Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

by Jon Krakauer

AFTER PABST FINISHED her direct testimony, prosecutor Adam Duerk strode to the dais to cross-examine the witness. He asked if Johnson thought Washburn was smart, and Johnson said yes. “You thought she was a nice girl, correct?” Duerk inquired. “Yes,” Johnson answered. “And you never really thought of Cecilia Washburn as a good friend….You didn’t know Cecilia Washburn very well through any of this; is that fair?” “Yes.” “But you liked her….You went out on a few dates together?”… “Yes.”… “You didn’t see anything in Cecilia Washburn that indicated to you that she was mean?”… “No.” “You didn’t see anything on those dates…that made you think that she was crazy, correct?” “Correct.” Adam Duerk pointed out to Jordan Johnson that he never really had a “boyfriend-girlfriend relationship” with Washburn “and the relationship that you did have, to the extent one existed, you didn’t really think it was going anywhere….In fact, you thought it was going nowhere, correct?” “Yeah.”… “Now, in terms of your relationship with Kelli Froland, there was a relationship there; fair?” “Yes.”… “You went on dates with Kelli?” “Yes.” “You brought her over to your house?”… “Yes.”… “So she met your family?”… “Yes.” “Nothing like that ever happened with Cecilia Washburn, correct?” “Correct.” Duerk paused for a moment, then asked Johnson about the sex that took place when Washburn was kneeling on the bed, facedown with her buttocks raised, as he penetrated her from the rear. “While you’re having sex with ...

Testimony

developed a set of “best practices” that can help prosecutors win more rape trials, even while scrupulously respecting the rights of the accused.

The criminal justice system simply moves too slowly and is constrained by too many “formidable procedural obstacles,” as Judge Posner put it, to reliably punish campus rapists and remove them from the academic community. Expelling a rapist isn’t an ideal outcome, because the offender remains on the loose, free to rape elsewhere. Expulsion is far better than no punishment at all, however. At least it spares the victim from having to live and study in close proximity to her assailant.

must be allowed to expel students who pose a threat to other students, without waiting many months, or even years, for the criminal justice system to run its course—a course that all too often fails to convict individuals who are guilty of rape, or even charge them with a crime. There is nothing inherently wrong with universities relying on a lower evidentiary standard—“a preponderance of evidence”—for the burden of proof. A preponderance of evidence is all that’s required of plaintiffs to prevail in most civil litigation,