Waatea News Column: The good intentions of the Sexual Violence Bill will see more Maori men guilty of rape

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The desire to see justice for victims of sexual assault has eclipsed the need for a fair justice system.

The proposed changes to the law would see those accused of sexual assault lose their right to silence and remove any defence.

To justify gerrymandering the law to gain more convictions, the Green Party use questionable statistics claiming only 1% of sexual assaults get successfully prosecuted when in fact the number is 43% for sexual violation and 42% for attempted sexual violation.

Because Māori are poorer, Defense Lawyers are warning they will fall foul of these new rules regardless of their innocence.

The fact Labour and the Greens are the ones pushing these changes through means Māori men become the sacrificial bargaining chip in a fight for victims of sexual assault.

The best DNA science from America tells us that for every 100 convicted of sexual crimes, 11 are wrongfully convicted.

An 11% wrongful conviction rate is concerning enough, add to that the changes the Greens and Labour want to make, and anyone accused of sexual assault is likely to be found guilty regardless of their innocence.

Māori men are the ones who will feel this injustice most keenly. Why are they so expendable in this legal experiment?

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

First published on Waatea News.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Jacinda likes to say she and her government listen to the experts but that is only when the experts agree with their policy

  2. nah, women don’t get raped, ever, they just don’t fight back enough, also have you seen how women and girls dress to day? Did they scream No? Loud enough? Did they try to get away? What do you mean they shut down and went limp, you sure they did not like it? Did she have boyfriends before? How many? Maybe she likes her sex a bit rough, sad she died, but she really did like the choking.
    Frankly maybe you need to read the article posted by Dr. Liz Gordon on your page to understand that rape in this country is a rite of passage for girls and women, and hardly anyone is ever held to account.
    But then, that would b e boys be boys. Right?
    Can’t have girls grow into women unmolested and free of unwanted advances, offers of cash for nudes and blow jobs, without catcalling and ranking of the ‘bedding qualities’, or simply told at every instance that’ we would fuck your ass so hard’.
    Btw, that is life for girls n women in NZ.
    Do i think this country needs a better approach to rape? Yes,
    Make it a hate crime. And punish it as such. And then throw mental health care at the victim, provide free studies to the victim, and leave the rapist in prison to pound sand for the next several years.
    And yes, boys too, can be raped. So maybe have some pity for those that have been raped.
    As for the results in the US, can we guess the color of those ‘wrongful’ convicted? Black, coerced by police or a prosecutor? Fact is that most rapes – see again the Story of Dr. Liz – were NON of the girls has gone to police with their rapes and gang rapes, never get reported. Why would be even bother?

  3. I would be surprised if it was as high as 1% successfully prosecuted for assault. so few cases go to police and only some of those that do go onto prosecution and then …

  4. This is analogous to the medical profession being assigned a politically prescribed set of procedures that would prevent health professionals from asking you certain questions relating to an underlying health condition – on the assumption this would serve to eliminate the prevalence of false negatives. The cost of excluding objective and relevant medical information indicative that you might not have the condition is guaranteed to increase the number of false positives.

    It is one thing to discover one has a flawed medical procedure and correct it, another to enshrine it in law.

    A cursory reading of Title IX in the US, as an example, highlights the potential pitfalls of judicial overshoot: “Hundreds of lawsuits already seek justice on behalf of accused male students in federal courts. Title IX for All, an online archive, currently tracks around 500 such suits, many of which have led to favorable rulings.”

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