Hollywood types who are convicted of rape.
In 2004 Scott Bairstow, a star of the TV show “Party of Five” then 33 years old, was convicted of raping a 12 year old girl. He served a prison sentence of just four months.
“EVERETT — Hollywood star Scott Bairstow and his attorney told a sentencing judge yesterday that the actor’s time behind bars is threatening to cut into his time before the camera.”
“Out of sight, out of mind has never been more true than in the entertainment industry,” said Mitchell Egers, the Los Angeles attorney representing 33-year-old Bairstow.”
“The California actor, whose big-screen credits include “Tuck Everlasting” and “The Bone Snatcher,” pleaded guilty in December to second-degree assault of a young girl, a plea acknowledging he assaulted the victim with intent of second-degree molestation.”
“Yesterday Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese sentenced the actor to four months behind bars.”
The damning evidence against Bairstow came in the form of a phone call between him and his accuser, which was recorded by police:
The following conversation was recorded by police last month after the girl told her family about the alleged sexual abuse, according to charging documents filed by prosecutors:
Bairstow: OK. Um, I mean, ho, how are you feeling, are ya, are, are you mad?
Girl: Um. I don’t know. I think it’s affected me in a lot of ways, but …
Bairstow: It has?
Girl: Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t really know what to feel, ya know?
Bairstow: Have you told anyone?
Girl: No, but I’m thinking maybe I should.
Bairstow: K, um, why are you thinking that?
Girl: I don’t know. I just, I don’t know. You don’t think I should tell anyone?
Bairstow: Well … I’m like a dad, and I’ve got a job, and if you were to tell anyone, I would be thrown in jail for 10 years.
Girl: Are you serious?
Bairstow: Yeah, yeah, I’m not kidding around … it would destroy my life.
Another case of a Hollywood film director who served jail time for a similar crime is Victor Salva, who made the popular horror films Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers II. Prior to making those movies, in 1998 at the age of thirty, Salva was convicted of molesting a 12 year old boy, a crime for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“He’d just made “Clownhouse,” a low budget horror film about three boys terrorized by circus clowns, that screened at Sundance and was bankrolled by Francis Ford Coppola, then one of the most influential filmmakers in Hollywood. To shoot the movie, Coppola even gave Salva the cameras George Lucas had used to make “American Graffiti.”
“But in 1988, as he was fielding offers to make high-profile studio films, Salva was charged with having oral sex with 12-year-old Nathan Forrest Winters, while directing the boy in the movie.”
“After confessing to the crime, Salva was sentenced to three years in state prison, serving 15 months before his release in 1989.”
These men were found guilty of rape and served surprisingly short prison sentences for their crimes. Roman Polanski admitted to his crime and his lived a charmed life of privelege for thirty-two years.
No Hollywood or politically connected advocacy can change the bottom line.
Roman Polanski raped a 13 year old girl.
Roman Polanski should have gone to jail 32 years ago.
Even the LA Times is now conceding that the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office made multiple attempts to arrest Polanski over the years.
“A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment on what role if any the court filings by Polanski’s attorneys played in the arrest. But the office produced a list of eight instances since 1978 in which prosecutors took steps to apprehend Polanski.”
“Those attempts were not successful. This attempt was,” spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.”
The question of the man’s guilt was settled over 30 years ago.
It’s time for Roman Polanski to go to jail.
Follow up reading:
Kate Harding at Salon.com “Reminder: Roman Polanski Raped a Child”
More at Memeorandum.
