Newsletter: Fall 2004: Same Old Story

About a year ago, a young woman reported that Kobe Bryant raped her.  In the months since she came forward, she has suffered the harsh spotlight of the public gaze.  She was called a liar in the national press, her privacy was invaded by both prosecutors and the media, and like so many rape victims, her criminal case will not go forth to trial.  While this case played itself out on a bigger stage than most, it also tells the same old story about sexual assault, its perpetrators, and its victims in America.  In the wake of this status quo case turned celebrity scandal, are we missing a teachable moment?

 Rape Shield Laws stop at the courtroom door.

Even while the law generally holds that a victim's sexual history is not admissible evidence in a trial, in the court of public opinion survivors are easily martyred for catchy headlines.  High profile cases fuel survivors' disinclination to report by exacerbating the fear of being called a liar and having one's sexual history exploited.  The media pulls no punches in questioning victims' truthfulness with irrelevancies.  Journalists continue to reference allegations of "sex romps and encounters with dozens of men."   One editorialist went so far as to write: "Can anyone believe that a 19-year-old with a party-girl reputation and a history of drug and emotional problems didn't go to Bryant's room without an idea of having sex?"

Even in less public cases, survivors are reluctant to come forward because sexual assault cases, especially acquaintance rape, are notoriously difficult to prosecute.  Nationally, 54 percent of all rape prosecutions end in dismissal or acquittal.  Compare that to a national conviction rate of 69 percent for murder defendants, and 54 percent for all other felons.  Moreover, 21 percent of convicted rapists are sent right out to the street with no jail time, and 24 percent spend an average of less than 11 months behind bars.  Knowing this alone is enough to prevent many victims from reporting.

Civil suits have a bad reputation.

Under the name Jane Doe, the victim filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for, amongst other things, the "scorn, hatred and ridicule," and threats against her life and safety that she endured after accusing Mr. Bryant.  When this became public, some concluded that she had fabricated the charges, and that financial gain had been her aim all along.  By suggesting as much to the jury, the civil case arguably could have aided Mr. Bryant's defense lawyers in challenging the woman's credibility.

It is no surprise that defense attorneys might try to lead the jurors to that conclusion.  Sadly, it is also not surprising that public opinion might be so easily swayed.  While many acknowledged the reality of the victim's suffering, newspaper editorialists and armchair pundits alike have drawn their own conclusions.

After writing sympathetically about the victim's civil case in the NY Daily News, Lisa Olson was bombarded by irate readers, some of whose comments were published along with Olson's retorts.  One particularly nasty comment read: "You think it's okay to tease and string a man along and then when it doesn't go your way you scream rape. Why don't you write about (the accuser) having sex with some other man after she had sex with Kobe Bryant? Because you know it means she was just after his money, as he's been saying all along."   Olson explains to the man, whom she calls a "troglodyte," that "most rational people would not have had sex with someone else after being raped. Victims of violent crimes rarely are rational. Post-traumatic stress causes people to behave foolishly."  Unfortunately, such attacks are not always met with a reasonable, public response.

But it doesn't have to end here.

After prosecutors dropped the criminal case, Kobe Bryant publicly announced: "I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."  While his statement may ameliorate to some extent any lingering suspicions that the victim had lied, Mr. Bryant did not go so far as to take accountability for his actions.  He understands that she didn't consent - but does he understand that he needed her consent so as not to have raped her?  It took a great deal of courage for the victim to come forward and report that Kobe Bryant had raped her.  What remains to be seen is whether Mr. Bryant will ever act as bravely as his victim.

Bryant now has the opportunity to deliver a message to everyone who followed this trial in the news, and to every fan who wears his number 8 jersey: never have sex without your partner's explicit consent.  Such a message would begin to fill the void in places like New York City, where the inexcusable absence of a citywide sexual assault prevention program in schools leaves youth at greater risk for experiencing or committing sexual violence.

Articles cited:
NY Post Online Edition, Sept. 15, 2004: "Kobe Eyed Girl's $ilence: Report" by Kate Sheehy
NY Daily News, Sept. 2, 2004: "Her bow makes lots of cents," by Eddie Hayes
NY Daily News, Sept. 5, 2004: "Write or wrong, Kobe hits nerve with readers" by Lisa Olson

Kate Woodrow is the Outreach and Education Associate at The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault. [more]

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