To the editor: This op-ed should have taken a variety of braveness from visitor contributor Alison Murphy (“Why we shouldn’t expect rape survivors to report,” Oct. 10). Certainly, the challenges confronted by Jane Doe of Cornell College as a survivor reporting rape have been monumental.
The bureaucratic system fails to deliver justice to rape victims at each stage. All of us have been witness to that.
We’ve seen these failures in publicized instances previously. For instance, regulation professor Anita Hill confronted an uphill battle in bringing forth sexual harassment accusations in opposition to then-Supreme Court docket nominee Clarence Thomas. And in 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford skilled a lot problem in arguing her sexual assault case in opposition to then-Supreme Court docket nominee Brett Kavanaugh. In each instances, the accusers have been unable to cease the nominations from shifting ahead due partly to a scarcity of witnesses and the bureaucratic pink tape of forensic proof.
As Murphy factors out, 4 out of 5 perpetrators are by no means charged and solely 8% of expenses lead to conviction. This is because of institutional lethargy.
As a lot as I’m sympathetic to sexual assault victims, I have to agree with Murphy’s take.
Akhtar H. Emon, Rancho Palos Verdes
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To the editor: After all rape investigations needs to be thorough and as delicate to the alleged sufferer as is appropriate with due course of that respects the rights of the accused. However we must always not let sympathy for the alleged sufferer override the truth that it’s inherent to the American felony justice system that the burden of proof lies on the prosecution to show the defendant is responsible past an inexpensive doubt.
Felicia Nimue Ackerman, Windfall, R.I.
This author is a professor of philosophy at Brown College.
