Laws Made to Prevent Hysteria

To the Editors:

When I read Benjamin Joffe-Walt’s letter, printed in the Feb. 8 edition of The Oberlin Review, I was very troubled. I am a freshman and I lack Joffe-Walt’s four years of experience with the college administration, so I have nothing comparable to the specific cases and personal experience he cites. However, some of Joffe-Walt’s ideas strike me as dangerous and ultimately undefendable.
In the third paragraph of his letter, Joffe-Walt criticizes President Nancy Dye’s statement that a student is assumed innocent “until proven guilty by a preponderance of evidence.” He writes that, this leaves the burden of proof on the survivor/accuser.
In the United States of America, the burden of proof is always on the accuser. This rule was enacted to prevent the innocent from being punished. The philosophy behind the American legal system is that it is better that many guilty criminals go free than few innocent individuals are punished. Flawed as our legal system may be, I believe that this philosophy is sound. It protects the accused from the hysteria engendered by as heinous a crime as rape and ensures that their trials will be as fair as possible. Rape is a serious crime, but that does not mean that it should be treated in a different way than any other crime.
Joffe-Walt also claims that I have enjoyed “sexist privilege” that includes rape. Personally, I urge anyone — male or female — that agrees, that they have a considerable “capacity for violence, sexual assault, and rape” to seek psychological help, because they need it. I am a man, and I am not a potential rapist. The mere thought of myself doing something sexual to another human being without their consent makes me sick. The thought of someone violating someone I care about in that way enrages me.
In conclusion, I feel that Joffe-Walt’s letter is a part of the hysteria that America’s legal philosophy is intended to protect against. I am happy I live in a country — and on a campus — where no matter the severity of the crime, the accused are entitled to the right to a fair trial. Joffe-Walt says reality does indeed need changing, but painting all men as potential rapists and forcing those accused of rape to “prove” their innocence is not the way to do it.

–Mark Simmons
College first-year