“Almost seven years ago, a troubled 11-year-old girl reported that she had been raped―twice―in her Northwest Washington neighborhood. Despite medical evidence of sexual assault, records show that no suspects were arrested and the cases were given only sporadic attention by the police. Instead, in the second case, the police had the girl ... charged with filing a false report.”
Let us be blunt: Why do we try so hard to aid and abet rapists?
Try it this way: Every rape survivor is a victim; not every victim survives. There are enough in our society who resent the survivors so deeply that they will labor to continue victimization.
Perhaps law enforcement in D.C. envies the rapists, since the best police seem able to do is taking part after the fact.
Consider that this one case has been going on for seven years―
Last fall, after inquiries from The Washington Post, the department launched new investigations into the cases and the way they were handled, according to the Bests and a law enforcement officer familiar with the matter.
―but it’s only when the press is sniffing out the trail that―
The Bests say that after The Post approached the police, [DC Police Chief Cathy L.] Lanier telephoned the family to apologize.
Still, the department refusess to confirm any of this is going on.
It is a hard story to read. It is a discouraging story, too. The thought occurs, “And yet we are expected to give law enforcement our unequivocal support”, but then dances away in shame because, really, are we really going to dredge up the bit about how the police expect “unequivocal support” for their actions?
And, yes, this is a discussion Americans need to be having.
What support do we owe law enforcement when it aids and abets rape?
And, yes, this becomes political, too. What happens in D.C. falls under Congressional purview. Let us see if the Republican bicameral majority has what it takes to govern, or if they will just let this one go as their silent―(“We gave at the office”)―contribution to rape culture.
This is unacceptable. Yet this is what we do, and this is how we do it.
A child is raped, throw her in jail. How do we begin accounting for everything wrong about this outcome?
This is America. And this is a disgrace.
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Walters, Joanna. “An 11-year-old reported being raped twice, wound up with a conviction”. The Washington Post. 12 March 2015.
Baltimore police union releases statement on NYPD shootings”. 21 December 2014.
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