Part-Time Pundit

Champaign County Circuit Clerk Publishes Name and Address of Rape Victims on Website

It was a step forward for open government when the Champaign County Circuit Clerk’s office started making court records available online through their website. However, not all records should be put online, such as the name and address of victims of rape.

Sheena Smith of the Orange and Blue Observer originally reported that if you know the name of somewhat who has been charged with rape, when you search their case you will see not only the name but the address of the victim in the record. A search from a 2003 court case says “As a condition of the Defendant’s bond, Deft. Is ordered to HAVE NO CONTACT whatsoever, directly or indirectly with the named victim.” In a 2006 case, instead of saying the named victim, it gives the full name and address of the victim. This appears to be a new change for that office. Other cases also show the name and addresses of the victims.

Almost every media outlet will not report a rape victim’s name. It’s a delicate crime that, in the few times it is reported, results in a very ugly trial. There is also a public stigma attached to rape victims that leads many to simply not report the crime. While being able to confront witnesses in open court is a necessity for the wheels of justice to turn, it does not follow that the victim’s name and address needs to be plastered across the web.

Linda Frank, the current Circuit Clerk, should rethink the policy of publishing this information on the web or it runs the risk of discouraging more women from coming forward to help get these criminals off the streets.

November 17th, 2006 Posted by John Bambenek | Chambana, Politics | one comment

UCLA Student Picks a Fight with Police and Loses

University police officers used a Taser on a student repeatedly during an altercation at the UCLA library at 11:30pm November 15th. There was a video made by one of the students who captured only the end of the altercation with the student shouting profanities at the police and then screaming in pain when he was Tased.

What the video did not capture was that the student was asked to leave repeatedly and police had to be called in to ensure he left. When the police took him by the arm to escort him out, he began to physically struggle with officers and verbally berate them. In short, he picked a fight with police and found out the hard way why it is generally a bad idea to do so. Could police have tried to de-escalate the situation? Maybe.

Police stated that the student in question encouraged other students to join his one-man resistance, which likely led police to threaten the mob that surrounded the officers. The ACLU, of course, is calling the police’s actions an illegal assault and police brutality. Because the video on the web only shows the tail end of the confrontation, and then only mostly audio, many people have begun to jump to conclusions about the matter. One columnist for the Daily Bruin has cautioned against to rampant knee-jerk responses to the matter.

On a campus were arrests due to student disruption
seem regular it is little surprise that police take verbal abuse by students seriously. The response to the tasing largely smacks of anti-police sentiment.

The student was asked repeatedly to leave by library security and refused. This led to the police being called. When the police tried to ensure he left, he began to swear, threaten, and physically resist them. There are only a small number of ways to force an unruly individual to do what you want. You could physically strike them and encourage a hand-to-hand combat situation with a police office, which would likely threaten their own safety. You could beat the suspect with a baton causing no small amount of pain and physical harm. Or you could use a Taser, on the settting which they used, to encourage cooperation. In all but the cases of individuals high on drugs, Tasers do not cause fatalities. They choose the safest option for an uncooperative individual.

You reap what you sow. The idea, mostly coming from the left, that the police must treat citizens with the utmost level of respect while insisting that it’s perfectly acceptable to verbally defecate on police officers and physically resist legitimate orders is absurd. He picked a fight with police and he lost. It’s that simple.

November 17th, 2006 Posted by John Bambenek | Around the US, Politics | no comments