A Witch-hunt at the University of Colorado?

	posted by Thomas on 07:11 PM April 20th, 2004
	Frankly, the sexual assault scandals at both the Air Force Academy and CU have had the foul smell of witch-hunts from the start. In this essay, Wendy McElroy gives her take on the growing skepticism in response to claims of sexual assault. On the whole, I think this is a fine piece, but I do have to take some exception to her statement, "I was raped years ago. As a teenager, I ran away from home and lived on the streets, which placed me in a high-risk category for violence. Were I to go to Richard Grego right now, would he listen with sympathy or skepticism? If the answer is "skepticism," should I blame Grego or the university/tax-funded program of false awareness that pushed a compassionate person toward disbelief?" No blame should be attached to the skepticism. Every accusation of a crime should be viewed with skepticism until it is shown that the crime did, in fact, take place. I can speak about this with the perspective that comes with personal experience. I was raped when I was 14. But my statement regarding the matter should be viewed with skepticism by those who weren't witnesses.

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This is Healthy (Score:2) by frank h on 12:05 PM April 21st, 2004 EST (#1) (User #141 Info) I sent Wendy an email, and I commented that I thought that it was entirely reasonable that someone who'd suffered such an attack would certainly desire a sympathetic listener/investigator. But I agree, these investigators have to be skeptical, especially in criminal matters. Due process demands that we challenge criminal accusations to the limit of assuring their veracity, and this will sometimes be very uncomfortable for the accuser. It should be. That's one legitimate way to minimize false accusations.

er... don't you mean a Warlock Hunt? (Score:1) by ChaseBase on 03:22 PM April 21st, 2004 EST (#2) (User #1686 Info) Sorry... just couldn't resist

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