Missoul Rape And The Justice System In College Town By Jon Krakauer

In the book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in College Town, by Jon Krakauer, the reader delves into how rape and sexual assault are treated in the town of Missoula, and the University of Montana. As the reader, we are informed on how the university, the police department, the district attorney’s office, and the community reacted to these rape and sexual assault allegations. We see how the criminal justice system has failed the victims, and are forced to live with what happened to them, while their assailants are free of any burden. The law is set in place to protect people from victimization, but when the men, in this book, are not legally held accountable, then any woman, or man, is more susceptible to victimization. It is interesting

Rape myths are at the center of the problem of how rape and sexual assault cases are looked at, and treated as in society. Rape myths vary, some excuse the rape, others try to minimize the severity of the situation, while others doubt the act even happened in the first place (Levit and Verchick, 196). Some examples of rape myths include: a victim was “asking for it,” a victim’s previous sexual history, regretful sex is not rape, a woman’s “no” means “yes,” and women lie about rape all the time. Rape myths are targeted towards women, not the rapist. Despite, rape myths being proved false by empirical evidence, they are still prevalent in society. Krakauer uses the example of Missoula police chief, Mark Muir; Muir states, “The rate of false rape claims is around 50 percent” (Krakauer, 116). Muir uses the 2009 article, “False Rape Allegations: An Assault on Justice,” by Bruce Goss, to justify his reasoning. However, the studies used by Goss, have been discredited and highly criticized by other academics. Lisak criticized Eugene J. Kanin’s study, “False Rape Allegations,” one of the studies Goss used in his article, stating that Kanin’s article is an opinion piece, not a scientific study (Krakauer, 117). Despite being debunked, Kanin’s and McDowell’s, the other study Goss uses, their studies are still often used to persuade people that American society suffers from

Rapes and sexual assaults are committed by the perpetrator, not the victim. The police department has an obligation to help the victim, not the rapist. In the book, we saw how some police officers empathized with the rapists, calling the situation a misunderstanding, while leaving the victim to handle the assault on her own. If a police officer is properly trained, it is possible, that more victims would feel more comfortable coming forward with their own assaults. Although the prosecution has the responsibility to act on behalf of the state’s interest, it seems as if the prosecution acts on behalf of their own interest. In Missoula, the DOA would not take cases of rape and sexual assaults to court, they would reject cases on the basis of insufficient evidence or lack of probable cause. Objectively, it appears that they would reject cases that they felt were difficult to prosecute, or they would not get a conviction out of a trial, only taking on cases that resulted in a conviction. By not rigorously pursuing cases, it showed to victims that their assaults would not be taken seriously, as they