What Harvey Weinstein’s Case Reveals About Our Justice System
CONTENT WARNINGS: mentions of sexual assault
By now, you’ve probably heard of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault case. Eighty five women have accused the film producer of a wide range of sexual crimes, from harrassment to rape. Most of them were just starting their careers at the time, and some weren’t even adults.
Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 20 years in prison for criminal sexual assault and three years for rape. These counts will run consecutively.
Many see this as a win—and it is. Weinstein, 68, will likely die in prison, and is one of the few influential people to have ever received such a conviction. Eighty five women have finally received justice, but is this enough?
While reading that Weinstein’s sentence for rape was only three years, I thought that it was only that short because of his status as an affluential Hollywood producer. Turns out, according to the US Department of Justice, the average jail term for someone convicted of rape is only around eight months. The legal definition of rape is forced sexual intercourse by penetration by the offender(s). This includes attempted rapes, verbal threats of rape, male as well as female victims, and both heterosexual and same sex rape.
94% of women who are raped experience symptoms of PTSD in the two weeks following the assault, and 33% contemplate suicide. It’s clear from these statistics how detrimental rape is on one’s health. So why are the sentences so low?
Lili Loofbourow, a staff writer at Slate, inspected the process of the investigations, and found that in many cases, rape kits were destroyed and victims ignored. “Some of [the disinclination to investigate] is no doubt due to resource and budget constraints. But there’s also the inescapable fact that prosecutors and investigators and judges are human, and their thinking isn’t immune to the biases about sexual assault that pervade every level of our society.”
The fact of the matter is that sexual assault is not seen as a serious crime. If we look back at our cultural history, it was normalized at some point. And even today, it’s massively underreported because victims are afraid of the social repercussions.
Looking at Harvey Weinstein’s case and trial, we see another layer of prejudice that permeates the justice system. Despite the fact that the first allegation came out in 2015, it was not until 2017 that the police started seriously investigating. This is obviously due to Weinstein’s wealth and status; nearly all of his allegations were abuses of his power—he harassed and assaulted actors he worked with, models he was scouting, and even workers in his company, which made it even harder for them to come out. Some were even offered bribes to keep silent.
While the #MeToo movement (which was sparked by Harvey Weinstein’s allegations) has inspired women to come out and condemn the justice system, generations of prejudice can’t be undone in a year or two. Real action needs to be taken by the national government. Sexual assault cases need to be taken seriously, and the sentence should match the crime. Rape ruins lives just as much as other serious crimes like attempted murder and should be given a similar sentence. We can’t keep letting rapists roam free.
by ANONYMOUS