Who you gonna call?
If there's something weird
And it don't look good
Who you gonna call?
Many men's rights groups have sounded the "falsely accused alarm," claiming they were victims of a bad and unfair adjudication process. There has been pressure from men's rights groups, and right-wing advocates who are obviously anti-Title IX activists, attempting to point Universities and students towards calling the police only, and that the Universities should stay out of the criminal justice game.
The first fact is: Colleges and Universities don't have the right to address sexual assault and rape on a criminal justice basis. They are there to educate students. However Colleges and Universities are microcosm's of our society, with rules and standards for behavior and conduct for those attending. When students are accepted, they agree to follow the rules and accept the consequences for bad behavior.
A University which accepts federal money to help operate has an obligation not to discriminate against any student based on race, gender, or religion according to the law. When a student gets expelled from a school, it's because they have broken the code of conduct law, which the school has established, written out, and a student has agreed to follow. If they break the rule, the school has an obligation to investigate, and conduct a disciplinary procedure, not a criminal one.
What has been challenged by many students is their right to live in a safe environment. Title IX has been the law since 1972. It took a handful of students to find it and make their case known. This is not a law designed to protect feminists against men. It's meant to keep any institution from discriminating against any student and give all students an equal, fair chance for education.
The problem it seems, is that many Universities have been forced to do their jobs if they weren't already doing them, trying to stop rape on campuses, and people with politically driven agendas don't like what's happened. It's not to say that a false accusation doesn't happen from time to time, but it appears MRAs (mens rights activists) are attempting to wear the uniform as victims in order to win this fight in the political arena.
The second fact is: many victims don't go to the police because some law enforcement agencies have have built a reputation of not believing the victim. The more inclosed the local town and culture of the area is, the better the chances of the town, circling the wagons and shutting the scandal down.
Some police have been called out to investigate the rape of a girl by the quarterback of the town's local football team. Sometimes police are cynical through a lack of understanding what rape is really all about and also failing to take an unbiased view of rape and its victims.
In John Krakauer's book, he documents a victim's initial dealing going to the police to report her assault. The policeman (Officer Vreeland) asked the victim, (Kelly Barrett) "so what do you want to come of this?" Paraphrasing the author; Barrett was taken aback by the question. Officer Vreeland continues, "Since you were fooling around before, and no one saw the rape happen, it will be hard to prove." and as he was closing the interview the officer asked if she had a boyfriend... explaining "Sometimes girls cheat on their boyfriends, and later regret it. and then claim they were raped."
The Times Tribune Editorial Board recently published an article entitled, "Call The Police In Rape Cases." They site the arrest and conviction of Former Vanderbilt University football player Brandon Vandenburg.
They seem to be insinuating that this is the way the police work in rape investigations. I applaud the work of the Nashville PD in Vandenburg case, but it's not the prevailing mindset of law enforcement across this country. The police need to collectively update how victims of sex crimes are treated. You cannot gain someone's trust with bad public relations. It's something that needs fixing.
Victims should have both options in seeking justice. And whether a victim reports this crime to the police, or her University he or she deserves the full competent support from both institutions.
 |
| Cast of New Ghostbusters movie 2016 Sony Pictures |
And it don't look good
Who you gonna call?
-Ray Parker Jr.
Too bad we don't have a team of men or women, with scientific gadgets to eradicate sexual assault wherever they find it. They'd have technology to take the guess work out of crime fighting. Yes, very Sci-Fi, and no, I'm not suggesting killing people who commit sexual assault, but perhaps a way to bring justice to victims and catching the assholes who commit the one crime that gives certain institutions feet of clay.
 |
| Betsy DeVos- United States Secretary of Education |
After reading and watching the latest developments of what's been happening since Betsy DeVos began investigating sexual assault claims from groups on both sides of the issue, how Title IX has affected their lives, I need to address the rumors and miss-statements of Rape on our University and College campuses.
Many men's rights groups have sounded the "falsely accused alarm," claiming they were victims of a bad and unfair adjudication process. There has been pressure from men's rights groups, and right-wing advocates who are obviously anti-Title IX activists, attempting to point Universities and students towards calling the police only, and that the Universities should stay out of the criminal justice game.
A University which accepts federal money to help operate has an obligation not to discriminate against any student based on race, gender, or religion according to the law. When a student gets expelled from a school, it's because they have broken the code of conduct law, which the school has established, written out, and a student has agreed to follow. If they break the rule, the school has an obligation to investigate, and conduct a disciplinary procedure, not a criminal one.
The problem it seems, is that many Universities have been forced to do their jobs if they weren't already doing them, trying to stop rape on campuses, and people with politically driven agendas don't like what's happened. It's not to say that a false accusation doesn't happen from time to time, but it appears MRAs (mens rights activists) are attempting to wear the uniform as victims in order to win this fight in the political arena.
The second fact is: many victims don't go to the police because some law enforcement agencies have have built a reputation of not believing the victim. The more inclosed the local town and culture of the area is, the better the chances of the town, circling the wagons and shutting the scandal down.
We found indications that officers fail to meaningfully investigate reports of sexual assault, particularly for assaults involving women with additional vulnerabilities, such as those who are involved in the sex trade. Detectives fail to develop and resolve preliminary investigations; fail to identify and collect evidence to corroborate victims’ accounts; inadequately document their investigative steps; fail to collect and assess data, and report and classify reports of sexual assault; and lack supervisory review. We also have concerns that officers’ interactions with women victims of sexual assault and with transgender individuals display unlawful gender bias. - U.S. Justice Department finds discriminatory practices in Baltimore police, Washington Post
"Officers routinely questioned sex crime victims in a way that put the blame on the victims themselves, like suggesting they were responsible. Detectives would ask “Why are you messing up that guy’s life?” and suggest the victims were lying by not reporting the assault immediately.
A prosecutor handling a sexual assault case wrote in an email to a BPD officer that the woman who reported the crime was a “conniving little whore,” and the cop responded “Lmao! I feel the same.”
Detectives made “minimal to no effort to locate, identify, interrogate, or investigate suspects,” the DOJ said. BPD sex crimes unit officials would complain that all of the sexual assault reports were false, saying at a social event, “In homicide, there are real victims; all our cases are bullshit.”
And People Ask Why Rape Victims Don’t Report To Police- Huffpost August 12, 2016
"Don't under estimate the need for attention... Especially young girls. There's a lot of pressure on young girls in our society to be pretty-- to be liked, to be the popular one. And it's not fair but it's the way our society works."- Darren White, Sheriff of Nordway County, Missouri -From Netflix Documentary "Audrie and Daisy
The Times Tribune Editorial Board recently published an article entitled, "Call The Police In Rape Cases." They site the arrest and conviction of Former Vanderbilt University football player Brandon Vandenburg.
They seem to be insinuating that this is the way the police work in rape investigations. I applaud the work of the Nashville PD in Vandenburg case, but it's not the prevailing mindset of law enforcement across this country. The police need to collectively update how victims of sex crimes are treated. You cannot gain someone's trust with bad public relations. It's something that needs fixing.
Victims should have both options in seeking justice. And whether a victim reports this crime to the police, or her University he or she deserves the full competent support from both institutions.
 |
| Check out my You Tube Channel on this topic. |
No comments:
Post a Comment