New York’s Un-finest
Posted by Anu in 
Headlines about the acquittal of two New York City cops on rape charges left us with horrifying reminders about the failures of the criminal justice system when it comes to uniformed men and sexual assault.
Despite stacks of evidence implicating the cops in wrongdoing, the fact that the victim was intoxicated and barely able to recollect the events of the evening proved to be a major roadblock in convicting the officers.
From John Eligon, in The New York Times:
In this case, defense lawyers pounced on the credibility of the woman because she was very drunk on the night in question and did not remember many details.
Many men—including police officers—apparently think it’s ethically sound to sleep with a woman who is passed-out drunk. Unfortunately, “consent-based” statutes, which require sexual partners to give verbal consent before having sex, are not the law of the land in every state. Hence you get outrageous verdicts like we did in NYC last week. (Sidebar: you should know that military law also rejects the “consent-based” statute. Instead, the current “force-based” statute requires that a victim must prove that physical force was used, which, as we learned from the NYPD debacle, is less likely to work out in favor of the victim.)
As police departments and the military learn ever so slowly to separate right from wrong, I invite you to turn to our friends at Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton for a bit of guidance on how to educate men to know when to call it a night. As you can see, this poster campaign is graphic…and fantastically effective:
Photos/Posters from Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton
Two New York City Police Officers Acquitted of Rape – The New York Times
