“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.“ — Martin Luther King
CRIMINAL SYSTEM
- Men encounter more severe treatment at every step of the criminal-legal process, especially during the charging, plea-bargaining, and sentencing stages.
- Compared to women, men accused of sex offenses are treated more harshly by the criminal system.
- The bias is so pronounced that male victims of statutory rape often are required to pay child support to their rapist.
Strategies and Solutions:
- Assertively speak out when the legal system’s mistreatment of men is ignored.
- Correct false stereotypes about “male violence:”
- Women are equally likely as men to engage indomestic violence and sexual abuse, and far more likely to engage in child abuse.
PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE
- Cornerstone of Justice
- Causes of Erosion
- Press Release: Justice at Risk: Australian Conference Spotlights the Fight to Restore the Presumption of Innocence
Strategies and Solutions:
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- Legislators should amend previous legislation, ensuring that all criminal offenses contain a mens rea element.
- Legislators should redraft the laws that define criminal offenses in an overly-broad manner in order to better specify the nature of the offenses.
- Eliminate the use of victim-centered investigations, which ask detectives to presume guilt on the part of the accused and presume that the complainant’s allegations are valid.
- Limit the use of the conclusory terms, such as “victim” and “perpetrator,” prior to any determination of guilt.
- Establish a pretrial services program to conduct a risk assessment on defendants in custody awaiting the initial appearance in court; provide supervision of defendants released by the court with conditions of pretrial release; and review the pretrial detainee population in the jail to see if circumstances may have changed that could allow for pretrial release.
- Prohibit prosecutors from employing coercive tactics, such as over-charging or use of superseding charges absent new evidence, which may induce a defendant to plead guilty simply to avoid an unwarranted prison sentence.
- Prosecutors should place all plea offers in writing for defendants, which would assure a measure of accountability and fairness in the bargaining process.
- Encourage prosecutors to value equitable resolutions rather than focus on high conviction rates. Due process for suspects should not be perceived as an obstruction to achieve “successful” prosecutions.
- Reinvigorate curricular attention at law schools about the importance of the presumption of innocence.
- Judges should apply the Daubert standard more commonly to expert witnesses who are providing scientifically questionable testimony.