This is one of those books that shouldn't even exist, but everyone needs to read: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer is a diligently researched, heartbreaking account of a selection of sexual assaults on the University of Montana campus in Missoula, Montana, and how those cases fared in both the UM adjudication process and the criminal justice system. Krakauer is not an unbiased reporter; he obviously sides with the victims throughout his book, and while he doesn't seem to have interviewed any of the accused, he does present the accused's defense as established in either the campus or police investigation or both. Despite his bias, Missoula is an important read.
Krakauer structures his novel around three or four cases reported to UM officials and the local police. He starts with the incident itself, the immediate aftermath (including medical care), and proceeds to any police investigation and subsequent court case. What makes this book truly scary is the the response to the victims. One was asked by an investigating detective if she had a boyfriend. When she said no and asked why that mattered, he bluntly told her that most of the time it's the girls who cheat and feel bad that cry rape. (Yeah. Really.) The few cases that made it through the police investigation to the county attorney's office rarely made it court. Most cases were dismissed for insubstantial evidence--even in cases where the accused confessed to the crime.
For me, the most frightening part of the whole thing is the mindset of the accused. I truly believe none of them recognize what they did as rape. In one instance, the perpetrator confessed twice: once on tape and once in a police interview. But he never once said the word "rape." In both cases, he said he "took advantage" of the victim. Taking advantage of someone is bumming cigarettes or rides off them; it is not raping them while they sleep. Another said the victim had to have been into it because she moaned. How are these men able to walk around without realizing what they've done? How are they allowed to walk around without being punished?
Seriously, this book blew my mind. I knew we live in a rape culture, where the victim is put on trial (if it gets that far), called a liar, a slut, and worse; where we can just accept it as something she was asking for or a bad situation she put herself in or boys being boys. I knew it was bad, but Krakauer has made me realize just how bad it really is out there, and how badly we need to do something, anything, about it.
I have zero answers for any questions Krakauer puts forward. All I can do is raise my son to be a man who knows what rape is and that no means no under any circumstance. Hopefully, if enough of us do that moving forward, we can end this epidemic. Go read it.
Title: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Author: Jon Krakauer
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: I don't care, as long you read it
Bonus: Sleepless nights? I'm not sure.
Krakauer structures his novel around three or four cases reported to UM officials and the local police. He starts with the incident itself, the immediate aftermath (including medical care), and proceeds to any police investigation and subsequent court case. What makes this book truly scary is the the response to the victims. One was asked by an investigating detective if she had a boyfriend. When she said no and asked why that mattered, he bluntly told her that most of the time it's the girls who cheat and feel bad that cry rape. (Yeah. Really.) The few cases that made it through the police investigation to the county attorney's office rarely made it court. Most cases were dismissed for insubstantial evidence--even in cases where the accused confessed to the crime.
For me, the most frightening part of the whole thing is the mindset of the accused. I truly believe none of them recognize what they did as rape. In one instance, the perpetrator confessed twice: once on tape and once in a police interview. But he never once said the word "rape." In both cases, he said he "took advantage" of the victim. Taking advantage of someone is bumming cigarettes or rides off them; it is not raping them while they sleep. Another said the victim had to have been into it because she moaned. How are these men able to walk around without realizing what they've done? How are they allowed to walk around without being punished?
Seriously, this book blew my mind. I knew we live in a rape culture, where the victim is put on trial (if it gets that far), called a liar, a slut, and worse; where we can just accept it as something she was asking for or a bad situation she put herself in or boys being boys. I knew it was bad, but Krakauer has made me realize just how bad it really is out there, and how badly we need to do something, anything, about it.
I have zero answers for any questions Krakauer puts forward. All I can do is raise my son to be a man who knows what rape is and that no means no under any circumstance. Hopefully, if enough of us do that moving forward, we can end this epidemic. Go read it.
Title: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Author: Jon Krakauer
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: I don't care, as long you read it
Bonus: Sleepless nights? I'm not sure.