Gentlemen, start your spin-machines!

[herbiedoobie]

Gartner demands answers at U of I | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

I don't "get" the whole three week delay between EVERYONE in the state knowing a sexual assault has occurred and the Iowa Campus Police figuring out that there "rape kit" they processed belonged to a "rape victim".

[brianhos]

Gartner is in no position to EVER discuss anyone's credibility. He is one of the scummiest individuals to ever get into news/politics.

[jumbopackage]

This could get really ugly really quickly. Who knew what, when, and what were people's motivations for encouraging certain courses of action? The answers to those questions are going to be quite interesting.

You don't want another Duke Lacrosse situation, but this situation sounds quite different from "drunken frat party with a crazy stripper". Just because the Duke thing happened, doesn't mean that all of a sudden you have to give these guys free passes until they are convicted of a crime, especially when you have credible information from credible sources.

Had this never been reported to the police, but the athletic department knew about it, what course of action do you take? Is it ok for football players to go around raping people so long as they only report it to the campus authorities, and not to the IA City PD?

[herbicide]

Well, somebody knew something because this topic and those names were being discussed here shortly after the event (Oct. 14)

The moderators correctly kept the lid on the story, because at that time, they were only rumors

[Wesley]

Football season must be over.

[herbiedoobie]

At the risk of ticking off a bunch of people, victims of sexual assault can report being a "victim of a crime" without reporting a crime, if I understand the article correctly. So, the night of the alleged assault, the victim reported being the victim of sexual assault to the University, but waited three weeks before reporting it as a crime to police.

It sucks to be a victim of sexual assault in a lot of ways, but I'm real uneasy with the idea of victims being able to suppress evidence, as this makes it easier for perpetrators and other interested actors to intimidate victims and witnesses.

But I don't know how you can make this "icky" process work any better. Sexual assault is not just a crime against the victim; it is a crime against society. How do you protect the victim, without cheating society of "justice"? With domestic violence, they've made it so the victim cannot NOT press charges.

[SplitIdentity]

At the risk of ticking off a bunch of people, victims of sexual assault can report being a "victim of a crime" without reporting a crime, if I understand the article correctly. So, the night of the alleged assault, the victim reported being the victim of sexual assault to the University, but waited three weeks before reporting it as a crime to police.

It sucks to be a victim of sexual assault in a lot of ways, but I'm real uneasy with the idea of victims being able to suppress evidence, as this makes it easier for perpetrators and other interested actors to intimidate victims and witnesses.

But I don't know how you can make this "icky" process work any better. Sexual assault is not just a crime against the victim; it is a crime against society. How do you protect the victim, without cheating society of "justice"? With domestic violence, they've made it so the victim cannot NOT press charges.

You and I finally agree on something.

Who knows what the circumstances are. Too many people are so quick to jump on this as a "cover up", when in a lot of cases, the victims take a long time to officially report the crime to the proper authorities. Of course, that's their choice, and I'm on the fense, but sometimes it makes the process a lot slower.

One thing I do think they could have done, however, is let the residents at Hillcrest know that a possible sexual assault had taken place. I know if I had a daughter there, I would have liked the university to let her know what exactly is going on, and to be a little extra careful at night.

[Stormin]

Gartner is in no position to EVER discuss anyone's credibility. He is one of the scummiest individuals to ever get into news/politics.

Just wondering what makes Gartner "one of the scummiest individuals to ever get into news/politics."

[Wesley]

I am sure the Iowa city police and Hillcrest vigilantes and driveby media and sports websites will do a good coverage of getting the facts to the table for all to properly peruse. Right?

[herbiedoobie]

You and I finally agree on something.

Who knows what the circumstances are. Too many people are so quick to jump on this as a "cover up", when in a lot of cases, the victims take a long time to officially report the crime to the proper authorities. Of course, that's their choice, and I'm on the fense, but sometimes it makes the process a lot slower.

One thing I do think they could have done, however, is let the residents at Hillcrest know that a possible sexual assault had taken place. I know if I had a daughter there, I would have liked the university to let her know what exactly is going on, and to be a little extra careful at night.

I think a good compromise might be to allow police to fully investigate possible sexual assaults that occur such as this one, PRIOR to the victim officially reporting it. That way, the evidence is preserved, once the victim gets his/her mind straight about filing charges.

To "pretend" a sexual assault didn't occur, even though the victim was prepped with a "rape kit" is just stupid, imo.... As harsh as it sounds, victims of crimes have a duty to society to report them, and to see justice done.

Like I said before, the current way of doing things just makes it too easy for perpetrators of sexual assault and their enablers to intimidate the victim into not filing charges.