LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor: I want to offer an apology to Bob Kelly in response to his letter in the Feb. 15-21 edition.
As the author of MEND’s letter to the editor, I never meant to insult the jurors in any trial. With Mr. Kelly, I value our justice system and am grateful for his juror service. Having served myself, I too am awed by the serious, sincere process that we go through to arrive at verdicts.
We should be clear, however, about the meaning of a “not guilty” verdict. It does not mean “innocent.” It means that the prosecution has not proven the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime as defined in the criminal code.
In cases of sexual assault, that is a high bar. As Mr. Kelly recommends in his letter, I spent many hours attending these trials. I witnessed defense arguments that systematically attacked the credibility of both women and spoke with prosecutors about their challenges in convincing a jury beyond reasonable doubt.
For this reason, few sexual assaults are brought to trial. District attorneys know that evidence has to be overwhelming to secure a conviction. And fewer than one-third of sexual assaults are reported. Victims are justifiably nervous about their lives becoming subject to months, sometimes years, of horrifying personal scrutiny.
All this said, I do apologize for my error: The statistic, according to RAINN.org, is that over 97% (not over 99% as I wrongly claimed) of rapes result in no incarceration. RAINN’s research indicates that approximately 310 of 1,000 rapes are reported, about 50 of those reports lead to arrest, and 25 to jail time. That means that in 975 of every 1,000 rapes, the rapist goes free.
Mr. Kelly is correct: I define rapist as a person who commits sexual violence, as opposed to someone who has been convicted by a court of this crime. There are certainly very few of the latter, but, given the statistics — and the experience of so many women we know — a lot more of the former than we like to admit.
The point of the letter that I wrote on behalf of MEND is that we men should be horrified — angry, too! — that so many people we love are subject to the threat of sexual violence. About this, I am sure, we all agree.
And then the question is: What can we do?
John Kissingford Ouray
