Month: February 2018

PR: Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, Joined by Dozens of Federal and State Judges, Calls for Due Process in Campus Sex Proceedings

Post author By saveadmin
Post date February 7, 2018

Telephone: 301-801-0608

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, Joined by Dozens of Federal and State Judges, Calls for Due Process in Campus Sex Proceedings

WASHINGTON / February 20, 2018 – In a recent interview for The Atlantic, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg affirmed the need for due process in campus sexual assault proceedings. In addition, Ginsburg clarified that due process protections are not incompatible with aspirations for gender equality.

Asked, “What about due process for the accused?”, Ginsburg gave this reply: “Well, that must not be ignored and it goes beyond sexual harassment. The person who is accused has a right to defend herself or himself, and we certainly should not lose sight of that. Recognizing that these are complaints that should be heard. There’s been criticism of some college codes of conduct for not giving the accused person a fair opportunity to be heard, and that’s one of the basic tenets of our system, as you know, everyone deserves a fair hearing.” [emphasis added]

When the interviewer sought clarification whether “some of those criticisms of the college codes valid?”, Ginsburg provided this unequivocal answer: “Do I think they are? Yes.”

Queried about her thoughts how to balance the values of due process against the principle of sex equality, Ginsburg explained, “It’s not one or the other. It’s both. We have a system of justice where people who are accused get due process, so it’s just applying to this field what we have applied generally.”

Ginsburg’s sentiments on this issue have been echoed in recent rulings issued by dozens of federal and state judges.

Since 2012, over 200 lawsuits by students accused of sexual assault have been filed against colleges and universities. The SAVE report, Lawsuits Against Universities for Alleged Mishandling of Sexual Misconduct Cases, documents that in a majority of cases, judges have ruled in favor of the accused students (1). To date, 79 of these lawsuits have resulted in decisions by state and federal judges against the defendant university (2).

Justice Ginsburg’s comments were published in the February 15, 2018 edition of The Atlantic (3).

Citations:

SAVE (Stop Abusive and Violent Environments) is working for effective and fair solutions to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence: www.saveservices.org

Believe the Victim Campus Sexual Assault

Professors and Legal Experts Call for End to Guilt-Presuming ‘Victim-Centered’ Investigations

Post author By saveadmin
Post date February 7, 2018

Telephone: 301-801-0608

Email: info@saveservices.org

Professors and Legal Experts Call for End to Guilt-Presuming ‘Victim-Centered’ Investigations

WASHINGTON / February 7, 2018 – Today 137 professors and legal experts are releasing an Open Letter that calls on college administrators, lawmakers, criminal justice agencies, and others to promptly end the use of so-called “victim-centered” investigations. Such investigations are fundamentally flawed because they presume the guilt of the accused. The professors come from leading colleges and universities around the country.

The letter traces the source of the “victim-centered” approach to the early 1990s when advocates began to call for “swift and unquestioning judgments about the facts of [sexual] harassment without standard evidentiary procedures with the chant ‘always believe the victim.’”

According to a Human Rights Watch report, a “victim-centered” approach means the investigator assumes “all sexual assault cases are valid unless established otherwise by investigative findings.” The University of Texas School of Social Work’s Blueprint for Campus Police instructs investigators to anticipate legal defense strategies and urges that complainant inconsistencies be covered over by not recording a “detailed account of prior interview statements.” (1)

The Open Letter concludes, “By their very name, their ideology, and the methods they foster, ‘believe the victim’ concepts presume the guilt of an accused. This is the antithesis of the most rudimentary notions of justice. In directing investigators to corroborate allegations, ignore reporting inconsistencies, and undermine defenses, the ‘believe the victim’ movement threatens to subvert constitutionally-rooted due process protections.”

The use of biased victim-centered investigations on campus has given rise to numerous lawsuits by accused students alleging biased collection of evidence (2). In many cases, the judge has issued a ruling in favor of the accused student (3).

Victim-centered practices, sometimes referred to as “Start by Believing,” are becoming widespread in the criminal justice system, as well (4). In 2016 an Arizona governor’s commission issued a letter advising the state’s criminal justice agencies to reject “Start by Believing” investigative methods because their use “creates the possibility of real or perceived confirmation bias.” (5)

More information about “victim-centered” investigations is available (6). The Open Letter can be viewed online (7).

Citations:

SAVE (Stop Abusive and Violent Environments) is working for effective and fair solutions to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence: www.saveservices.org

Believe the Victim

Lesson from the Michigan Sex Abuse Case: Campus Investigators Should Not Be Handling Felony Crimes

Post author By saveadmin
Post date February 5, 2018

Telephone: 301-801-0608

Email: info@saveservices.org

Lesson from the Michigan Sex Abuse Case:

Campus Investigators Should Not Be Handling Felony Crimes

WASHINGTON / February 5, 2018 – In the wake of the January 24 sentencing of Lawrence Nassar on multiple charges of sexual abuse of young gymnasts, SAVE is calling for an end to the practice of campus investigators handling felony level crimes. Such persons lack the training, expertise, and independence necessary to conduct such complex investigations.

Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexual abuse. The seven-day hearing leading to Nassar’s sentencing brought more than 150 young women who publicly confronted him and spoke of their abuse (1).

According to an article published last week in The Atlantic, a credible allegation of sexual abuse was made to Michigan State University officials by former MSU student Amanda Thomashow in 2014 (2). She alleged that Nassar massaged her breasts and vaginal area during medical examinations to the point of sexual arousal. Such actions represent criminal activity under Michigan law.

But rather than referring the case to criminal investigators, the allegation was handled by the MSU Title IX coordinator, Kristine Moore. As part of its internal investigation, Moore sought out the opinions of four medical experts. All four had close ties to the university and Nassar.

At the conclusion of her interviews, Moore completed two reports. The first report, written for university administrators, cleared Nassar of the sexual harassment charge but concluded he was inflicting “unnecessary trauma” on his patients. The second report, provided to Thomashow, made no mention of the “unnecessary trauma” finding.

The Atlantic article concludes, “Because the 2014 investigation was conducted internally, conflict of interests may have influenced the outcome, allowing Nassar to continue his abuse for two more years.”

The MSU investigation came three years after the federal Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague Letter directing colleges to handle all allegations of sexual misconduct. Federal lawmakers have sharply criticized campus adjudications for shortchanging complainants and accused persons alike (3).

A recent Department of Education probe of MSU Title IX cases found that a “significant number of files” lacked investigative reports. In these cases, the federal probe couldn’t determine whether an investigation was completed or if MSU acted on the findings (4).

SAVE notes that investigations of alleged sexual offenses are fraught with complexities associated with the collection, analysis, and synthesis of sometimes conflicting information obtained from multiple sources. Many campus investigators only attend a weekend training course, leaving them woefully unqualified to handle such cases.

SAVE has developed a model bill, the Campus Equality, Fairness, and Transparency Act, which encourages the referral of campus criminal cases to law enforcement authorities (5).

Links:

SAVE – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – is working for effective and fair solutions to campus sexual assault and harassment: www.saveservices.org