Almost one year ago, the Tampa Bay Times ran a news article in which it was alleged that Jameis Winston had sexually assaulted a woman 11 months prior to the running of the article. Today, the University of Florida announced that it had suspended Treon Harris for being under investigation for sexual assault. These two situations, though many people have suggested otherwise, are quite different, they show a lot of what’s happening in the sexual assault climate in the world today.
What We Know
Jameis Winston
We know a lot about this as the event occurred almost two years ago. But let’s look at the relevant facts in how the situation was handled. Jameis Winston was accused in January of 2013 of sexual assault. The Tallahassee Police Department closed the investigation for some reason shortly after (either due to lack of information or cooperation). In November, at the height of Jameis’ popularity, the allegation came to light. Florida State chose not to suspend him as they believed that the investigation has been done enough. Jameis was never tried as it was determined that there was not enough evidence to take it into court.
There is a lot of conjecture about the rest of the events. We also know that now Jameis Winston is under investigation in a Title IX investigation. More on Title IX later.
Treon Harris
We don’t know much about Treon Harris’ situation because it just happened Sunday morning. We do know that the accusation was made and Florida promptly suspended him. Treon Harris also led Florida to a victory this past Saturday, so he was the heir apparent for the starter for University of Florida until this occurred.
This Isn’t About Football
Many people have used this to finger point about each administration’s handling of it and the “morality” of the situation. These people, on both sides, have demonstrated a new level of classlessness. It’s disappointing because in both of these situations two young people’s lives hang in the balance. So let’s look at the quick difference, when Jameis was accused, he was not actively playing football, the case was closed before the next baseball or football game, so it is hard to suggest he should’ve been suspended. The case was reopened on a media inquiry and Florida State felt that the diligence was done.
Treon Harris did not have this benefit as his accusation occurred in the middle of the football season. This isn’t reopening a closed case, but rather starting a new case. This does create a different climate. UF can not say that they feel the diligence has been done, they can not say that the process has been completed so the same result will be found, and they can not rest on the laurels of the local police investigation being correct.
The issue here is that people are even relating these cases, when they can not be related on the basis of suspension or lack of a suspension. There are issues shown here that propagate through sexual assault cases on college campuses. No one is treated fairly in collegiate sexual assault. Sadly, the system is only designed to work in open and shut sexual assault.
The Stages of Collegiate Sexual Assault
The Accusation
Every sexual assault case starts with an accusation. This term alone makes it sound as if this leans to being incorrect. However, there are some issues with that. First off, everyone is immediately presumed to be on the wrong side. Usually there is some event that led to the accusation, but immediately the male is guilty of the sexual assault AND the woman is guilty of either “asking for it”, being a {insert term here}, and just trying to get the guy in trouble.
Both of these are completely wrong, completely wrong. The US legal system is built on innocent until proven guilty. This is why you can’t be proven innocent but rather just not proven guilty. At this point, the woman is a possible victim and so is the man. Statistically, the man is the aggressor and the woman is correct. Most accusations are not false, but that does not mean we should make the assumption that all aren’t.
Continually, when sexual assault accusations come to light, both parties lives are ruined for at least a short period of time and maybe even forever. You can look back to the Duke Lacrosse Case to see how jumping to conclusions can hinder the accused, and there are hundreds of examples as to why the converse is also bad.
The Evidence Collection
This is one of the terrible parts of a sexual assault investigation. The victim is often “revictimized” as they go through the medical exam. Then the questioning comes. This can be handled poorly by police due to the terrible assumptions made in the accusation. No one is given the benefit of the doubt, and many victims have complained about being “slut shamed”. The act of having sexual relations is not something that people have practice in being aired out in front of police while being probed by doctors. This is often a point where women turn back on their accusation to avoid the pain associated with evidence.
The Investigation
Sometimes a male is not identified in the accusation, the investigation aims to find out who this could be. The investigation then wades through the “he said, she said” nature of these courses and looks at the evidence to see if there is some information that would help in proving guilt. This is when the dots found in collection are collected to try and find a complete nights event timeline. This is often hard when alcohol and semi-consensual actions take place, and even harder when not. There is no easy way to determine what was consensual versus what was not. Sometimes, it’s not even easy to determine if something took place. It becomes incredibly hard for the female to feel validated in her accusation and hard for the male to feel validated in his alibi.
The Decision
There is some point where the evidence and investigation culminate in a decision to press forward or not. Sometimes, the decision to not press forward is worse than pushing forward for the male (they will always be assumed to have got away with it). The decision to press forward involves more tough times for the woman. In no way, unless the male is guilty, does the vindicate anyone as the woman will always be seen as a liar and the male always seen as a rapist, depending on some political bearing.
The Possible Trial
If the decision moves forward, the male has his sex life aired out in a public forum and is humiliated whether he is guilty or not. The woman, depending on the state, can also be revictimized and credibility attacked. In some states, rape shield laws protect the victim leading to more safety from being publicly humiliated, however, it provides more safety to false accusations as well. It removes the ability to face one’s accuser, but that’s not all bad.
The only good thing that can come out of a trial is a possible conviction. Without that, there is still a lot of uncertainty and both parties feel empty and as if they lost out.
The Other Investigation
After all of this, the school then proceeds to do their Title IX investigation. After both parties have been run through the ringer, a school then will run them through again. All of the investigation process happens again. The school sends people to interview all parties and review the evidence again. One of the differences is that constitutional rights are not guaranteed. The school can restrict the evidence available and even remove lawyers from the process. This is not fair to anyone involved.
The Other Trial
Then a board of people make a decision on the males guilt, with a lower burden of proof, that can result in anything up to expulsion. Even when found not guilty, a man’s life can be ruined due to the Title IX investigation. This investigation is often skewed toward women, but it doesn’t benefit them. A woman winning this case will require the woman to uproot as it will upset many people their. They will become a victim again and it will ruin their lives.
Moving Forward
Nobody wins in collegiate sexual assault. There are only a few possibilities, but sadly, the best situation for the handling of a case is when a woman is actually assaulted, and their is enough evidence to move forward (which is rare). This can not remain the same. We have to do better.
Not Proclaiming Early Guilt
We need to stop assuming the man is always guilty. Sadly, it is possible that it’s a false accusation, incorrect, or a miscommunication. We need to allow the information and investigation play out before jumping to a conclusion. This has been seen with the Duke Lacrosse players, AJ Nicholson, Jameis Winston, and others. If you jump to a conclusion, even upon evidence pointing to the contrary, the man’s life will never be the same.
People still believe that Jameis got away with rape, the Duke Lacrosse players were kicked out of school and lost years of their life, and many others lose friends and potential opportunities because of an accusation that does not pan out.
No More Slut Shaming
I am not a fan of the term “slut shaming”. Not because it doesn’t happen, but it’s over used. But anytime a woman claims to be sexually assaulted, we have to also assume she is telling the truth. It may seems oxymoronic to assume the guy is innocent and the woman is telling the truth, but it’s the only way to be fair to everyone. We have to stop using statements like “asking for it”, “look at how she was dressed”, and much more like it.
Educate Women (oh and Men too)
We really mess this up, but we need to start educating men like we educate women. We tell women to not walk alone, and to be aware. Why is it simply the woman’s responsibility to stop sexual assault? Do we blame murder victims or murderers? We need to start educating men on what consent means, and the truth behind “no means no”. We have to continue to tell them that women are not objects for sex, but people too. We have to establish education that reinforces that women are not responsible for their own rape and sexual assault is completely unacceptable. Until we begin educating men, we can not fix the problem. It takes men and women aware of the issue and how to avoid it to help. We also need men willing to help women and fight back against sexual assault.
Protect All Parties
I think the rape shield is the greatest and worst thing for sexual assault cases. I think the biggest problem is that the accuser is protected, but the accused is not. It’s important to remember that an accusation is just that, and until the accused if found to have acted improperly, they should be protected from having their life ruined. It will continually be a problem as men are the guilty party, until they aren’t (and even then, some people will hold it against them).
Remember the Problem is Gender Neutral
While most sexual assault is a male aggressor and a female victim, it does exist the other way and male-male. We must take care of all victims and properly punish all aggressors. We have to align our rhetoric in a way
Let it Go
At the end of it all, you have to be willing to accept the solution and let it go. If people outside the situation can not live with the ending and move on, the parties involved can’t.
All Boils Down to This
Sexual assault is a very real problem. We have to stop assuming anything and learn to trust the system. Until we stop slut shaming women, report rates will be low. Until we stop assuming men are guilty, it will be hard to do fair investigations and not wrongly ruin lives. Until we begin to educate men and women, we can not help mitigate the risks of this problem. At the end of the day, we handle sexual assault all wrong. The only time the system works is when a woman makes an accusation, knows who it was, there is forcible assault evidence, and it’s open and shut. In all other cases we fail both parties.
We can not continue to fail the majority of people in sexual assault. The system is broken, don’t play into and let it be broken. Help be part of the solution and not part of the problem.