[Note: Friends of Justice is a personal blog. I speak only for myself.]
Photograph by Steven Hirsch / Reuters
“There is now such a stigma attached to people accused of sexual misconduct that anyone who defends legal principles on their behalf risks being mistaken, in the public mind, for a defender of sexual violence. Lawyers have always been vilified for taking on unpopular clients, but, in the #MeToo era, defense lawyers endanger their good standing even in the most liberal communities, Harvard being only one example.”
Read the article by Jeannie Suk Gerson in the New Yorker.
Jeannie Suk Gerson’s article in the New Yorker is timely and needed in the midst of the #MeToo era. Although I applaud the action and arguments made by the male professor in this article I think it will take strong female voices to bring balance the discussion. That’s how emotionally charged this basic, legal discussion has become. Any time when an accusation must be accepted as truth we are short-changing someone’s right to a fair trial.