Victims advocates warn slap-on-the-wrist sentence for convicted NYC rapist could send dangerous message: ‘It’s an outrage!’

A Manhattan judge’s “outrageous” decision to send a convicted rapist back on the streets rather than to prison could deliver a chilling message to sexual assault victims, experts said Wednesday — while blasting the move as “a grave miscarriage of justice.”

Advocacy groups who work with sexual abuse victims were horrified after The Post exposed the slap-on-the-wrist sentence for William Hathaway, 33, who had faced up to four years behind bars for the 2020 rape of a 23-year-old woman he met on Tinder.

“This sentence treats rape like shoplifting,” fumed Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of Rape Abuse & Incest Nation Network. “It just doesn’t fit the crime that he was convicted of.

“The FBI ranks rape as the second most violent crime behind only murder,” Berkowitz told The Post. “Any judge who doesn’t understand that doesn’t belong on the bench.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Josh Hanshaft, when handing down the shocking sentence to Hathaway on Tuesday, admitted he wasn’t sure it was the right move.

The judge, who joined the bench in 2017, said he hoped that 10 years of probation and having to partake in a sex offender treatment program would be a “better alternative” to prison for Hathaway, and stop him from re-offending.

Emily Miles, executive director of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, said the sentence could become a dangerous deterrent for other victims of sexual assault.

“The sentencing of William Hathaway to probation, despite his conviction for third-degree rape, represents a grave miscarriage of justice,” she said. “This decision sends a devastating message to survivors of sexual violence that their pain can be disregarded and their experiences minimized by the very system meant to protect them.”

Susan Crumiller, of Crumiller P.C., a well-known feminist litigation firm in New York City, agreed the decision could send a dangerous message.

“Shame on Judge Hanshaft for this farcical decision which will absolutely dissuade others with similar experiences from coming forward,” Crumiller said.

“The survivor in this case sacrificed her time and emotional health to cooperate with the criminal process without any recompense for her suffering. I hope that she and other survivors of his sexual brutality – both known and unknown – sue the hell out of this perpetrator and get the justice they deserve.”

It’s not known if the victim in the case, who has not been publicly identified, has retained any legal counsel. Hathaway’s defense attorney said he vehemently denied the charges and was appealing the jury verdict.

Advocates weren’t the only ones fuming over Hanshaft’s decision.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was “outraged by the judge’s sentence,” calling it “a miscarriage of justice for the victim.”

“As New York’s first woman governor, she believes every judge must recognize that women have a right to protection in our judicial system against abusers and rapists,” the spokesperson said.

“That did not happen here. The Governor’s top priority is public safety, and her efforts to hold offenders accountable are undermined when judges let convicted criminals, let alone rapists, off with little to no consequences.”

— Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer