NY Times THIS week, Bill Cosby was charged
with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. The felony charges
stemmed from an incident more than a decade ago, in which Andrea
Constand says Mr. Cosby drugged and assaulted her in his home. Mr. Cosby
says he intends to fight the charges, and no court has found him liable
for sexual misconduct.
The
timing of the criminal charges was not arbitrary. The date of the
alleged assault was Jan. 15, 2004, and Pennsylvania’s statute of
limitations for rape and sexual assault is 12 years: If prosecutors had
delayed two and a half weeks, the limit would have tolled.
Mr.
Cosby’s public fall in the wake of dozens of accusations has been an
education in the reality of sexual assault, especially concerning the
long conspiracy of silence, and the weight of shame victims are made to
carry, when the suspect is powerful and famous. “I was a teenager from
Denver acting in McDonald’s commercials,” wrote Barbara Bowman, another
of his accusers, in The Washington Post in 2014. “He was Bill Cosby.”
After
decades of unsettling claims and quietly settled lawsuits, Mr. Cosby’s
public reputation has gone from America’s dad to America’s creepy uncle.
But Mr. Cosby finally faces prosecution only because of a deposition made public
in July: If that testimony had been revealed just a few months later,
it could have been too late for prosecutors to try this case.
The
charging of Mr. Cosby, just under the wire, raises a key question: Why
is there a statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault at all?
Across the country, 34 states have
statutes of limitations on rape, sexual assault or both, ranging from
as little as three years up to 30. (A few states also have reporting
deadlines tied to statutes of limitations; and a number of states
provide for an exemption from statutes of limitations if a DNA match is
later made on a reported rape or sexual assault.)
Restrictions
on how long charges can be brought after the alleged commission of a
crime exist primarily to prevent the deterioration of evidence, but also
to promote public order, protect criminal defendants who may have a
harder time guarding themselves against long-ago accusations, and
encourage plaintiffs to bring cases or report crimes swiftly.
Those are laudable goals that make sense in theory. But in practice, they undermine justice for survivors.[...]
Does criminal law in Halachic Judaism have anything similar to a statue of limitations?
ReplyDeleteno
ReplyDeletehttp://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/is-there-statute-of-limitation-on.html
Because rape, of course, is the worst of all possible crimes. Except maybe racism.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they undermine justice for survivors. I think the last function stated, to encourage plaintiffs to bring cases or report crimes swiftly, is very important. When people wait many years before pressing charges there is obviously a hesitation and if there would be no pressure of a deadline they would procrastinate endlessly.
ReplyDeleteneither does Judaism consider a claimant a witness. nor does it allow circumstantial evidence to incarcerate people for 103 years.
ReplyDeletedoes the concept of needing an alibi exist in Judaism?
There are plenty of sexual offenders and even Orthodox Jewish ones at FCI Fort Dix, New Jersey They are derisively called chomos. Almost every day, one of them is viciously attacked. One Orthodox Jewish person is doing 23 years, another former dentist, got 15 years, another one, for having pictures in his computer, five years. Another one, who used to be a teacher in a Jewish school, molested boys and got 14 years. The stories are sickening. Nonetheless, for Bill Cosby, if he ends up in jail, it may be his death sentence. To see more about prison life, you can read http://www.amazon.com/PRISON-expect-Federal-Bureau-Prisons-ebook/dp/B011GTWLOG
ReplyDeleteanother distinction is the purpose of the punishment, is it punitive or redemptive? If it's the latter, then it stands to reason there's no statute limitation. this is an important difference between Judaism and the US judicial system.
ReplyDelete