Duke Lacrosse Team
The hot topic in these parts is the duke men’s lacrosse team and their alleged involvement in the rape of an escort and/or stripper. I try not to watch the news, so my knowledge of the situation is somewhat incomplete, but I don’t think that the particular facts are important for our purposes. I’d like to talk about what I’ve noticed about situations like this in general.
First, it’s remarkable how easily a college campus will become galvanized. Apparently, there have been protests for the last 5 days on Duke’s campus. It’s unclear what exactly people are protesting. I’ve even heard some interviews with the student protestors, who admit with ease that they don’t know themselves what they’re marching for. Most everyone, however, is enraged at the administration. Again, I’m not sure why. I’m not sure they know either. So, what exactly is going on here?
I suspect that part of it is that they’re in college. And in college, you’re supposed to find out who you are. You experiment. You play different roles. One of the roles is that of an adult. Adults, it seems, stand for something. They take up causes. They fight for what they believe in. Of course, this itself is not entirely true. But this, I believe, is how the college student perceives ‘reality’ or, at least, the reality of ‘adult life’. When such an issue comes up, it’s time for them to take a stand, to play the adult, to stand up for what they believe in. It’s all too easy to see the administration as the agent preventing you from independence, just like your parents in high school. All the ingredients are there for protest-soup. You just need a little fire and the alleged rape of a black stripper by a bunch of white kids gets everyone all heated up. The extent of everyone’s agitation is, however, probably a little exaggerated due to their station in life.
This is not to suggest that rape is not a serious concern. Quite the contrary. And guilt or innocence of the accused aside, it’s certainly a good thing that everyone’ talking about an often-neglected issue. Any social change that will come from such dialogue will almost certainly be positive.
What is unfair, though, is that many of the students under fire had little or nothing to do with the alleged incident. Think of being an innocent 19 year old and having the shadow of guilt for such a heinous offense cast upon you. Think about being that kid’s family. Think about all the suspicious looks, the interrogation, the having to submit to DNA testing all through no fault of your own, think of having your name or face bandied about in the media. Think of being Dean Brothead and trying to protect these kids and being accused of maintaining a culture of ‘privilege and secrecy that only serves to promote such behavior.’
This brings me to my second point that the court of public opinion does not concern itself with fairness or justice. The court of public opinion says that all 48 members of the lacrosse team are guilty of the acts for which only 4 of them are accused. The court of public opinion does not need evidence; a mere allegation will quite often convict. When the evidence does vindicate the accused, the court of public opinion will simply move on to the next hot topic with nary an apology to the wrongly accused, their character having been assassinated, their lives often been changed irrevocably. The whole thing reminds me of the angry masses marching through the night with pitchforks and lanterns trying to find a witch to burn. Modern masses come holding television cameras and pretty pink picket signs from Kinkos. But the differences may end there. How far have we come, really?
This whole thing has given me a newfound appreciation for our criminal justice system which posits that the innocent will remain so until the fact finder establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt of his or her guilt. Beyond a reasonable doubt is an extremely high burden. It easily could have been mere ‘preponderance of evidence’ (or 50.000001%) as in civil trials. Or, it could have been simply ‘presence of accusation’ as in the court of public opinion. But long ago, our founding fathers decided that we would be better off to let a few guilty people go than to have a few innocent people convicted. Such is the effect of a high burden of proof. But all you have to do is imagine yourself as one of the 44 or 48 innocent lacrosse players to see why this is necessary. The world would surely be a better place, if only the public, too, had disciple enough to maintain such a standard.
First, it’s remarkable how easily a college campus will become galvanized. Apparently, there have been protests for the last 5 days on Duke’s campus. It’s unclear what exactly people are protesting. I’ve even heard some interviews with the student protestors, who admit with ease that they don’t know themselves what they’re marching for. Most everyone, however, is enraged at the administration. Again, I’m not sure why. I’m not sure they know either. So, what exactly is going on here?
I suspect that part of it is that they’re in college. And in college, you’re supposed to find out who you are. You experiment. You play different roles. One of the roles is that of an adult. Adults, it seems, stand for something. They take up causes. They fight for what they believe in. Of course, this itself is not entirely true. But this, I believe, is how the college student perceives ‘reality’ or, at least, the reality of ‘adult life’. When such an issue comes up, it’s time for them to take a stand, to play the adult, to stand up for what they believe in. It’s all too easy to see the administration as the agent preventing you from independence, just like your parents in high school. All the ingredients are there for protest-soup. You just need a little fire and the alleged rape of a black stripper by a bunch of white kids gets everyone all heated up. The extent of everyone’s agitation is, however, probably a little exaggerated due to their station in life.
This is not to suggest that rape is not a serious concern. Quite the contrary. And guilt or innocence of the accused aside, it’s certainly a good thing that everyone’ talking about an often-neglected issue. Any social change that will come from such dialogue will almost certainly be positive.
What is unfair, though, is that many of the students under fire had little or nothing to do with the alleged incident. Think of being an innocent 19 year old and having the shadow of guilt for such a heinous offense cast upon you. Think about being that kid’s family. Think about all the suspicious looks, the interrogation, the having to submit to DNA testing all through no fault of your own, think of having your name or face bandied about in the media. Think of being Dean Brothead and trying to protect these kids and being accused of maintaining a culture of ‘privilege and secrecy that only serves to promote such behavior.’
This brings me to my second point that the court of public opinion does not concern itself with fairness or justice. The court of public opinion says that all 48 members of the lacrosse team are guilty of the acts for which only 4 of them are accused. The court of public opinion does not need evidence; a mere allegation will quite often convict. When the evidence does vindicate the accused, the court of public opinion will simply move on to the next hot topic with nary an apology to the wrongly accused, their character having been assassinated, their lives often been changed irrevocably. The whole thing reminds me of the angry masses marching through the night with pitchforks and lanterns trying to find a witch to burn. Modern masses come holding television cameras and pretty pink picket signs from Kinkos. But the differences may end there. How far have we come, really?
This whole thing has given me a newfound appreciation for our criminal justice system which posits that the innocent will remain so until the fact finder establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt of his or her guilt. Beyond a reasonable doubt is an extremely high burden. It easily could have been mere ‘preponderance of evidence’ (or 50.000001%) as in civil trials. Or, it could have been simply ‘presence of accusation’ as in the court of public opinion. But long ago, our founding fathers decided that we would be better off to let a few guilty people go than to have a few innocent people convicted. Such is the effect of a high burden of proof. But all you have to do is imagine yourself as one of the 44 or 48 innocent lacrosse players to see why this is necessary. The world would surely be a better place, if only the public, too, had disciple enough to maintain such a standard.
posted by Donkey Boy at Thursday, March 30, 2006
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