Street Roots • May 22-28, 2015
Commentary
Page 13
Rape’s relentless toll
Jon Krakauer’s ‘M issoula’
examines sexual assault
in a Montana college town
BY JOHN BARKER
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
“Missoula: Rape
and the Justice
System in a
College Town”
by Jon Krakauer
The emollesi*
a l w e ll-b e liif
of the v ictim
g els short
shrilly a » <
as Krahaaer
describes ia
great detail^
she Is often
subjected
to a seeoatf
form of abase
b j police aad
prosecutors
lasessltlve to
the traum a of
rape. ,
I
t was non-stranger rape.
It was a non-stranger rape Of a college
student by a classmate she had known
from first grade, her neighbor growing up
who referred to her as his “little sister,” a
person she trusted deeply.
The physical and psychological injuries to
University of Montana student Allison
Huguet, “little sister” of Beau Donaldson;
Donaldson’s confession to the rape; and his
eventual conviction are the starting point for
Jon Krakauer’s “Missoula: Rape and the
Justice System in a College Town.” He follows
five female students who have reported being
raped. In some cases, the accused were
convicted. In others, they were not.
Krakauer works, albeit necessarily from a
male frame of reference, to describe Hie
ambiguities in the conduct of the participants
in a friendly relationship ruined by a violent
sexual encounter. What is not ambiguous is
the post-traumatic stress disorder that often
results from non-stranger rape.
The book discusses the differences in the
roles of ^ student court and ther criminal ! :
justice system when there is an allegation of
rape. The delay and brutalization of all
parties that is inherent in the adversarial
criminal system is contrasted with the less
formal campus disciplinary procedures that
can lead to permanent expulsion and
exclusion from campus.
In either system, the emotional well-being
of the victim gets short shrift, and, as
Krakauer describes in great detail, she is
often subjected to a second form of abuse by
police and prosecutors insensitive to the
trauma of rape. He quotes victims who have
been told that the perp’s confession on video
isn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute, that the
Hiena
by Avendor
It’s a breezy grey day
And we walk past pale green trees
As a gentle rain begins to fall.
Hiena and I,
Take a seat outside a café by the Rhine
And order a pint of beer,
Along with fish and chips.
She takes my hand
And clasps it in both of hers
Telling me how much she loves me.
A homeless man comes by
And asks us for some change.
We give him some money
And ask him if he would like to sit with us,
For food and drink...
But he says he doesn’t want to interrupt us.
So he thanks us, and goes on his way.
My girl Illena,
Looks so pretty in her blue petticoat,
And tousled red scarf.
I notice one of her shoes-is untied,
So I crouch beneath the table and fix her up,
And she caresses my cheek as I do this. ?
A child jumps around in a puddle nearby
Much to the displeasure of his mother
Who orders him to stop,
But his jeans are already wet up to his knees.
I light up a cigarette
And Illena and I head to m y apartment.
We pick up a paper on the way
For we might go to the movies tonight.
fact that she had been drinking makes the
case unwinnable, that the status of the
defendant as a member of the football team
will make the case too hard to win.
Krakauer is merciless in his criticism of
how a Missoula County prosecutor handled
the job, and, assuming he has the facts right,
his criticism is justified. Kirsten Pabst was
the county attorney’s chief deputy for all but
the last year or so of the five years Krakauer
focuses on. Pabst left the county attorney’s
office for private practice and shortly
thereafter defended another student in a
hard-fought rape case. She then ran
successfully for the county attorney position,
where she will decide Whether to prosecute
rape allegations. She has promised she will
take the office in a new direction that will
better align it with the more enlightened
approaches of file Missoula Police
Department, which has embraced new
protocols for investigating sexual offenses.
As for Krakauer’s work, there are two
legitimate criticisms.
First, beware any author’s sentence that
begins “It is estimated th a t...” followed by
statistics such as “85 percent of all rapes are
in fact committed by assailants who (are
acquainted with their victims).” Couple this
with allusions to studies showing that a very
small percentage of rapes are reported, and
one has to ask, How does he know this? How
does anyone know?
, Second. Krakauer recites, reams of _
At horfte she -ta k e o ff ’h éFW ^t,
And pours herself a whiskey;
statistics but doesn’t always cite a source.
The book has an extensive bibliography at
the end, b u tit has no footnotes, so if one
were interested in learning more about a
statistic - author, methodology and the like
it’s not there.
Men need to better understand the
emotional damage done by those of our
gender who commit sexual offenses. We need
to start, as does the Missoula Police
Department under its new policies, by
believing that the report of a sexual attack is
a sincere one.
I put on Coldplay
And read up on current events.
We’ll change the world one day,
She and I, I think to myself
And go back to my reading.
Interrupted only by a glance at her arresting beauty
And at the black crow
Perched quietly
On the crimson red fire escape
Outside the window.
Which is half open,
And dripping with rain.
■ I
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