The fallout continues from Congressman Jared Polis’ remarks on campus sexual assault — this time from a district attorney in Boulder, Colo., which is within the Democrat’s congressional district.
Stan Garnett is the district attorney for Colorado’s 20th judicial district. In an op-ed for the Daily Camera, he perfectly explained why colleges should not be adjudicating felonies.
“Although universities adjudicate student discipline, it is a serious mistake to equate investigation and resolution of felony sex assault with cheating on a test or drinking or smoking in a dorm room or the other normal fodder of the university discipline process, where due process on some level is important, but of an entirely different quality than the criminal justice system provides,” Garnett wrote.
Garnett’s op-ed comes in response to comments made by Polis at a recent campus sexual assault hearing on Capitol Hill, in which the Democratic congressman suggested expelling students merely accused of the crime.
“I mean, if there’s 10 people that have been accused and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, seems better to get rid of all 10 people,” Polis said. “We’re not talking about depriving them of life or liberty, we’re talking about their transfer to another university.”
Polis has since tried to claim he “misspoke,” but the backlash hasn’t subsided.
Garnett, predictably, disagrees with Polis, and points to four reasons such felonies should not be adjudicated outside of the criminal justice system, including the risks of wrongful conviction and victim traumatization (from inexperienced “investigators” needing to conduct multiple interviews), the societal risk rapists present and the lack of transparency in campus proceedings.
Garnett also faults the federal government for forcing schools to mete out “justice” within arbitrary timetables. “Fair, effective, sex assault investigations take time and cannot be handled by investigators under pressure to rush to a particular conclusion due to financial pressures on the university,” he wrote.
Garnett argues that communities should “demand” police and prosecutors handle the cases adequately, rather than allowing “shadow” adjudication systems to operate.
Numerous polls, including a recent one commissioned by national fraternities and sororities, show the American people want police, not campus administrators, to handle accusations of sexual assault.
To truly take the problem seriously, the criminal justice system needs to be involved in order to get dangerous people off the streets, not just off campus.
