Tuesday, April 8, 2008

"Futility" and "Consent"

I thought both of these episodes really focused on exposing the flaws in the criminal justice system that end up helping the perpetrators rather than the victims. For example, Fred Savage's character was able to manipulate and maneuver around the law to get evidence thrown out or to discredit the victim. This does not serve the "justice" that we expect which is justice for the victim. This is similar to what we watched in "Consent," where the serial rapist (the frat guy who got the swimmer pregnant) only received expulsion rather than any criminal charges despite the fact that he had raped girls before. The flaw here is the gray area surrounding "consent." The jury found that the guys could not have known that the victim had been drugged (although it was clear that the victim was without inhibitions and very clearly incapable of consenting).
My problem is with the existence of this "gray area." If anyone is under any kind influence, be it drugs, alcohol or anything else, and is in no way capable of making a decision then they have lost the ability to consent. Furthermore, I really hated how the episode set up the victim to make it seem as if she "had it coming." I hate that statement with a fiery passion. No one "has it coming" or is "asking for it." The episode pointed out that the victim was a flirt and was giving one of the guys a lap dance. She was also drunk. It was not an invitation to be raped. I also was upset that the only person defending the victim was Olivia. Also, she was the only woman. None of the men stood up for her which is infuriating to say the least.
This episode also had a lot of degrading banter going on between the men. How the one frat guy (Hank?) said that the other was going to go "hit a home run" with the victim or how the bartender described the game the boys would play to see which drunk girl they could have sex with. That serves to further perpetuate the idea of sex as a game for men and the idea of women as prizes and as things to conquer or win.
I really enjoyed, on the other hand, talking with the Assistant District Attorney. I thought it was fascinating to hear about what it is like to argue for cases like we see on Law and Order. Moreover, it was interesting to hear about the difficulties facing women in the law and how hard it is to maintain a normal life (including a family) with this job.

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