ASSAULT
According to statistics compiled in 2019, Alaska ranked first in the occurrence of rape across the United States (FBI, 2023). This is alarming, especially combined with the prevalence rates of sexually transmitted infections. Together, these two achievements make Alaska, reasonably, a dangerous place for our youth and families.
After serving fifteen years in the conflict resolution field and after participating in countless civil and criminal litigations, it only seemed reasonable that I dedicate the last half of my career to understanding not why individuals choose to violate the rights of another but why juries across the country, increasingly fail to hold them accountable. In my Ph.D. program, I aim to study juries at the micro level to understand their thinking both in group and individual contexts.
My overarching thesis surrounds the concept of presentation (perception) and cognition (memory). How one perceives the facts of the case and files those facts into memory encompasses a host of external stimuli, one of which is an Unnamed Conspirator. Former Denver major crimes prosecutor Anne Munch has dedicated much of her career to educating law students on an unintended third party that injects itself into criminal prosecutions.
Munch contends that violence and victimization are concepts connected to the root of societal beliefs and are accordingly applied. Society incorrectly applies stereotypes to make socially permissible behavior that shouldn’t be. During Munch’s opening remarks, she detailed a horrific front-page example in the Denver Post that illustrates the unnamed conspirator’s very nature and presence in our culture.
Society serves to enable the continuation of victimization by how they view sexuality and gender. Reflecting on many of the horrific excuses for rape that I have heard in my lifetime, the one that resonates most significantly is one dear to Munich also. In our culture, it seems, we provide permissible excuses to victimize another. “Look at what she was wearing; she was asking for it,” “rape your opponent,” and similar comments serve to make sexual assault a reasonable outcome.
The concept of how one dresses should not be an excuse for criminal defendants who cannot “help themselves” because a woman is provocatively dressed. Further, we should not infringe on the personal expression of another; rather, we should teach discipline, kindness, and accountability.
One of the first battles fought in the criminal courts when Rape is on Trial is alcohol. Alcohol serves to enable permissible defenses for conduct that is barbaric and uncivilized. Even asking “how much alcohol” one drank during a sexual sexual assault serves to excuse entirely wrong behavior. Alcohol, as a resource of power for the unnamed conspirator, has, in many contexts, served to make permissible rape simply because one party or another is intoxicated.
Let’s Talk
We can do better. Alaska residents should not be proud of the laudable achievement of claiming the ranks to become a hotbed for sexual assault and sexually transmitted infections. We can reshape the narrative, but as educators, the endeavor starts and ends with us.