‘Is this what Australia thinks is right?’: Ridiculous crimes Australia takes more seriously than rape

In Australia in 2024, convicted rapists regularly walk free – while someone who steals a single, $3.50 ice cream can be sent to prison.

OPINION

Imagine going through the pain of a rape kit, giving an eight-hour police interview then waiting two years for the case to get to trial, all the while feeling anxious, confused and in the dark.

Imagine giving evidence for three days, being asked more than 1500 questions, including what your favourite sexual position is and your style of underwear.

Imagine vomiting in the court toilets, crying, then taking the stand again, only to be painted “dishonest”, “wicked”, “manipulative” a “tease” and an “attention seeker”.

Imagine being accused of lying, and inventing the rape as revenge for not having an orgasm that night. (Yes, this really happened).

Madeline Lane put her life on hold for years fighting for justice. Picture: news.com.au

Imagine being asked to stand up and physically re-enact how you tried to fight of the perpetrator in front of a jury, as muscle memory transports you back to the event, forcing you to relive the rape as if it were happening in real time right there in the witness box – all while the man responsible sits just metres away watching on.

Then picture the relief – the incredible relief – of hearing the word “guilty”.

Now, if you can, try to imagine the whiplash you would feel on learning months later at sentencing, that despite his formal guilt, the man who hurt you will be walking out the same front door as you.

He will not be spending a single night behind bars for his decision to rape you.

Instead, he will be required to perform just 300 hours of community service.

For Madeline Lane, this was her journey through the NSW criminal justice system.

Raped. Cross examined. Traumatised. Then vindicated – only then to be let down by the very system that was meant to protect her.

Madeline Lane was raped by her Tinder date Boyd Kramer.

Despite being found guilty, Boyd Kramer avoided a jail sentence.

To add insult to injury, on October 18, 2022 the prosecution appealed the leniency of the sentence against her offender, Boyd Kramer. While the Court of Appeal agreed the sentence was “manifestly inadequate”, it also decided it would be too punitive to impose any additional sentence given that Kramer had completed his 38 days of community service just two weeks earlier.

The offender – clearly feeling that luck was on his side – celebrated the next night at the Mosman Club, winning big.

Boyd Kramer was out playing poker a day after his sentence. Picture: Facebook

Today, news.com.au has published Ms Lane’s story as part of our Take the Stand campaign, which calls on State and Federal governments to fully fund programs which make courts less traumatic for sexual assault victim-survivors.

While Ms Lane’s case is shocking, sadly it is far from isolated.

Across Australia, news.com.au has spoken to numerous sexual assault survivors whose offenders were found guilty but who never served a night behind bars.

For Ms Lane, this has been a difficult pill to swallow.

“I fought so hard to get all the way to the end of the process. I put my life on hold for years,” she told news.com.au.

“And he gets a slap on the wrist for raping me? How is that fair? How is that justice? Why would anyone want to come forward to relive the worst thing that has happened to them for that kind of outcome? Is that all I am worth and is this what Australia thinks is right?”

Boyd Kramer’s Tinder profile.

Equally confusing for Ms Lane is the fact that offenders in many petty crimes have received jail sentences.

Take for example the woman who stole a $3.50 ice cream in St Kilda in 2020. She received six days in jail.

Or what about the woman in Bourke who was jailed for three months in 2017 after drinking a soft drink in a convenience store without paying for it?

Then there was the Queensland mother who was jailed for nine months for spitting and swearing at a police officer.

While some of the offenders in the above cases may have had prior records, for Ms Lane, what these cases really highlight is a lack of consistency in how Australian courts approach crime.

This is something I can relate to.

For more than a decade, as a journalist I’ve been reporting almost exclusively on sexual violence. I’ve noticed that even those rapists who do go to jail often do not stay long. And nor are there always social consequences waiting for them in the community once they return, particularly if the offender is privileged, an athlete, a celebrity or if they have been labelled a “good bloke”.

For the victim-survivor, however, the consequences can last a lifetime.

In 2017, I broke the story of Douglas Steele, a staff member at James Cook University who digitally raped an Aboriginal student who was unconscious at the time.

James Cook University staffer Douglas Steele pleaded guilty to raping an Aboriginal student who was unconscious at the time.

When Steele was charged with rape, he was not stood down by the university. Instead, Steele – who is white – was not only promoted, he was made Academic Adviser to Indigenous Students.

He then entered a guilty plea to the rape, but again was allowed to stay on university staff while he awaited sentencing. At sentencing, it emerged that the university had also supplied him with a glowing character reference which assisted in his sentence being reduced from two years to just four months.

That year, I was reporting extensively on sexual assault within university communities – aiming to complete 52 articles in 52 weeks – and I quickly moved on to the next story. I couldn’t believe it when I got a call a few months later to alert me to the fact that Steele was already being released from jail.

I was still on the same tube of toothpaste that I’d been using when he went in.

There were condiments in my fridge that had been in longer than Steele.

The student, meanwhile, has dropped out of her education due to the impacts of trauma and lack of university support.

And this is who really wears the true cost and punishment of rape: the victims.

Over the past decade, I have seen these scenarios play out so many times I have lost count.

A survivor like Madeline Lane will go through the unbelievably gruelling process of going to court, facing her rapist and surviving cross examination, only to be told that because her rapist is a “first time offender” of “good character”, the judge has decided to give him either a brief or suspended sentence.

Journalist Nina Funnell, who is spearheading Take The Stand, says she has seen this scenario play out many times. Picture: Nicki Connolly/news.com.au

Even more perplexing is what happens if an offender is found to have assaulted many victims, or one victim on many occasions.

In those instances, judges often “reward” the serial offending by allowing the offender to serve their various sentences concurrently.

In other words, rape one victim and you get a “first time freebie”. Rape a bunch, and you can have a “bulk discount”.

It is little wonder then that for every 100 sexual assaults, only eight victims report to police. Of those eight, only one will proceed all the way to court and receive a guilty verdict.

And most shocking of all, even if the person is found guilty, there is no guarantee whatsoever they will face jail.

According to 10 years worth of Australian Bureau of Statistics data, offenders found guilty of sexual offending in Australia face one-in-two odds of being released with something other than a custodial sentence, such as a fine, community service or good behaviour bond.

Data and image via @JaneGilmore substack

(Data collected by the ABS shows that between 2010-11 to 2019-20, a total of 25,670 sex offenders received a guilty verdict across all Australian courts. Of them, 12,150 (or 47.3 per cent) received a non-custodial sentence, for example, a community supervision order, work order or monetary order).

For Ms Lane, the punishment simply does not fit the crime.

“Australia says rape is the second most heinous crime after murder, so how can it not be jail?” she asks.

In her case, the legal process has not merely amplified her existing trauma from rape – it has given her an entirely new injury and fresh wound which will require processing and healing.

“The rape was an attack on my body. The legal process was an attack on my soul,” she says.

Surely it’s time for change. It’s time we took a stand.

Nina Funnell is Walkley Award winning journalist and the creator of the Take the Stand campaign run in exclusive partnership with news.com.au. Contact: [e-mail]

Originally published as ‘Is this what Australia thinks is right?’: Ridiculous crimes Australia takes more seriously than rape