Contact: Rebecca Stewart
Telephone: 513-479-3335
Email: info@saveservices.org
New Tools Aim to Assist Defense Attorneys in Combating ‘Start By Believing’ Bias
WASHINGTON / March 15, 2019 – In response to a pledge taken by law enforcement officers and prosecutors across the country to “Start By Believing,”i Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) announces the release of a series of model cross-examination questions and jury voir dire questions. Developed with the input of veteran defense attorneys, these questions are intended to aid attorneys in exposing the biased results of investigations based on Start By Believing or other “victim-centered” methods. ii
Every defense attorney knows the frustration of losing a case where the defendant was clearly innocent, but the police detective failed to perform a thorough and unbiased investigation. A recent study confirms that “[a]n investigator’s belief that a person is guilty may be the reason innocent people get convicted.”iii Defense attorneys should be aware that utilization of Start by Believing techniques is widespread and must be probed at trial.
For example, SBB-trained investigators conduct investigations that:
- Begin with the premise that the complaining witness is telling the truth,
- De-emphasize inconsistent complainant statements in order to “minimize the risk of contradiction,” and
- Emphasize feelings over facts to sway the judge and jury in favor of complainantsiv
These types of investigations must be aggressively examined and exposed by asking such questions as:
- You’ve seen investigations resulting from false allegations? If you “Start By Believing,” you might never discover those false allegations?;
- You took steps to corroborate the complaining witness’ report, but you didn’t take steps to refute his/her statements?; and
- You will agree that when you start your investigation by believing the complaining witness, that necessarily means that you’ve made a pre-judgment about the guilt of the accused?
SAVE has also developed several proposed voir dire questions to aid in vetting potential jurors. Defense attorneys should recognize that members of the general public have been exposed to Start By Believing concepts via the mass media, or school or workplace trainingv.
Prosecutors may move forward with cases that have been improperly investigated. The City of Charleston, SC, recently settled with a college student wrongfully charged with rape.vi “We don’t give up, even when an investigation is subpar,” the prosecutor admitted.vii In accordance with Start By Believing philosophy, the prosecutor accepted the poorly investigated claims of the purported victim at face value, at the expense of the rights of the accused. The student was later acquitted by a jury after only a few minutes’ deliberation.
It is only a matter of time before similar trials are conducted across the country, and defense attorneys should be prepared.
The full list of cross-examination and voir dire questions is available here: http://www.saveservices.org/sexual-assault/cross-examination-voir-dire/ See more about SAVE’s national campaign to warn criminal defense attorneys, lawmakers, and others about the perils of Start By Believing: http://www.saveservices.org/camp/sbb/.
Citations:
i https://www.evawintl.org/Library/DocumentLibraryHandler.ashx?id=789
ii http://www.saveservices.org/sexual-assault/cross-examination-voir-dire/
iii https://phys.org/news/2018-10-guilty-proven-innocent-police-perceptions.html
iv https://www.evawintl.org/library/Detail.aspx?ItemID=43
v https://www.startbybelieving.org/resources/#campaignmaterials
vi http://www.live5news.com/2019/02/21/city-charleston-pays-k-settle-false-arrest-suit/?outputType=amp
vii https://www.postandcourier.com/news/quick-not-guilty-verdict-for-ex-college-of-charleston-student/article_bc40e27e-e500-11e7-88a4-1b8b1c49ad0f.html