I watched an interesting Law and Order this week. For those that haven’t seen it, there was a government official using his office for sexual extortion.
Yes, Virginia, some people operate unethically.
This man, who worked in immigration, happened to be a Xenophobe, and only exposed his true nature when trying to implore Assistant District Attorney Carisi with his ‘innocence’.
It was decided that Bensons department would pull a sting on the man, as the women he had violated were too scared to testify against him.
The bait was laid – pretty woman asking immigration to allow her green card husband to stay in the U.S. The immigration officer takes the bait, meets the undercover female police officer – declares his demand of sex in exchange for her husbands immigration – and he is arrested.
This is where the fictional police sting separates from reality. In the proactive police stings we were all convicted of, our men do NOT see a minor and continue in a path toward sex. In the show he does, and that should be iron clad, right? He tried to extort sex from a police officer – case closed.
NOPE! This episode takes it even farther. Because the man states he was only TESTING the women, not actually planning on having sex with them, it is believed the jury will not convict! Only when the police are able, at the last minute, to convince the victims that they must speak up to show that the man was not just testing, but raping these women, was his conviction assured.
I admire Law and Order, as a show. They bring a LOT of real life situations into the show and try to add light to injustices, in my opinion. Hollywood portrays many injustices in an ongoing effort to bring awareness and public education.
However on this case, they got it wrong. It SHOULD be that one needs to prove intent and predisposition, but we all know that’s not true. Our country has such a blind spot when it comes to sexual assault, always has, as any woman can tell you. But the only two things we are ACTUALLY MORE BLIND TO THAN THAT ARE CHILD PREDATORS AND TERRORISM!
Even a whisper from the police, always looking for public support, about a child in danger is enough to put a man in prison.
THAT is the reality. THAT is our reality.
The Lady Justice Myth 