‘How to Create a Sex Scandal’: What You Need to Know About the New Docuseries
Recently we posted a story from The New Yorker on an innocent man being sent to prison and then placed on the registry for a rape that he did not commit. One reason for this travesty was the overreach of a prosecutor who carelessly handled the results of a botched identification in a lineup.
This particular case, if it had been handled properly, should have never ended in a conviction. If a minor is the alleged victim, though, Florida has made it even easier to falsely accuse an adult.
In the past few decades Florida has lowered the bar for what it takes to incriminate an individual for a sex crime against a minor. When the Florida Legislature first lowered the standards, this made sense to all Florida citizens as children do not have the wherewithal that adults possess when it comes to knowing their rights and when they are being abused.
We all want to protect children from any type of abuse, but do we want to take it so far as to place innocent adults in prison and on the registry for life? Such events are a rarity, but there is plenty of evidence that they do occur.
One such case was in Mineola, Texas in the early 2000s. As one alleged child victim stated, she was asked the same yes-or-no questions over and over by a Texas Ranger. According to a statement made in the documentary series “How to Create a Sex Scandal”, “…if you ask a kid something enough times, the kid will change her answer based on what she thinks you want her to say.”
Let me explain to you how it happens. The minors are telling different stories as to what happened. The prosecutor is spending a lot of time on this case and it’s going no where. One of the mothers of the kids is demanding they do something about it or she is going to go to the news media. The current D A is up for reelection and that is the last thing he wants to happen. So he demands the investigators do something. So they question the minors with questions that they only have to answer yes to and they will stop being bothered by them. The story they made up to begin with is now blown way out of proportion. The lies they told to their mother to keep from getting into trouble won’t go away. So their only way out is to go along with the investigators.
The investigators know the guy is innocent so they offer a plea deal of the very minimum charges possible just to get this thing past them so they can go on to something else.
My last comment was not just a made up scenario. When minors are involved police have a lot of pressure on them to get a conviction. It’s many times much easier to frame an innocent person than to get a conviction of a possible crime. Most sex crimes there is no physical evidence . Outsiders put pressure on them when they don’t have all the facts but demand a conviction anyway.
ESPECIALLY here in Florida!
Ah, the old “Point and Convict” is raising concerns again. The standard for charges and convictions should never be lower in the case of a child…
If anything, the standard should be so strict that if there’s a violation of a standard then the Prosecutor is facing the same amount of prison time as the accused.
That should be the cost of incarcerating innocent people.
Your proposal to lock up sex crimes prosecutors is sure to garner popular support.
Trouble is, there’s virtually no sanctions against prosecutors who withhold exculpatory evidence or present false evidence. It’s very rare anything happens to them. Example: The Duke LaCrosse team prosecutor who used false evidence to win support for his election. He was eventually disbarred, but that’s all. The falsely accused lacrosse players will forever be tainted by felony arrest records for a gang rape that never happened.
Unlike the Police, prosecutors and judges have absolute immunity. They pretty much get away with anything. They have no one to answer to. Police and law enforcement have qualified immunity so you have half a chance if they violate your constitutional rights. Florida seems to be the worst.
NOW Y’ALL KNOW HOW BLACK MALES FEEL DAILY. ITS ALOT PRESSURE LIVING IN A WORLD WHERE YOU ARE A CONSTANT TARGET EVEN WHEN YOU’RE 100% INNOCENT OF THE CRIME.
What those on the registry face is bigotry which racism is a type of. But bigotry is perfectly legal. Laws are allowed on top of laws to expand their bigotry based on false information. This is what I believe FAC and others are trying to help change.
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