I am not naive. My work and life has exposed me to a wide variety of injustices and horrors. I understand, as well as most men can, the abuses women may suffer because of their sex. I worked years ago to help change the rape statute in New York so it no longer required corroboration of the victim’s story (then the only statute in the penal code which required this because a woman’s testimony alone was considered untrustworthy and men were terrified that a scorned girlfriend would falsely accuse them).
That said, I was astounded when I recently read that it is estimated that Epstein’s victims probably total more than 1,000 young women. My first thought was how it was possible that during all the years of this wholesale prostitution ring, after a conviction in Florida and apparently common knowledge in New York and among the perpetrators, this open criminal activity was accepted and utilized and condoned by the violators and their peers.
I can, unfortunately, understand that the victims were terrified, probably threatened and coerced into keeping silent, but how did wealthy, supposedly sophisticated members of the elite justify their actions when they looked in the mirror? How did a prosecutor accept the plea in Florida? How did justice go so wrong?
How could the Florida prosecutor (now happily working for Trump) not fully investigate and prosecute not just Epstein but the actual rapists? Understanding the difficulty in getting those abused to testify, it seems that the idea was to resolve the case as soon as possible and not rock the boat by uncovering what occurred, thereby protecting the identities of the rapists.
Are men—and it must have been a lot men—just animals, truly ruled just by sexual lust when confronted with a young woman who clearly was not a willing participant? Prostitution has probably existed since the beginning of our species; yet as humans evolved, we supposedly made rules and developed mores through religion and societal pressure. They seem to be meaningless to the masters of the universe who were Epstein’s friends and business associates.
Something is seriously wrong with us. The treatment of Epstein’s victims, and the inability and unwillingness to stop those ongoing felonies, reveal many of the problems in our society, which all too often provides no justice except to those who can afford to pay for it, and no concern for victims, especially sexual assault victims.
I remember many years ago, before the rape statute was changed, I talked to a gruff, tough, 30-year veteran male detective who worked on sex crimes for many years. It was a different age, with few women officers and no coordinated support for rape victims. Rape kits were rare, and most corroboration came when women went to a doctor.
He told me that if a woman was raped or sexually assaulted, he could not bring rape charges without corroborating evidence of the rape. He explained that if she was physically assaulted, he could bring assault charges alone. He went on to explain how after sexual assaults, most victims (and I believe the only rape victims under the law at the time were women) took a shower and did not think of even calling the police or going to an emergency room. He recited a few horrible examples of how the law was so ineffectual in protecting women and how he and his colleagues were appalled that they could do so little.
As I looked at his face, I saw he had tears in his eyes. I wonder how he would feel about the denial of justice to the 1,000 victims of Jeffrey Epstein, 50 years later.
