Sexual predators beware!

THE 23-YEAR prison sentence handed to American movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for sexual crimes is hardly being digested in the current coronavirus world crisis. However, even as the implications of the virus become clearer, it is worth pausing to acknowledge that something monumental happened in that Manhattan jury room where the verdict was handed down on February 24. It took 26 hours of deliberations and resulted in conviction on two of five counts.

Sexual assault cases are always difficult to prove, any defence lawyer will confirm. Sexual assault cases involving men of power and influence are even more difficult to prove. In sexual assault cases, where the accuser was in a relationship with the accused, these are nearly always abandoned before trial, because chances of a successful prosecution are so slim.

And even if there is a trial, the complainant is often derided by the defence, humiliated too, and made to feel guilty of inviting sexual attention and the eventual assault. Sometimes it is the way one is dressed or the idea that she should have known his intentions or the fact that she is ambitious and wants to get ahead.

Juries tend to side with the defence that she indeed, wanted it to happen, leaving the complainant twice defeated. But when several women went public in 2017 to confirm what had been whispered for years, that Weinstein, the Hollywood god, was indeed a sexual harasser, it set in motion the #Me Too Movement around the world. It provided a platform for women to speak out about their own horrible experiences and to demand that time was up.

That in this case the jury believed two of the brave women who accused Weinstein and did not accept his defence that sex was consensual, marks a shift in the dispensation of justice for sexual assault victims and should give hope to women who have suffered this injustice for far too long.

From all the evidence amassed, Weinstein was gleefully declared a “womanizer” by those who knew him well. So it followed that his defence was essentially this: “If you don’t want to be a victim don’t go to his hotel room.” Interestingly, the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jnr., refused to prosecute Weinstein in 2015 when several women alleged misconduct against him. It was only after about 90 women came forward with allegations that the same DA decided to go forward with the case.

The victims may take comfort in the fact that the fallen mogul will be treated like any other felon from now on starting with his reception into the American prison system which requires that he takes a shower, a shave and haircut as well as go through delousing treatment. How is that for a once-rich and powerful chest-beating Hollywood mogul? Added to that, he is going through the process of compensating some of his victims so he will suffer economically too.

There are many Harvey Weinsteins who occupy positions of power in our own country. Women will swear that they have encountered them in corporate boardrooms, sitting on pulpits, in school administration and even in the sporting arena – situations in which they appear to have all the leverage.

This guilty verdict and prison sentence handed to a powerhouse like Weinstein, suggests that the conversation in jury rooms is changing and victims should not be deterred from reporting instances of sexual misconduct. Predators are duly warned that times are a-changing.

The opinions on this page, except for The Editorial, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Gleaner.