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New Analysis from K.C. Johnson on newest Book; MUST READ - K.C. Book Review
Topic Started: Jan 26 2009, 03:27 AM (1,418 Views)
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abb
Jan 26 2009, 07:26 PM
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/9713.html

News Release
Monday, January 26, 2009

Last modified: Monday, January 26, 2009
IU law professor explores "Presuming Guilt or Protecting Victims?" in new book on Duke lacrosse case

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 26, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Nearly three years after several members of the Duke lacrosse team were falsely accused of raping an exotic dancer, a new book examines the legal implications of where the case went wrong; it also looks at how future sexual assault cases can be pursued without jeopardizing the rights of both the victims and the accused.

Race to Injustice: Lessons Learned from the Duke Lacrosse Case (Carolina Academic Press, 2009) looks at how various factors -- including an overzealous prosecutor, social stereotypes, and a society quick to condemn the accused -- led to one of the more troubling legal issues in recent memory.

The players accused of rape and other offenses eventually had all charges against them dropped. Mike Nifong, the Durham County prosecutor who pursued the charges, was disbarred after making inflammatory comments and ignoring evidence that exonerated the defendants.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law -- Bloomington Professor Aviva Orenstein authored the book's final chapter, "Presuming Guilt or Protecting Victims?: Analyzing the Special Treatment of Those Accused of Rape."

Orenstein cautions against drawing the wrong lessons from the Duke case and "dismissing valuable protections for victims because of egregious prosecutorial misconduct in one case."

She said the Duke case provides an important illustration of how protecting the rights of a sexual assault victim must be weighed carefully against protecting those of the accused.

"In the chapter, I probe the various stories told in the Duke case and the power of such narratives. I advocate for a delicate, nuanced balance between the needs of victims and the rights of the accused," Orenstein said. Her chapter argues in favor of rape shield laws, privacy for rape victims, as well as permitting certain expert testimony about rape trauma. "It questions, however, the fairness of character evidence about the accused's sexual past and various harsh post-release restrictions," Orenstein commented.

In all other criminal cases, for example, a defendant's prior criminal history is inadmissible in court if offered to prove the person's criminal tendencies.

"For example, if you're prosecuting a burglar for burglary, you can't bring in evidence that he's done it five times before," said the book's editor, Michael L. Seigel, a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. "In cases of sex offenses, it's the opposite. Aviva looked at a bunch of different rules. She looked at the Duke case and essentially asked, 'Has the pendulum swung too far? Have we gone overboard in jeopardizing the rights of the criminal defendant?'"

Take, for example, how the media treats those accused of rape. Orenstein notes that the accused are typically named in both the media and in court documents, while the legal system tries -- often unsuccessfully -- to allow the victim to remain anonymous. In the Duke case, the players accused of rape were identified quickly after the alleged incident, yet the name of the accuser didn't emerge until after it was discovered that her story was false.

"This is an important topic," Seigel said. "What happens to a defendant accused of rape? How would these players have been treated had there been a trial? The purpose of this study is to teach us to avoid making this mistake again."
abb is looking better and better. Orenstein is getting her piece puffed at home, and Seigel's words quoted at the end do not detract from the space allotted to her. The little bitty thing wrong with Orenstein is that she is confused as to who the victim was. I think it probably matters.
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Duke parent 2004
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Truth Detector
Jan 26 2009, 11:10 AM
abb
Jan 26 2009, 07:49 AM
Duke parent 2004
Jan 26 2009, 07:37 AM
abb
Jan 26 2009, 05:58 AM
I see nothing in KC's analysis that would indicate my initial suspicions were in error.

The book is a pile of shit.
So did you skip the first eight paragraphs of the review? Johnson begins his ninth paragraph with this: “The only disappointing legal essay came from Indiana University law professor Aviva Orenstein, whose CV shows an expertise in feminist jurisprudence.” Sure seems to imply that KC was not disappointed by the other legal essays.

Yes, the more “political” essays he lampoons. This is not surprising. But it does not result is his stooping to anything like your characterization of the book. Nor should it, given his (actual) reading of the legal essays.

I am still waiting for my copy of the book to arrive. More later . . .

:biggrin:
KC is a published author. He has to be more circumspect in his criticisms.

Me, I'm just a cynical, mean, hard-assed Blog Hooligan. I was witness to a attempted lynching which as of this moment is still trying to be explained away by Marxist lawyers.

I want to see some guts spilled on the other side. I want to see them suffer. I want them to go through the same hell that the Lax families had to endure and are still enduring.

I want retribution.

:D Egr93:
Well said, abb. Your first analysis was to the point and shows you don't need a lot of
words to call a spade a spade. Sometimes you know on the surface if a substance needs flushing.
Karl Popper made quite a reputation for himself when he argued that a necessary component of any scientific theory is its falsifiability. Imre Lakatos, Popper’s student, argued against his mentor that falsifiability is a far more elusive notion than Popper imagined, that—especially when they are deeply invested--embattled defenders of a theory on the ropes could almost always come up with ad hoc modifications to their wobbling theory to keep it on its feet.

So, Lakatos (God rest his soul) would be proud of you guys. It appears that no matter what KC Johnson or anyone else says about Seigel’s book you’ll continue investing in whatever it takes to consign the entire effort to the sh*t pile. The target gets hit, you push the target farther away. The target gets hit again, you dismiss all the shooters because some of them misfire. Why, pray tell, should I or anyone else bother to publish a review of Seigel’s book at Liestoppers when one can instead so easily indulge the prejudices that roam freely here without putting in the effort that a fair review would require? And if that fair review were to find something new or praiseworthy? Back page for you, buddy, back page . . .

There, I feel much better, now. Don’t get your hopes up, abb. I AM going to write that review. And if you were the “mean, hard-assed Blog Hooligan” you say you are, you’d be racing me for the opportunity to do the same. Why seek “retribution” by lurching at mere shadows of villainy when you can get your paws on the devils themselves?

:biggrin:
Edited by Duke parent 2004, Jan 28 2009, 06:09 AM.
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abb
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Duke parent 2004
Jan 26 2009, 10:24 PM
There, I feel much better, now. Don’t get your hopes up, abb. I AM going to write that review. And if you were the “mean, hard-assed Blog Hooligan” you say you are, you’d be racing me for the opportunity to do the same. Why seek “retribution” by lurching at mere shadows of villainy when you can get your paws on the devils themselves?
Why?

Because I haven't the time. Every review, every minute spent reading, every law school that considers using as a text the "pile of shit" lends it undeserved credibility.

What I'm interested in is putting a bunch of Durham's "finest" in jail. Nifong, CowBell, Levicy, Stephens - and a whole lot more. That's it.

This book is a sideshow. It detracts from that aim. It's a book about the "metanarrative" with a slight acknowledgment that "mistakes were made."

It's a dressed-up racist screed that nowhere addresses fixing the problems in the "justice system" that the Frame has exposed.

When this bunch of clown lawyers write a book that tells us who knew what and when they knew it, then I'll read it.
Edited by abb, Jan 27 2009, 05:53 AM.
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retiredLEO
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Your right abb, I am waiting for the lawsuits to start, someone needs to pay for these lying cops, politicians, judges and school officials. One day in jail for one of these thugs was not good enough. When I look at all that went on it is shocking that no one faced criminal charges, just get the broom out and sweep it under the rug. I will wait for my copy of "A Slobbering Love Affair", by Bernard Goldberg.
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wayne fontes
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retiredLEO
Jan 27 2009, 02:16 PM
Your right abb, I am waiting for the lawsuits to start, someone needs to pay for these lying cops, politicians, judges and school officials. One day in jail for one of these thugs was not good enough. When I look at all that went on it is shocking that no one faced criminal charges, just get the broom out and sweep it under the rug. I will wait for my copy of "A Slobbering Love Affair", by Bernard Goldberg.
I thought law suites had already been filed. I'm not sure exactly how to count them but I do vaguely remember that some law suites had been filed.


I'm going to read "a Slobbering Love Affair" as well. I don't see how Goldberg could miss given the material he has to work with.
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retiredLEO
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wayne fontes
Jan 27 2009, 02:28 PM
retiredLEO
Jan 27 2009, 02:16 PM
Your right abb, I am waiting for the lawsuits to start, someone needs to pay for these lying cops, politicians, judges and school officials. One day in jail for one of these thugs was not good enough. When I look at all that went on it is shocking that no one faced criminal charges, just get the broom out and sweep it under the rug. I will wait for my copy of "A Slobbering Love Affair", by Bernard Goldberg.
I thought law suites had already been filed. I'm not sure exactly how to count them but I do vaguely remember that some law suites had been filed.


I'm going to read "a Slobbering Love Affair" as well. I don't see how Goldberg could miss given the material he has to work with.
Right Wayne they have been filed, but nothing has really happened since, no depositions, just back and forth motions.
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wayne fontes
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retiredLEO
Jan 27 2009, 02:51 PM
wayne fontes
Jan 27 2009, 02:28 PM
retiredLEO
Jan 27 2009, 02:16 PM
Your right abb, I am waiting for the lawsuits to start, someone needs to pay for these lying cops, politicians, judges and school officials. One day in jail for one of these thugs was not good enough. When I look at all that went on it is shocking that no one faced criminal charges, just get the broom out and sweep it under the rug. I will wait for my copy of "A Slobbering Love Affair", by Bernard Goldberg.
I thought law suites had already been filed. I'm not sure exactly how to count them but I do vaguely remember that some law suites had been filed.


I'm going to read "a Slobbering Love Affair" as well. I don't see how Goldberg could miss given the material he has to work with.
Right Wayne they have been filed, but nothing has really happened since, no depositions, just back and forth motions.
Just some back and forth in slow motion. The legal system moves at a glacial pace.
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sceptical

wayne fontes
Jan 27 2009, 03:03 PM
Just some back and forth in slow motion. The legal system moves at a glacial pace.
Great to hear from wayne fontes and retired LEO. :D Egr93:

The rubber will hit the road after Judge Beaty rules on the dismissal motions in the three civil cases.

The pace has been very slow; I hope the adage "nothing good happens fast" applies her.
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