Des Moines Register. June 9, 2016
Stanford case shows why sex assault trials must be open.
The offensively light sentence given to Brock Turner - the smiling former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster - has sparked widespread outrage and discussion about rape culture in our country.
There is much to talk about. Privilege. Failings of the criminal justice system. Abhorrent victim blaming. Accountability.
This case gained widespread attention, in large part, because of the victim’s own words delivered at Turner’s sentencing, in which he received six months in jail and probation. Her lengthy statement is brave, eloquent and excruciating. It should be required reading for everyone.
Her statement was made in an open courtroom, where she took control of a situation that was beyond her control and not of her making. “After a few hours of this, they let me shower. I stood there examining my body beneath the stream of water and decided, I don’t want my body anymore,” she said, describing the aftermath of being examined in the hospital. “I was terrified of it, I didn’t know what had been in it, if it had been contaminated, who had touched it. I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.”
Her words were spoken for all to hear. But too often, sexual assault is cloaked in secrecy and shame. The way society treats its victims keeps them hidden and fearful of the system purportedly designed to protect them and punish their attackers.
In Iowa, there’s also a case involving an athlete accused of sexual assault - an 18-year-old tennis player from Windsor Heights charged with felony sex abuse of a person “suffering from a mental defect or incapacity, which precludes giving consent.” According to police, an 18-year-old woman reported that Nicholas Fifield had her perform sex acts described as “forcible fondling,” and she told him no on several occasions.
The judge in Fifield’s case recently agreed to close to the public a key hearing that will decide whether Fifield, who was 17 at the time of the alleged offense, should be tried as an adult or a juvenile.
His defense attorney successfully argued that the hearing be closed because his client’s medical and mental health records would likely be discussed. Never mind that a victim’s medical and mental health records are often the subject of lengthy debate in sexual assault trials.
Forcible felony cases involving anyone 16 or older in Iowa are typically heard in adult court. So this raises questions about why Fifield’s case would be any different. The athlete - son of West Des Moines Valley tennis coach Jay Fifield - was only suspended for one game at the beginning of the season. That brings up even more questions.
For any of these questions to be answered, and for the public to be able to trust our criminal justice system, the hearing must be open. Judge William P. Kelly must publicly state his reasoning - whatever it may be - when he decides whether Fifield’s case will go to adult or juvenile court.
The Des Moines Register has filed a motion with the court asking the judge to reconsider his decision to close the hearing, now set for June 17. In our motion, we argue that a closed proceeding would protect only the accused perpetrator of a forcible felony and make it difficult to assess how the courts handle a crime of local prominence.
The judge’s action also further pushes sexual assault into the shadows, where it has languished for decades. In 1990, the Register published a five-part series on the rape of Nancy Ziegenmeyer, who refused to stay silent and accept the stigma and namelessness that society assigned her.
In reflecting this week on the Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Geneva Overholser, the Register’s editor at the time, remarked that she wept reading the statement made by Turner’s victim and recognizing how little we’ve progressed on this issue in 25 years.
To overcome it, she argues, society needs to take a stand against it.
“Rape is an American shame. Our society needs to see that and attend to it, not hide it or hush it up,” she wrote. “As long as rape is deemed unspeakable - and is therefore not fully and honestly spoken of - the public outrage will be muted as well.”
In the case against Fifield, we have an opportunity not to hide it or hush it up. We just hope Judge Kelly agrees this issue is too important to be muted.
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Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. June 7, 2016
Update security camera rules.
Advancements in technology have provided excellent societal tools in many areas - crime prevention and prosecution among them. You just have to remember to keep pace with those advancements.
We’re hoping Waterloo city leaders see fit to discuss the updating of city rules for security cameras in convenience stores. Waterloo’s police force recently shared its proposal at a city work session.
“Our current surveillance camera ordinance for convenience stores was established back in 1993,” said Lt. Greg Fangman. “It refers to VHS tapes a couple times. Obviously the technology has advanced since that time frame.”
Indeed, anyone who pays attention to the advancing technology, realizes 1993 was a really, really long time ago.
The ordinance now on the books essentially requires convenience stores and liquor stores to have cameras. The proposed updated ordinance would add banks and credit unions, carry-out restaurants, coin dealers, payday lenders, firearm dealers, hotels, cellular phone dealers, money transmission services, pawn brokers, pharmacies, scrap metal dealers and second-hand goods dealers.
The obvious tie-in here is these are businesses with large transactions of cash or the availability of valuable goods.
“Most of these businesses spelled out here already have cameras in some form,” Fangman said. “Most of these businesses already far exceed the minimum technology standards we are proposing also.”
There’s good reason for that. It’s a logical and proven way to combat crime and to catch and prosecute offenders. Some, unfortunately, have learned through experience. One thing is certain: Criminals are far more likely to be entering a guilty plea whey they’re seen on video.
The ordinance would require cameras at entrances and exits, the cash register and the parking lot.
As reported last Sunday, the ordinance is being designed to allow businesses that recently purchased new surveillance systems not meeting the standards to be “grandfathered” in. However, the goal would be to have all of the systems up to standard within three or four years.
We have previously gone on record - several times - in support of equipping our local officers with body cams, since they were becoming increasingly necessary to make a more clear-cut determination in difficult situations.
They have since proven to be an excellent tool in getting to the truth. If updated camera systems can help us get to the truth faster - and in more situations - then we’re all for an updated ordinance.
Fangman noted, while cameras are vital to helping solve crimes, they also serve as a deterrent when criminals know they are being watched.
“In terms of criminal investigations, these cameras have aided us in resolving crimes from murders all the way down to shoplifting cases,” he said. “Of course, cameras don’t solve everything.”
Until we come up with the technology to solve everything, surveillance cameras are an excellent tool in preventing crime and solving crimes. Keeping pace with technology by updating the ordinance from time to time is simply due diligence.
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Quad-City Times. June 10 2016
Branstad should promote all religions.
Gov. Terry Branstad should triple-down on his controversial “read the Bible” proclamation. In fact, either a “read the Koran” or “read the Bhagavad Giti” would have a nice ring to it.
Pro-secular groups are up in arms about a proclamation Branstad issued last month, calling on Iowans to gather at courthouses in each of Iowa’s 99 counties and read Bible scripture. Washington-based American Humanist Association on Wednesday ripped Branstad’s ceremonial endorsement of the Bible reading initiative, questioning whether it violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Branstad knowingly waded into a centuries-old quagmire, particularly by including lines stating the Bible is “God’s revealed word.”
That may be true for many Iowans, governor. But the sentiment certainly isn’t universal, nor does it represent the consensus among a majority of the species. Branstad is pandering to faith and opinion, not fact.
The obvious constitutional questions are a matter for the courts. Dozens of U.S. presidents have issued similar edicts. And case law, which is sparse, doesn’t bode well for Branstad’s opponents. But in the meantime, Branstad should put inclusivity on display and issue similar proclamations for other faiths.
Branstad could flip the script and urge Iowans to read a host of influential texts. In so doing, Branstad would, in one fell swoop, neuter claims that Iowa has endorsed one religion over others and promote mutual understanding in a time when religion is the basis for so much bloodshed and hate.
Iowa’s venerable governor already has taken the first step toward that end. Earlier this year, he issued a “Day of Reason” proclamation, pitched by atheists, but a sentiment that isn’t exclusive to the areligious.
Few manuscripts are as seminal as the Bible. For 1,700 years, it’s provided perspective to the mortal. It’s created foundations for modern justice. It’s set ethical and cultural standards. It compelled some of the finest thinkers of the past few centuries to reason and probe.
Yet, on the flip side, it’s too often been the blunt hammer that pounded non-believers and justified human bondage. And it’s the historical injustice that’s plagued all organized religions at some point that gives the church-state separation its import.
Taken as a purely historical text, one can not deny the Bible’s formative place social and cultural history. There’s inherent value to acknowledging that spot beside the works of Socrates, Shakespeare and Darwin.
Last week, the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors approved an application from the proclamation’s proponents, granting the group access to the courthouse lawn from June 30 to July 2 for a Bible reading. In essence, the county board permitted citizen access to public property. It’s an appropriate move for anyone who supports free speech.
It’s Branstad who faces questions about using state resources to promote a particular religious ethos. And it’s Branstad who could tap this moment in the name of inclusivity. An estimated 30,000 Muslims live in Iowa. A half-billion people worldwide practice Buddhism. Christianity obviously dwarfs both traditions in the Hawkeye State.
But there’s time-tested wisdom in all three doctrines. A mixing of knowledge promotes a global perspective, a particularly important aim when more and more young Islamic men believe they’re socially isolated.
Some form of Branstad’s proclamation has a place in society, even if a few lines within it are questionable. All citizens have rights to believe and practice what suits them. And all religions - and anti-religions - must be treated equally by the state.
Branstad can assure that happens by urging Iowans to pick up as many seminal texts as possible.
Local editorials represent the opinion of the Quad-City Times editorial board, which consists of Publisher Deb Anselm, Executive Editor Autumn Phillips, Editorial Page Editor Jon Alexander, City Editor Dan Bowerman, Associate Editor Bill Wundram and community representative John Wetzel.
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Dubuque Telegraph Herald. June 10, 2016
Ceiling shattered, but gender equity still a work in progress.
The events of this week have set the stage for a November ballot of historic proportions.
Never, in the 227 years America has had presidents, has a woman been at the helm. This week, that possibility came closer to reality than ever when Hillary Clinton became the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee - the first woman to hold that status in a major political party.
That in itself will make the 2016 general election unique. But for voters in some parts of Dubuque County, the historic nature of November’s roster of candidates doesn’t stop there.
Voters who live in Iowa House District 99 or 57 will see the names of many female candidates, for offices from the statehouse to Capitol Hill to the White House. They include:
. House District 99: Abby Finkenauer (incumbent)
. House District 57: Shannon Lundgren
. Iowa Senate District 50: Pam Jochum (incumbent)
. First District U.S. House: Monica Vernon
. U.S. Senate: Patty Judge
. President: Hillary Clinton
Not bad for a state that did not elect its first woman to the U.S. Congress until two years ago: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. That was a threshold crossed and it coincided with - for the first time - having 100 women serving in Congress at the same time.
While a voter should not vote for - or against - any candidate based on gender, the presence of so many women on the ballot is a fantastic milestone. It is a marker that can serve as guideposts for young women interested in public service. But don’t check the box for attaining political gender equity just yet. You might have come a long way, baby, but there’s still a long way to go.
We learned this lesson over the past eight years. In 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected president, a lot of people sincerely believed that with that race barrier broken, things would really be different. And yet - in the last year, especially - we’ve seen great racial unrest and disparity.
Broken barriers are symbolic, and they can fuel enthusiasm and propel people into action in the name of a cause. But the hard work of gender and racial equality is a mantle that must be carried every day in workplaces, in schools, in government and in all corners of our country, our community and our personal lives.
We celebrate the milestones achieved this week and look forward to a November ballot with more diverse choices. Let that spirit of achievement move us to keep the momentum going.
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