It’s time to rejoice for sexual assault victims everywhere, because the legal system is finally starting to see sexual assault and rape as actual crimes to reprimand. Actor Bill Cosby is now recognized as the rapist and criminal he is.
Over 10 years of multiple assault stories, many were dismissed in court, but finally in 2018, Bill Cosby got what he deserved.
He was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, with 10 years in prison of each account. These counts go all the way back to the 2004 case of former college student, Andrea Constand from Philadelphia where Cosby was accused of sexually assaulting her. Fourteen years later he was finally convicted.
Sadly, this isn’t the full end of the trial. While it’s a huge step in the right direction, his lawyers are still looking for ways out. While asked to have Cosby’s bail be revoked, it’s still honored by the judge. So,this means Cosby is under house arrest for 60-90 days until facing his prison sentence.
As much as we want it to be simple, it can’t be. Many factors go into play on sexual assault cases like defendant’s criminal history, acceptance of penalty, the number of people charging them, the validity, evidence and so on.
The norm right now, sadly, is that many cases don’t even go to court. Two out of three cases go unreported. A study by RAINN shows 994 out of 1000 perpetrators will walk free. The reason this trial is so important is because for once, a man of power is getting punished.
Even through years of sexual assault stories dating back decades, it took the court system over 10 years to make it stick.
Did it drag on too long? Maybe, but welcome to the court system, where justice takes too long to get to.
A factor the court system should’ve taken into account was that only 2 percent of the reported rape cases are lies. Ninety-eight percent of victims are telling their truth, and those 60 women were telling the truth.
With the 2015 Brock Turner case, he sexually assaulted one woman and the trial only lasted a year and a half. And he received an extremely low sentence. While both incidents are horrific, the amount of victims in the Cosby case should’ve moved it along quicker.
About 60 women have come out about what he did to them and it took over 10 years. Personally, I find that BS. Not all 60 women would lie about something like that, so the validity shouldn’t have been even questioned.
The reason this trial stuck through this time was timing and the numbers. Right around the time of the #MeToo movement, more victims got the courage to speak up about what happened to them. Therefore, Cosby was screwed.
I understand the legal system needs to be ironclad with its trials. But if over 60 people said something happened to them, especially sexual assault, there should be no question about it.
Let’s face it, if this was any other type of case, it would’ve come to a conclusion sooner. But after this, the court system needs to continue with this change. It’s 2018, let’s make this the year where sexual assault cases won’t be solved in 2028.
Overall, don’t focus on the fact that it took a while, focus on the fact that we’re making progress.
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