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Aftermath of the O.J.
Simpson Trial | Why
Are These Charges Potentially Dangerous?
Why Are These Changes Potentially Dangerous?
There is one major flaw these changes do not address:
They do not take into account that an
allegation of domestic violence may be false. When someone is accused,
usually a male, the legal
and judicial systems heavily favor the alleged victim. Even if a
wife or domestic partner admits
that the account was fabricated, she is believed to be "in
denial" according to certain psychological
dogma. The result? The prosecution proceeds against an innocent
man.
What is it like to be accused and considered a batterer before evidence
is presented to the
court in your favor?
• If you cannot make the unreasonably high bail, you could
loose your job.
• If you cannot go to therapy with you wife or domestic partner
because there is a stay-away
order, you are denied the access to help for working out genuine
family problems.
• If you decide you want therapy and are innocent of the charges,
court-sanctioned therapy
demands that you, the accused, "admits" guilt. The concept
that an accused individual might be innocent is not considered--neither
is the possibility that the accuser be in need of therapeutic intervention
for having falsely accused you.
• Finally, there is a gender bias in the enforcement of the
law. The penal code sections do not distinguish between the accused
being a man or a women. However, the vast majority of the
people entrusted to enforce these laws favor a woman's testimony,
not only because of cultural
bias, but because of the out-dated psychological training that the
police, judges and prosecutors receive from one school of health
care professionals.
The
following scenario shows how such training can undermine the
fair treatment any citizen should expect as guaranteed under
the
US Constitution:
The police arrive at the scene. The women states that the man
struck her and she fought back in self defense. The man states
that the women stuck him and he fought back in self defense.
There are no other witnesses. What do the police typically do
in this situation?
In the vast majority of cases, the man is arrested and the women
left in the house. It is much less common that officers have
each of the individuals make a citizen's arrest of the other,
and then transport them both to jail. Even in this situation,
however, when the officer files a report stating he arrested
both male and female parties, our research and experience shows
that the prosecutor usually proceeds with charges against the
man and releases the woman. |
The Jury
In a legitimate but emotional attempt to
correct the serious problem of domestic violence in our
society, the rights of those falsely accused have been ignored.
For those falsely accused of
domestic violence in today's judicial system, the only salvation
is a fair jury trial. Even that is
no guarantee for justice, however.
When an innocent defendant faces people specially selected for a
jury, he must realize that most
jurors usually enter the court room with a bias against the defendant
in a domestic violence
case. They are well acquainted with the Simpson trial and its failure
to protect Nicole Brown.
And yet, the jury is the best chance for the falsely accused to
be fairly heard and acquitted.
First of all, jurors are not elected but chosen and therefore serve
the court, not the public.
Secondly they are American, and as such, they understand the need
for fair and impartial
justice-no matter what the charges. That is why jurors must be educated
on the fact that false
allegations happen and that there is no remedy for the innocent
other than a jury trial.
Education begins with a thorough investigation of the individual
case and a clear presentation of
the findings to the jury members. Education continues with the use
of expert witnesses and the
skills of the trial counsel in helping the jury understand the complexities
of domestic violence
allegations and how false allegations can occur.
The concept of a "jury"-a judgment of peers-comes from
the Magna Carta, a legal document
written in the 13th century and later applied to the first colonies
in the New World to ensure
one's basic civil liberties. Although English nobles first used
the Magna Carta in America to
protect themselves from the king's excesses, caprices, and biases
in legal issues, they ultimately
ensured the balance of power in the courtroom by requiring the jury
as part of the larger legal
system. Today, the primary purpose of the jury in the United States
is to protect an individual
from the excesses, caprices and biases of the government's many
offices. That is why there is
no better safeguard for an innocent man than a jury trial. Those
falsely accused must rely on
a jury more than anyone else to examine the facts of a case, and
not be mislead by the popular
social and cultural biases that have affected the legal and judicial
systems with respect to
domestic violence allegations.
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