from the article
“People are always like, ‘Why did you report to your school police and not the regular police?’” Helfman said. “Because the regular police can’t get this kid out of your classes. […] It’s on you to prove they are guilty. It’s so hard to prove that you were raped.”
I don’t understand the laws with regards to these cases. If you let the school handle it, then you can’t ever go to local police to file charges? If the statute of limitations is not expired can she still go to Boston Police and have him prosecuted? If Boston Police process a rape kit and the results are positive aren’t they required to file charges against the guy? Can’t school and local police work together on these cases - one pursuing criminal charges and the other supporting the victim?
Once a student reports to their college, it’s up to the accused to prove they’re innocent, so it’s much easier to get convictions. There’s no statute of limitations at colleges, so students can file charges, or have charges filed against them, at any time – even years after the alleged event. I don’t believe either of these things is a good thing for our young people. Crimes need to be handled in public courts where the accused have rights and those who are convicted have public records that follow them, not sealed records that are only released to other colleges by way of college transcripts.
The danger of pursuing these types of cases through colleges, whose main job is not to locate and prosecute dangerous offenders, is that some people who are a danger to our communities are never identified, and some who are innocent have their lives destroyed. I think college tribunals are the wrong places to handle sexual assault charges and I hope young people are encouraged to report them to police instead of campus personnel who have a vested interest in both the outcomes and the attendant publicity.
There’s a 16-year statute of limitations for filing rape charges with the police in MA and this young woman is well within that, so I don’t know why she wouldn’t file with them. It sounds like there’s physical evidence, so for the sake of other women I hope she pursues it if she hasn’t already.
One thing I have always wondered about. Why arent serious charges like this going through the legal system ? Isnt expulsion pretty much the most the school can do ? That doesn’t seem appropriate for sexual assault.
As a Northeastern student: I don’t think her evidence necessarily proves it. She has a rape kit, but it’s possible his DNA wasn’t present as the test happened a few days after the alleged assault, it may just prove she was raped. It’s also possible foreign DNA was present but they don’t have a sample of his DNA to confirm/deny. She is suing Northeastern for their mishandling of the case, based on her inability to appeal and the failure on their part to save recordings from the original trial. She also seems to be claiming she wasn’t provided with appropriate accommodations in terms of classes, housing, and counseling.
I don’t understand why she wouldn’t pursue her assailant criminally at this point, given that she’s already admitted the incident happened and gone public with the story (she’s not part of the sexual assault victims pressured into silence, so she has nothing to lose) unless her only evidence is her account of the evening and knows her case wouldn’t go anywhere. It has been three years plus since the incident, and I could understand if she was exhausted of these legal proceedings by now.
OK, hopefully this is a mis-statement by the news journalist. ALL accusations filed through a college’s office are disciplinary violations…I fear our young women do not understand that . Colleges do not prosecute…so any allegations are not “crimes” for the purposes of what the colleges are doing. The article does not give any information about the outcome of her pursuit of criminal prosecution. She may have a civil case against the college if they did not follow their rules and procedures in investigating and through the disciplinary hearing.
Students have a choice - go through the uni for disciplinary action or go through the police for criminal prosecution or do both. Sounds like the link describes both but does not give an outcome from the police investigation. College codes of conduct generally include conduct that may not meet the state’s sexual assault laws or may not be prosecutable due to lack of evidence. Unless after the election something changes drastically with what colleges/unis are doing, doing both would be my advice if someone feels they have been sexually assaulted.
If you report something to your school you can still report it to the police. In this case there may be a jurisdictional component in that the Northeastern campus police have jurisdiction over the campus. The BPD may not. Either would be “real” police though, which are different from the university.
If the rape kit comes back positive the BPD is not required to file charges. That’s partially because the DA files charges, not the BPD, but also because citizens can generally never compel law enforcement to act a particular way.
Yes, the school and police can work together. They have to be careful though because if the school starts acting as an agent of law enforcement it will have all the same requirements.
@momofthreeboys: When the article says the suit concerns misclassifying crimes as disciplinary violations, I think it means for federal reporting purposes. I’d have to see the complaint to know for sure.
if northeastern has it’s own police department (not a security department) they are the police…you do not get to choose the department you want. if northeastern has security than the boston police would handle any criminal situation. http://www.northeastern.edu/nupd/about/
and NE does have an actual police department.