Author’s Note: If you or anyone you know has been affected by acts of sexual misconduct, please contact the University Title IX coordinator at 352-273-1094 or inform@titleix.ufl.edu or the Gainesville Police Department. Additional resources are included below.
I don’t mean to sound like an incarceration-loving neo-liberal, but part of my response to #MeToo has been to favor more jail. I want more things called crimes, and the penalties for those crimes to be more harsh. Yes, yes I know damn well that whenever you make more crimes and more penalties, you make something that will disproportionately affect people of color and poor people. For every Brock Turner that you finally put the hammer to, you risk creating a bunch of black and brown “criminals” who are guilty of looking at the wrong white girl.
WICHITA, Kan. — A new proposal would redefine sexual assault and change the way colleges and universities investigate the cases.
The Department of Education says the changes to Title IX would still take reports of sexual assault seriously, but that they also assure the accused that they're not immediately deemed guilty either.
This story was produced in collaboration with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and Newsy.
Kaethe Morris Hoffer worried she might be shouting. For many women, especially those who work with survivors of sexual assault, it’s getting harder by the day not to scream.
LaToya Austin believes John W. Towner Jr. is too dangerous for a $100,000 bond — an amount low enough, she said, she worries the man accused of shooting her brother and father could be released.
Judges determine bond with recommendations from prosecutors and defense attorneys. A defendant’s flight risk, threat to witnesses and potential danger to the community are considered, among other things, said Corey Rayburn Yung, a University of Kansas professor who specializes in criminal law and procedure.
A lawyer for Brock Turner, the former Stanford student convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, argued in court during an appeal hearing that his client was seeking “outercourse” with his victim.
The attorney’s appeal of the high-profile case, which led to international outrage after Turner received a lenient sentence in 2016, advanced in a California court this week, with an unusual legal claim that experts said was shocking and hurtful to survivors of sexual violence.
"The broad use of the felony murder statute has drawn criticism, and some states have abandoned or modified it, said Corey Rayburn Yung, a University of Kansas professor who specializes in criminal law and procedure.
University of Kansas Law professor Corey Rayburn Yung says that the Roy Moore's take on the case Higdon v. Alabama was not dishonorable. "Force with a child is arguably different than force with an adult because of size, power, and maturity,' Yung said, but Alabama law does not reflect this commonsense distinction. So the state Supreme Court chose to fix the problem by effectively redefining force in cases of child sexual abuse. That may be an honorable undertaking. But there is nothing dishonorable about Moore’s insistence that the legislature fix its own mistakes."
Harvey Weinstein could face five to 25 years in prison on sexual assault charges if the latest abuse allegations are tried in criminal court, legal experts said. Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault and rape by women across the globe. Lucia Evans, a former aspiring actor, has claims against him that could rise to the level of a felony charge under New York Laws. KU Law professor Corey Rayburn Yung commented on the case, saying that prosecutors could argue the case based on Evan's testimony and by establishing that Weinstein has a "pattern" of this behavior.
