Sexual Assault Allegations in the Justice System 

 By: Eesha Chohan 

My topic is about the sexual assault allegations that occur in the legal system and the effects and process of it. Why is this important you may ask. Not many people know the background of assault allegations and the process behind it. I did not know either. It is more complicated then it seems due to the justice system being corrupted. It does not help the people, due to the lengthy period in which one assault allegation takes. Without much proof they will not proceed forward. It is important to talk about because those that want to report are discouraged due to the process and the justice system. The support that they need they may not get much from the system but from society because it plays a huge role in the decision making of people today. I am very passionate about this topic and I hope it is continued and talked about!

I am curious about the process of how those that are reported for committing sexual crimes, whether they go through a trial or not. I wonder what is the process behind it for those that are reporting the crime that has happened and whether or not it is fair to them. This topic I find very interesting because from the videos and news articles that I have read has shown. The perpetrator for the most part never gets punished or gets away with a lesser punishment. Not only that, evidence that is presented, many amongst the victims, the trial does not go further. I wonder why that is. Why isn't the crime for the assault higher? Does it have to reach the news to get the attention of those that are in greater power? I want to know why that is so? I wonder how the trial is processed for assault? What sort of justice are those that are defending their trials get. I do not know much about this topic and I have always wondered how the outcome always leads to that end. What evidence is needed for the trail to go further? Even if evidence is present why does it not go further? Why are they not punished? How is the system built and what ways does it have to be changed due to the unfairness? I would like to further investigate and come with possible outcomes as to how and what ways the system needs to change. What we need to do and give justice to those that are getting injustice around the world.

I wondered, in what ways does the legal process affect the allegations of assault that were given from those that report the crime. What causes the injustice to those that are victims of assault in the legal system. In what ways can the legal system and society help prevent the injustice the victim's face due to the perpetrator. How can we use these methods to create fairness to these trials in regards to the victim and the perpetrator.

I researched about how sexual violence has been normalized in society and how the justice system proceeds with the sexual violence cases. I wanted to find out why the justice system did very little to help the victims of these crimes. In order to understand how the justice system worked, why this happened to the victims, and what they had to do I did some research. The articles that have been used for the research gave real life examples about young women getting assaulted and it was normalized in society today. As a Result, victims do not report the violence. Upon researching, I found out that the reason the justice system has failed the victims is because many of them are afraid to document it or to report it. That is due to society norms and the process of the case. In one of the articles, for a case it had taken over six months for the case to be processed and accepted into the courts. The costs, and the timeline of the case is very long which discourages many victims to report the crime. Young women are taught at a young age to cover up otherwise they will be blamed for what happens to them. The victim blaming that occurs in society happens today. With my research, I have advanced our understanding of this area because I did not know much about it before. I had a brief overview but the videos and the articles helped give a better understading.