After serving eighteen years for a sexual assault he did not commit, Steven Avery, during his arduous pursuit of liberty and justice was eventually exonerated by newly discovered DNA evidence. After regaining his freedom, Avery unsurprisingly decided to file a civil law suit in 2004 against the law enforcement officials responsible for his wrongful conviction in the sexual assault case of Penny Beernsten from 1985. The Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer” chronicled and thoroughly depicted the intense struggles between the two parties from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin involved in the lawsuit. This lawsuit is made increasingly more complex as a result of Steven Avery’s indictment for the murder of Theresa Halbach. After the new charges were
An American is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds, and every 8 minutes, that victim is a child. Only 310 out of 1,000 assaults are reported, but only 6 out of 1,000 perpetrators end up in prison (RAINN). Although sexual assault is egregious, these perpetrators are less likely to end up in prison than other criminals. The reason that is seems to be that victims do not report their cases. So why are sexual assault victims afraid to share their stories? Victims often do not report their assault because of many reasons, including the fear of reprisal, the belief that the police could not and would not do anything about the case, or because they simply did not know how to approach an official.
Steven Avery was a dangerous criminal since he was 18. He committed many horrific crimes in the 1980’s to 2007 until he was sentenced life in prison, with no chance of parole. Steven Avery, committed many disturbing crimes that lead him to be a murderer in Wisconsin through the following; two counts of burglary, cruelty to animals by dousing a cat with gasoline and throwing it into a fire, endangering safety with an felony gun possession and being arrested for sexually assaulting Penny Beerntsen, which was proven 18 years later that Avery didn’t commit, through DNA proof. This is proof that Avery was a dangerous criminal from the beginning and can be proven further through a couple different theories such as the biological theory, the psychological theory, and the conflict theory. Those theories can explain why he committed the crime, the behavior involved with the crime(s) and furthermore the people targeted through his criminal career.
“ Case screening is the gateway to the criminal justice system. Prosecutors, acting as gatekeepers, decide which instances of alleged victimization will be passed on for adjudication by the courts” (Frohmann, 1991, p. 213). As Supreme Court Justice Jackson acknowledged in 1940, “the prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America” (Davis, 1969, p.190). Frohmann examined the powerful discretion prosecutors have in their justification for sexual assault case rejections in her research article, Discrediting Victim’s allegations of Sexual Assault: Prosecutorial Accounts of Case Rejections. Her research was replicated
The central issue of the Duke rape case includes Duke University student, Crystal Mangum, as the accuser of several Duke University lacrosse players of having committed sexual assault during a party that the players held in their house, which allegedly followed a stripping job Crystal Mangum performed for the players. After the allegation, a sexual assault kit was conducted and processed. Following the processing, it was found that none of the Duke University lacrosse players’ DNA was found in the sexual assault test kit. However, multiple other men’s DNA was found in the sexual assault test kit. With this knowledge, Durham District Attorney, Mike Nifong, continued to pursue the case, ignoring the results of the DNA sexual assault kit.
Start blaming the system, not the victim. Sexual assault is a crime that is very common, yet the punishment perpetrators receive is not as harsh as it needs to be to reduce the occurrence of these crimes. Laws concerning sexual crimes have been edited over decades to be stricter however, sex offenders typically receive little or no punishment. Sexual Assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient (“Sexual Assault”). Victims of sexual assault are often blamed as the reason for the crime being committed while the blame is taken away from the offender. Harsher punishment must be enacted on sex offenders because the victims suffer conflict from the crime throughout their
This article is about a man who was arrested on Thursday because he claimed that he sexually abuse a diverse of young girls. He is a man who lives in Roy and has 83 years old. The documents reveal that on November 1st, A young girl admit to his parents that Dean Eldon Jones sexually abused her, and that this happens numerous times over the past year. This event occurs in Jones's basement.
The fact that there is a remote possibility that Steven Avery was put away for a crime he did not commit on two different occasions is incomprehensible. People should not have to fear being targeted by law enforcement baselessly or for personal reasons. Avery should be able to have a chance at another hearing or something to that effect with the new testing and technology available to ensure the original ruling was correct on the off chance it was all accurate to begin with, though it most likely is not. With all the variables presented on the part of the Manitowoc Sheriff Department and the Calumet Sheriff Department is enough for most viewers to come to the harsh realization that law enforcement is by no means perfect or as infallible as one would like to think. The planting of evidence, the ignoring of facts, and the coaching of vulnerable suspects like Dassey are all dead giveaways to how deep the corruption goes. It is apparent that major reforms need to be made to progress in the direction the population would like to see. But, until then, innocent individuals could be at a disadvantage concerning true justice, especially if they are anything like Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. Avery was lucky to have technology develop in such a way to where it helped his first case be solved properly through DNA testing. However, until forensic technology evolves to the point where there are more precise ways to examine all the evidence from the Halbach case, Avery will not see his trek to freedom end the way he desires and will be deprived of living out the rest of his
A young girl was murdered on October 31st (Halloween), 2005. Brendan Dassey was accused of murdering the female photographer along with his uncle, Steven Avery. The pair were convicted on April 25, 2007 after a nine day trial Steven Avery, was charged by the local police decades before this for rape and attempted murder. After serving 18 years DNA evidence proved that he did not commit the crime and he was released. After being released Steven Avery filed a lawsuit against the county police department. Avery and Dassey argued that this was a “set up” by the police
In a recent study posed by the CDC, 19.3% of the women’s population in the United States have reported rape (Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization 1). That is nearly one fifth of the female population. While women who walk the streets alone flood with fear, men are being let off with a mere slap on the wrist for raping women. Another study shows that ninety seven of every one hundred rapists receive no punishment whatsoever. How can women feel safe if their perpetrator is freely roaming the streets? Although rapists are frequently punished, the rape punishment in the United States is far too inconsistent and should be more severe.
One of the philosophies not commonly used with sexual assault crimes is incapacitation. Although a perpetrator is placed in prison, rehabilitation immediately occurs. As for incapacitation, it does not require any assumptions about the criminal’s rationalism or “root causes” of the criminal’s behavior. Having the perpetrator incarcerated is beneficial because the physical restraint of incarceration prevents the commission of further crimes against society during the duration of the sentence. Reducing crimes is the most important factor is setting punishments (Muhlhausen, 2010). The problem is that sexual assault is one of the hardest crimes to prove. There are many factors that come in play such as the victim’s behavior, evidence and how it was handled by law enforcement. However, it the process goes through, then incapacitation will be able to reduce the problem.
The show “making a murder” showed how the justice system of Manitowoc County unprofessionally locked up Steven Avery for 18 years under an accusation that was proven wrong. Steven Avery from the start said he was innocent and even when the law enforcement got a call saying that someone had the guy that did the crime Avery is locked up for, they refused to believe them and blame Avery. If they did their job correctly
Hubert Patrick O'Connor, a bishop who was accused of committing rape and indecent assault on both female students and female staffs at St.Joseph’s school at Williams Lake, British Columbia, during his time as principal in the early 1960s. During the pre-trial process, the defense counsel ordered the disclosure of all medical and therapeutic record of the complainants. Proceedings were stayed by the trial judge because the Crown had not made full disclosure of all records requested by the defence. A controversy was ensued over the balance of rights between the accused and the victim in legal practices, since sexual assault cases tend to discriminate against Aboriginal women. Despite of the inarguable importance of the right of the accused to
Avery is currently serving a life sentence for murdering 25-year-old Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin (Egan, 2016). Echols mentioned that wrongful imprisonment continues to happen and will continue to do so until the criminal justice system is held to a higher standard (Egan, 2016).
Sexual abuse is any uncontrolled sexual act in which a person is pressed or physically forced to engage against their will, or any non-consensual sexual touching of a person. A sex offender is a person who has been convicted of certain sex crimes. A victim of a sexual crime is the subject of unwanted sexual offenses. In order for sexual activity to be all right, both people must want it to happen. When any person forces you to participate in any sexual act when you don’t want to it is sexual assault. Physical force is not always used to sexually assault a victim. Most victims are assaulted by someone they know. Most offenders are male whether the victim is female or male. The victims of sexual abuse can be males or females of any race, age, social class, appearance, or sexual orientation. This paper will discuss some of the contemporary issues involving sex crimes, sexual offenders, and victims of sexual crimes.
In the film “Making a Murderer”, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos bring light to a wrongfully convicted man. The town of Manitowoc was overrun by sworn individuals who let their judicial power grant them what they want. Laura and Ricciardi do a great damage to the town of Manitowoc, by showing bias to their judicial system. The corruption began on July 29, 1985, when a victim by the name of Beersten was sexually assaulted by a white man. Responding Officer Judy Dvorak was the contact officer in taking the report. Deputy Dvorak was a close friend of Sandra Morris, who is married to deputy Bill Morris. Sandra Morris made an allegation against Steven Avery, which claimed that he performed a sexual act with his wife in public view. Individuals who