MsFacetious
What a Kerfuffle...
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2010
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The Georgia appeals court judge, Christopher McFadden, argued that the verdict went "strongly against the weight of the evidence" because, in his judgment, the woman in question -- I'll join other writers in calling her Jane -- didn't act like a victim and the man didn't act like a rapist.
Jane has Down syndrome and the growing national outrage to this case has focused, with reason, on her disability. But Down syndrome is only part of the story.
The outrage is not only because this judge didn't understand Down syndrome, but that judges frequently impose their perceptions on cases of sexual assault, reducing sentences even for convicted rapists on the grounds that the victim didn't act "correctly." Jane's troubling case reveals the intersections between rape culture and the way we strip agency from people with disabilities.
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But the judge, acting as he says in his decision, as the 13th juror, saw things differently. McFadden writes that although "the evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction," he offers a long list of confusing aspects in the testimony, which he boils down to, "At no time prior to her outcry on the 19th (the next day), did (she) behave like a victim. Nor did Mr. Dumas behave like someone who had recently perpetrated a series of violent crimes against her."
http://us.cnn.com/2014/03/11/opinion/perry-rape-disabled-georgia/?iref=obnetwork
Jane has Down syndrome and the growing national outrage to this case has focused, with reason, on her disability. But Down syndrome is only part of the story.
The outrage is not only because this judge didn't understand Down syndrome, but that judges frequently impose their perceptions on cases of sexual assault, reducing sentences even for convicted rapists on the grounds that the victim didn't act "correctly." Jane's troubling case reveals the intersections between rape culture and the way we strip agency from people with disabilities.
------------------------------------
But the judge, acting as he says in his decision, as the 13th juror, saw things differently. McFadden writes that although "the evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction," he offers a long list of confusing aspects in the testimony, which he boils down to, "At no time prior to her outcry on the 19th (the next day), did (she) behave like a victim. Nor did Mr. Dumas behave like someone who had recently perpetrated a series of violent crimes against her."
http://us.cnn.com/2014/03/11/opinion/perry-rape-disabled-georgia/?iref=obnetwork