How do We Proceed from Here?
Posted: November 10, 2010 Filed under: Human Rights, Women's Rights | Tags: child abuse, justice, Women's Rights 19 CommentsThis has been bugging me all week, so I decided to post it here for discussion.
Last week this story appeared in the news.
It’s about a 21 year old woman who was due to testify at the trial of her accused molester/rapist. The man was her mother’s boyfriend, and abused the woman when she was young. The man is accused of abusing other young women. His trial is currently taking place in Seattle. This is unfortunately pretty standard fare for our society.
But, the kicker is the man is acting as his own defense. Now, our Constitution guarantees the right of the accused to face their accusers. And it allows the accused to act as their own defense.
But what kind of torture is it for our legal system force a young woman to answer the questions of her rapist about her rape? Is this not revictimizing her, but this time on society’s behalf?
So what’s the answer? The accused has rights. But so does the victim/accuser. I myself tend towards a supervised interview with the victim in one room, the accused in the other and the judge and a lawyer for the victim (or the prosecutor if applicable) acting as intermediaries. But even so, even so, I can not imagine having to be led back through the abuse by the abuser. How sick and sadistic is that?
By the way, the article mentions a victim who did face her abuser in court while he acted as his own defense. I admire her ovaries, they must be the size of softballs.
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I understand being confronted by one’s attacker is upsetting, but I don’t think the right of the accused to face his/her accuser in the same room should be taken away. If I were changing the law in this regard I’d make it mandatory for the accused to have an attorney representing him – but that probably violates important civil rights as well.
The cornerstone of our justice system is the respect it gives to the notion that the accused might be innocent. And it’s important to remember this is not a therapist’s office, it’s a courtroom. Protecting the rights (not the feelings) of the innocent -whether it’s the accused or the accuser- is tantamount.
If I’m the defendent and innocent, no matter the crime, I want the chance to be in the same room while I and my accuser are giving testimony.
For me, the bigger complaint about laws concerning rape is the statute of limitations. I mean, obviously, after several years it’s harder and harder to prove rape beyond a reasonable doubt, but that the law doesn’t even allow one to try after a certain point seems wrong to me. Especially because today it’s possible to preserve evidence like DNA, and I know from my own experience that it can take years to pull oneself together enough to be able to face an attacker who knew how to use intimidation to destroy confidence.
I agree with all of this. However, in rape cases and other cases like it, at least in my state, decision to prosecute is not by the victim.
So the victim MUST testify, even if she’d rather commit suicide. After she watched her mother get grilled by the abuser, she ran to the roof.
The way they solved it was simple, they dropped the charges in her case. The abuser has other accusers and other charges.
I feel as though it’s just raping the victim all over again, but we the people are doing it this time.
I’ve got daughter visitations all day and just got a chance to check this out. I can’t believe this kind of stuff is still going on after all these years. It needs to be kept on the front page!!
Also, the victim didn’t have a problem being in the same room with the accused.
She had a problem with being interrogated by him. And she watched him do that to her mother first. So… I think that’s where the rub is. My solution about separate rooms is simply to avoid the victim hearing the questions the accused asks that get knocked out by the judge. To try and remove some of that kind of intimidation.
God, that’s absolutely horrifying. The woman who almost committed suicide to avoid having to testify, and the little girl…I think it’s important to have a really good judge, who isn’t going to give the lawyer/rapist any latitude in doing anything that’s going to be intimidating or threatening to the victim. There was a case around here with this guy who committed a brutal murder, he didn’t act as his own attorney, but he was admonished by the judge several times for acting in an intimidating or threatening manner towards people who were testifying. An 11 year old survived the attack, and clearly even if he were acting as his own attorney they would have set some clear boundaries and not just have allowed him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to terrorize the child or anyone else who testified.
That’s true, and it’s something most of us don’t pay enough attention to when voting.
I think the alleged victim should be in the same room with the accuser, except in some cases with small children. But the accused doesn’t have an absolute right to defend him/herself in court. That is up to the discretion of the judge. And judges need to use that discretion.
I think it varies by state, if the accused has the right to defend himself/herself. I’m not sure though, certainly not a legal expert. The comments on the story in the media led me to believe that it is a right.
What happens is, the accused can’t try to get a mistrial declared due to incompetent representation if they represent themselves. I guess that went to the Supreme Court.
What in the world is in the water these days?
Just around the same time, we had this insanity out a a Right-wing court:
Texas cheerleader suing – didn’t root for attacker
Can you believe this? Who are these creepy judges, you asked?
Don’t you remember Priscilla Owen? She was originally blocked by Dems [i](who of course ended up caving)[/i]. Right-wingers were all over TV telling us what a nice lady she is and that she even teaches Sundays school.
Thank you “Gang of 14”. You assholes!
Why is an accused rapist still playing on the football team in the first place? That’s sick.
I read that story on Echidne of the Snakes yesterday. She headed it “Possibly triggering.” I said “Possibly triggering?? I haven’t even been raped and I’m triggered myself!”
Because he’s only accused. So it’s the same reason that the accused in my original story gets to interrogate his accuser.
Most sports programs would suspend a player who is accused of a serious crime.
What in the world? That’s some amazing judicial restraint they’ve got going on there. The Constitutional duty to cheer with adequate pep for one’s rapist is enumerated right there in Article 9.
How awful. I don’t think the accused should have the right to cross examine his alleged victim. If he wants to defend himself, OK, but not for the cross examination.
After all, would the accuser be allowed to prosecute her own case and cross examine the accused? Hell no, that would be a violation of the *his* damn rights.
That’s true too. Heh.
We have, or had, victim advocates in this state. They function(ed) to help the victim through the whole prosecution process. They are being drastically cut due to funding problems.
Sima, here is a link to Pace Law School’s Women’s Justice Center:
http://web.pace.edu/page.cfm?doc_id=23242
I would not be surprised if they have some articles discussing this very topic.
Thanks! I’ve pulled up the site and will be going over it as soon as my farm chores are done.
Just a follow-up. I found an article at Pace which discusses ‘reluctant’ victims, or victims who are reluctant to testify, and what the prosecutor can do about them. The article says there wasn’t any definitive right answer, but the prosecutor can force a victim to testify. She can also try to cajole the victim, under the direction of victim support psychiatrists and so on. She can also just drop the case, if necessary. There is no easy answer.
Here’s the article:
http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=lawfaculty
And in a related tragedy:
http://www.komonews.com/news/national/107079348.html
Honestly, what is the world coming to?