RantCrush Top 5: December 14, 2016

San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser just sentenced Alex Smith to eight years in prison–the maximum possible sentence–for the gang rape of a woman three years ago. Smith was working for a “pickup artist” company called Efficient Pickup. The pickup artist community has long had a particular purpose–to teach men “foolproof” ways to get women to sleep with them.

It is believed that Smith’s conviction, as well as the conviction of the other men involved in the rape, are the first for members of the online pickup artist community. After Smith participated in the gang rape, he bragged about it in a series of disgusting blogs. The rape survivor, who has remained anonymous, was actually the one who discovered the online evidence after the police declined to follow up on her case. Judge Fraser was clear when he sentenced Smith that if he could have put him away for longer, he would have, saying that he is: “an absolute danger to women in this community.”

The woman who investigated her own gang rape after the cops wouldn’t, and the “pick-up artists” convicted for it. https://t.co/D44B7Uq8Tc https://t.co/8cw4VOdn0G

— Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) December 14, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.