Background
The Steubenville Assault Case originated in August 2012, involving the victimization of a 16-year-old female high school student subjected to sexual assault by two individuals from her social circle. The occurrence took place at a residential gathering in Steubenville, Ohio. Both perpetrators, J.T. and R.W., were convicted of rape in 2013, subsequently serving sentences in juvenile detention centers (Kosloski et al., 2018). The incident garnered significant public interest because certain acquaintances of the assailants had recorded and shared the event on various social media platforms.
Main Characters
The primary individual involved in this case is the adolescent female victim, who is 16. The individual in question was identified
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A comprehensive investigation led to the apprehension and formal charging of the two individuals involved in the sexual assault. Throughout the trial proceedings, various witnesses, including party members, offered their testimonial accounts (Oleszczuk, 2020). The determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused was contingent upon the presentation of evidence in the court.
The testimonies provided by the witnesses played a pivotal role in delineating the sequence of events that transpired during the party. Furthermore, this observation offered a perspective on the progression and resolution of the situation, enabling the court to effectively evaluate the legitimacy of the allegations levied against the defendant (Sweeney, 2020). Moreover, the testimonies provided by these witnesses played a crucial role in assessing the credibility of the accused, considering the presented
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The two individuals in question were convicted of rape and several additional charges. The presiding judge rendered a verdict of incarceration and mandated the individuals to comply with the requirement of registering as sex offenders (Sweeney, 2020). The trial presented evidence of the profound consequences of sexual assault, highlighting the imperative importance of consent within interpersonal dynamics.
The incident served as a poignant reminder of the profound impact that the consequences can have on the individuals and those responsible for the wrongdoing. Moreover, the ruling serves as a testament to the notion that even individuals of a young age who engage in severe criminal behavior can be subjected to legal consequences, highlighting the significance of assisting both the victims and the justice system (Kosloski et al., 2018). This statement serves as a poignant reminder that all manifestations of sexual assault are deemed unacceptable and necessitates an earnest response.
The Possible
In the article “Die Trying”, Katie J.M. Baker points out the difficulties of being a rape victim in Alabama and nationwide. The article “Die Trying” talks about a student named Megan Rondini who attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa who accused T.J. Bunn Jr. of rape. The events that led to sexual assault happened in July 1, 2015 at night where Megan Rondini went to Innisfree Irish Pub with a couple of her sorority sisters and drank five cups of beer. After drinking the beer Megan Rondini blacked out and found herself in T.J. Bunn’s car with his friend going back to his house.
Eyewitness accounts play a huge role in general in trials and verdicts, but may be unreliable many times, with certain views placed on evidence provided by children. Unreliability may arise from not being able to recount the identity of the accused, the actions and speech occurring during that time, the relationship of individuals towards the person in question, and many
On May 12, 2013 a Sydney man Mr Lazarus was accused of raping an 18 year old woman in an alley outside his father’s nightclub. This case caused discussion about NSW sexual consent laws. This case clearly highlights the effectiveness and some major flaws of the legal system. During the first jury trial in NSW District Court Mr Lazarus was convicted for rape without sexual consent and resulted in a maximum of five-year prison sentence. After serving in prison for 11 months the Court of Criminal Appeal conducted a second trial for the case which resulted in an acquittal as Judge Tupman claimed that Mr Lazarus truly did believe that Ms Mullins did consent which is a crucial element of the offence of sexual intersource without consent.
The R.v. Ewanchuck (1999) case is a case that shook the Canadian criminal justice system and is considered by feminists a victory because the judge’s decision reflected rape myths and the case is being praised with addressing rape myths in the criminal justice system. The details of the case are; Ewanchuck invited a 17 year- old woman into his van for a job interview ( Dumont, 1999, p. 102-109). After the job interview concluded, Ewanchuck insisted that the woman see his paintings, which were in a trailer behind the van ( Dumont, 1999, p. 102-109). Ewanchuck then took the woman inside the trailer and began to make a series of sexual advances ( Dumont, 1999, p. 102-109).
On January 17, 2015 a young, unconscious woman was sexually assaulted by a Yale student, Brock Turner. He had stuck various objects into the woman’s vagina and when he was finished he disposed her body behind a dumpster. The police found the woman half naked and unconscious with her underwear beside her. The woman was unaware of the assault until she woke up the next morning and the nurses in the hospital informed her.
The possible biases in jury decision-making will be discussed, including those related to having a celebrity on trial. In addition, this paper will examine the taboo nature of sexual assault cases, the problems that often arise in such cases, and the psychological toll on the victim. One issue with this case is the prosecution’s lack forensic evidence. In a “he said, she said” case that lacks the evidence that jurors expect in order to make their decision, it comes down to whether they believe the defendant or the prosecution. When DNA is not available, other types of physical evidence are examined (LaPorte, G., Nguyen, M., Schwarting, D., Scott, F., Waltke, H., Weiss, D., 2017).
After spending nearly a year fighting over the devastating trial, another rape victim has their justice ripped from their grasp. In January of 2015, Brock Turner, a well-known Stanford swimmer committed an act of assault on an innocent victim who couldn’t recall what had happened. Two nearby bikers who witnessed Turner on top of the victim in an alleyway behind a dumpster, chased down and tackled the unforgiving man. Because of the victim’s intoxicated state, Turner’s attorneys used that to their advantage, claiming that only Brock could recollect the events that happened in that evening. The victim received no opportunity to express how the assault had mentally damaged her as his attorneys picked and prodded the victim through questions about
In January, 2015, Adam Robinson was convicted by a jury on three charges of force sexual assault. The victim was an elementary school girl that lived in the apartment building that he worked in. The prosecutor committed several things that caused the case to overturn the conviction because of misconduct. The rulings of the case then were reversed, and a new trial was requested. The prosecutor’s misconduct in this case poorly affected Robinson’s right to a fair trial.
Furthermore, in this article Griffin explains the demand for research and proper documentation for sexual crimes, citing evidence from FBI statistics and analyzing court cases that display a pattern of severe negligence. Griffin’s use of ethos provides credibility and context to her argument, creating a stronger trust with herself and the reader and allowing for a powerful emotional
In the summer of 2002, Brian Banks, a 16-year-old outstanding high school football linebacker from Long Beach Polytechnic High in Southern California had a promising future ahead of him. He had a verbal agreement to play for USC once he finished high school, but he had a lot of recruitment letters coming to him. Unfortunately, his future was cut short. Wanetta Gibson, a 15-year-old who also attended Long Beach Polytechnic, had accused Brian Banks of rape. That summer morning, Wanette and Brian were making out in the stairwell of the school, that night, Brian was being arrested for rape.
An estimated one in four women are sexually victimized during their college years. (Schwarz, Jill, et al., 1). Turner getting a light sentence just makes this statistic more real, the victim will be looked at in the future as just another statistic because of the little that was done about it. The victim was intoxicated at the time of the assault, Turner was also. This often makes the case much more difficult, “A common stereotype of sexual assault on college campuses is that the victim could have partial responsibility if they had consumed drugs or alcohol prior to the assault” (Schwarz, Jill, et al., 2).
Brock Allen Turner, shares the story of 19 year old, Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner and his heinous crime of sexual assault on multiple accounts towards Emily Doe. The assailant pleaded innocent throughout his trial, however, throughout his interview his linguistics told a different story. While speaking with authority, he failed to “directly acknowledge her, this deflecting his responsibility to her for his action, essentially erasing the victim from the description of the event.” Which continues to prove his guilt in the case. “While these charges can carry up to fourteen years in prison, Brock Turner served just three months in a county jail”.
The article explains how sexual assault continues to be a problem until this very day. When someone is sexually assaulted, it is very hard for them to cope with the fact that someone has touched them in the wrong way. For the ones who commits the assault, it will only become worse for them. A National Study says, “The main source of inmates’ knowledge of prison sex appears to come from their conversations with other inmates”(Response to the Prison Rape Elimination Act). Some inmates could portray the role of acting as if they are there for the victim to talk to, but there are other things that could result from this.
With new laws coming in such as; The Crime Legislation Amendment (Sexual Consent Reforms) Act 2021, it is a hope for change of the sexual assault statistics and way to help deliver higher justice towards sexual assault
In their opinion piece published in the New York Times, Miriam Gleckman-Krut and Nicole Bedera, two students from University of Michigan, claim that students being accused of sexual assault on-campus should not be the ones providing the definition of sexual assault because more victims will stay silent. Their article tackles the research question “how does allowing the accused to define sexual assault affect the victim?”. The piece was written in response to Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, who claimed that former President Obama’s policies on on-campus rape stripped the accused of their liberties because less evidence was required from the victims, who often struggle to create concreate evidence due to trauma or difficulty remembering.