One reason why accusers don’t want to go to the police is because, for the past few decades, law enforcement has been accused of not taking rape seriously. That is the crux of every conversation surrounding campus sexual assault, and sadly, an issue that is not being addressed. Given this vacuum, activists have stepped in to increase pressure on colleges to handle rape cases.
Instead of creating an alternate legal system where untrained or barely trained college administrators pretend to be investigators, prosecutors, impartial judges and juries, a better option would be to reform the way police react to rape accusations...
Instead of universities holding their own trials, they should devote more resources to providing emotional support and encouragement for women going through the actual legal system. Not only does the campus process provide a lower burden of proof and fewer due process rights for the accused, it provides weak punishment for those who are convicted. A serial rapist's punishment shouldn't be limited to being kicked out of school. That person should be in jail.
Her points seem darned reasonable to me.
2 comments:
Other then self-service I'm not sure what reason universities have to intrude into a criminal matter. It's certainly not the pursuit of justice nor the protection of the student population both of which universities are ill equipped, and not particularly inclined, to pursue.
What I find a bit perplexing is why the criminal justice system hasn't reacted more harshly to those self-serving university administrators who impede or even prevent a criminal investigation from occurring.
A few deans doing the perp walk with their jackets over their heads, for interfering with a criminal investigation, would go a lot farther towards reigning in their efforts to protect themselves and the university at the expense of the students then all the hand-wringing editorials written since the beginning of time.
On the off chance you haven't seen this, yet: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/12/05/rolling-stone-retracts-uva-story/19954293/
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