Additionally, I aspire to obtain my law degree because I feel it is my duty as a fellow wrongfully convicted and exonerated individual to help and defend others who are dealing with those same mental, emotional, and physical struggles I endured. I also want to assist others with the difficult transition period that ensues once they are released and to instill the attitude of determination to not accept the word “NO” as the result of the labels placed upon them as the result of a wrongful conviction. As Bryan Stevenson, keynote speaker at this year’s convocation ceremony, mentions in his book Just Mercy a vital lesson he learned “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done” or been accused of. I too am familiar with those feelings of disappointment and hopelessness that can follow you in life once you have been …show more content…
These actions of violence are horrible and life-altering and why we have such tough criminal laws with long sentences and sex offender registry requirements among other restrictions. With this in mind, it’s extremely problematic that we are adjudicating these allegations through this administrative process with a civil preponderance of evidence standard. By using this lower burden of proof we a diminishing the due process right of the accused, attributing a credibility excess to the successful party in the Title IX hearing, which tends to disportionally favor the accuser(s). This correlates with a credibility deficit attributed to the accused. A frequent punishment imposed on the accused, if they are found to be “responsible” for the violating the institution’s student conduct code, which is most often the case, is expulsion. Expulsion for sexual assault from a college on university publically brands the individual, in the eyes of society and the court of public opinion, as a