I have always known that police officers and the court systems treated women differently in regards to law matters. To back this up this week I saw first hand the theories and practices behind this gendered treatment. I knew that police and courts were often doubting of women's pleas, and questioned their validity by finding flaws in their stories. It was upsetting to find that there are actually checklists of red flags that are used to unfound a case. The Statement validity Analysis included checklists that include checking for using the word we, recanting, and memory loss which all "prove" victim is lying. I find it strange that such a system exists, and for such a specific purpose.
By creating these interrogations checklists it is no wonder that police officials and the court system have preconceived attitudes towards survivors of sexual assault. I know many survivors of sexual assault and it is no wonder why they are cautious and often do not report sexual assault. I have heard too many stories of girls who have sloughed off sexual encounters due to the alcohol aspect of the assault. I am happy to now know that in the criminal code you cannot assume consent for another person, and the age old excuse of "We were both drunk" can no longer be used against the survivor.
Like the reading there is a dramatic difference between law in theory and law in practice. This brings in my first CSL experience which happened today at the court house. I sat in on a trial involving a sex worker who was charging three men with sex trafficking, she was being held against her will and forced to prostitute for them. She was continuously sexually assaulted and abused by these men. A lot of the practices we read about from the DuBois reading such as questioning the victim's story frame-by-frame, checking for changes in the story. She was picked at and broken apart checking for changes or flaws in her story.
This makes me extremely angry because of course your story is going to change. When you are in a state of extreme fear and stress, where you are fighting for your life every day of course you are going to forget some things, because you WANT to forget these traumatic things! I felt so deeply for this girl who was forced to remember these terrible things, what an awful thing to experience sexual assault and then to relive it over and over again! Welcome to our justice system!
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