fandomhigh | Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #13, Apr 6]

"As you've certainly realized by now," Alex began, "I'm fond of raising issues in this class that seem straightforward at first, but become anything but once we explore. This week is no exception: we're going to talk about something well-intentioned in theory that has problematic implications. Our topic is Victims' Rights."

Conveniently, that was written on the board, and underlined.

"We've talked in the past about what rights the accused may have, in the hypothetical society we're discussing. The right to counsel, or the right to be charged in a timely manner, and so forth. Many victims of violent crimes feel slighted. The criminal gets all these rights, they'll say: where are their rights? As the victim, shouldn't they have larger roles in this piece?

"The Victims' Rights movements varies in its scope and its aims. On one end, you have people who wish to be fully informed about the process, consulted by the prosecution, and given the respect and dignity to which they are due. On the other, you have those who argue there should be three parties in the courtroom -- the defendant, the prosecution, and the victim, all with separate legal counsel arguing the relevant points. Some believe that the victim should be able to veto any sentence or plea agreement which he or she feels is insufficient, or to interfere with the timeline of the trial.

"As a prosecutor, I speak for the victims, but I also speak for justice. Justice isn't vengeance. Justice also isn't emotional, while many victims quite understandably are. A grieving father may push for capital punishment, in a case where the prosecution feels it isn't warranted. A battered wife may reconcile with her abusive spouse and ask the prosecution to drop the charges. As the victims, should their wishes be the ultimate say? What if the grieving father had asked us to chop up the defendant and boil him in hot oil?

"The rights of the accused protect an individual from the full weight of the government. A defendant's rights must never be compromised, or we risk tipping the scales of Blackstone's Formulation -- having ten innocent men imprisoned lest one guilty man goes free, and not the reverse. But clearly the victim has rights, and their voice should be heard and given full consideration by the court. So what are those rights, and how will they affect our hypothetical trial?"

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Write notes. Pass notes. Draw little stick-figure courtroom dramas. "I object!"

Joan had mixed feelings on this subject so she was curious to see what her classmates thought.

Chuck was drawing little stick-figures but they weren't part of a courtroom drama. Not yet, anyway. Chuck could easily send stick-figure Serena to jail and not feel like he was being OOC with the story.

Let's be honest, this whole drawing thing was mostly an excuse to keep his head down.

Dinah blinked at the new girl-- mostly because she was acting shy. Then blinked again. Waaaaait. Was that...? Chuck had been a girl three or four times by now, and she'd seen him around while female. But he never usually acted like this.

Well usually Chuck was a girl by accident. And so far was under the impression that this was permanent.

At some point he looked up from drawing the adventures of slutty stick-figure Serena and caught Dinah looking at him. Chuck gave her a distinct "What?" look.

Dinah mouthed 'Chuck?', just to be sure. Because hey, could be someone else, this was Fandom....

Chuck gave Dinah a slight nod, thinking it was very sad that he had been a girl so many times that people could recognize him now.

'Ohhh' was Dinah's response, and a wince. And a small, sneaking feeling she should be remembering something about this. She carefully slipped him a note of, Talk after? when people were talking, to cover.

Chuck read the note and gave Dinah another quick nod. He didn't know how much there was to talk about (the situation seemed pretty clear to him) but he figured there'd be no harm in it.

Karla hadn't really seen Chuck as a female before, but she recognized psychic scents. Seeing him now...on the one hand, she felt a little guilty because she knew how much she had hated being trapped in the male body. On the other hand, she had been drugged. She hadn't needed Jaenelle's memories to have a horror of being drugged without her knowledge, but that hadn't helped either.

Chuck was an extremely proud person and as much as he wanted to bitchface and fume about his situation to one of the people responsible for this, he absolutely refused to whine in public. So he did his best to keep his head down and avoid Karla. The last thing he needed was to get smug'd at.

Kurt chewed on his pen thoughtfully as he took notes.

Tahiri spent most of the lecture listening with a neutral but intent expression on her face, nodding along at certain points and taking notes on her datapad as needed.

When Alex got to the part about justice not being vengeance, though, a slightly darker look flickered through her eyes and she had to take a moment's effort to dispel it; anyone around who could sense these things might pick up a flash of guilt, mixed with a sudden but quickly dismissed impulse to argue the point.

Momoko understood the part about Justice not being vengeance. She had no problem understanding that. It was the addition of a third party, the victim, and their rights, to the crime that she was stuck on.

Well, that and what kind of dress she was going to buy for Prom.

Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #13, Apr 6]

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