{"id":8619,"date":"2012-03-17T09:51:43","date_gmt":"2012-03-17T14:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/?p=8619"},"modified":"2012-03-17T11:53:20","modified_gmt":"2012-03-17T16:53:20","slug":"free-dharun-ravi-fairness-vs-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/17\/free-dharun-ravi-fairness-vs-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Dharun Ravi: Fairness vs. Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was naive I suppose. \u00a0I really thought that the jury, upon hearing all the detail that the mass consuming public was not privy to, would\u00a0acquit\u00a0Dharun Ravi on all charges, regardless of the fact the prosecutor seemed to be cleverly boxing them in to a particular outcome, armed with ambiguous law. \u00a0At a minimum I thought the major charges, including the “hate crime,” would be hard to deliberate on, possibly resulting in a mistrial. \u00a0 The comprehensive NewYorker article<\/a> last month showed that the case, far from being what the media initially portrayed, was full of twists, conflicting behavior, and most importantly I believed, reasonable doubt. \u00a0A few years back I watched the\u00a0absolutely\u00a0brilliant 8-part documentary The Staircase<\/a>\u00a0(now apparently free online), about the murder trial of a bisexual man in North Carolina. \u00a0It forever changed my view of highly publicized trials in America. \u00a0They seldom have anything at all to do with justice. \u00a0Everyone involved is a victim. \u00a0More recently, we saw a miscarriage of justice in the case of the West Memphis three<\/a>. \u00a0Ravi’s trial result should not have surprised me.<\/p>\n\n

Ravi is an immature, upper middle class kid and a “casual homophobe” (more on \u00a0that term later) but he is not a\u00a0perpetrator\u00a0of a hate crime. \u00a0To consider him more than marginally complicit in the death of Tyler Clementi hurts two groups: victims of true hate crimes and the mental health community.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n

First off, I reject the mostly Right Wing assertion that we should banish the term “hate crime” from our legal system. \u00a0“Aren’t all crimes hate crimes” they argue? \u00a0Such arguments are specious an predicated on the belief that political\u00a0correctedness is the only reason such a label exists. \u00a0Bullshit. \u00a0When a man has a chain put around his ankles and is dragged behind a car\u00a0because he is black<\/a>, that’s a hate crime. \u00a0When a Sikh man is shot for being a “Muslim terrorist<\/a>“, that’s a hate crime. \u00a0When a gay man is tied to a fence and tortured<\/a>, that’s a hate crime. \u00a0Being stupid while you are coming of age and meeting people with different backgrounds than you? \u00a0Not a hate crime. \u00a0Most crimes are committed because of anger, greed, jealousy, or mental illness. \u00a0A hate crime is different. \u00a0It is often very violent and there is rarely a personal gain. \u00a0The crime is committed as an act of domination or intimidation, often based on unjustified fear. \u00a0Nothing about Dharun Ravi’s behavior, as evinced by texts, emails, tweets, and witnesses shows even an inkling of such a motive. \u00a0One could argue he was more uncomfortable with Clementi’s socio-economic status than his sexuality! \u00a0He was also uncomfortable about an older man, a stranger, coming into his room and having sex. \u00a0Many of us may have reacted poorly in such an instance. \u00a0What opponents of the term “hate crime” get right however, is that the laws are sometimes so ambiguous that a clever prosecution can convince a jury that a wide variety of crimes meet the legal definition of a “hate crime” and that they have to convict based on the definition alone, regardless of common sense. \u00a0We have seen “terrorism” laws abused in this same way. \u00a0I would not be at all surprised if Ravi’s case someday reaches the Supreme Court for this very reason.<\/p>\n\n

I consider Ravi a “casual homophobe.” \u00a0He, like many of us, especially when we were younger<\/strong>, may loosely throw around the word “fag” or an occasional “you’re so ghey” without thinking twice. \u00a0As he gets older he will think about it more, just like many of us may have. \u00a0First generation South Asian American households are not the greatest environments to be raised socially\u00a0conscious\u00a0in. \u00a0With age he may have checked himself and seen that words can hurt like weapons. \u00a0Becoming popular with friends by poking fun at others would stop being as cool as it once was. We’ll never know now cause he just got Shawshanked. \u00a0He may even be deported.<\/p>\n\n

Now, about the second major issue this jury may not have appreciated enough in terms of considering the applicability of some of the bias intimidation charges: \u00a0Nobody ever\u00a0commits\u00a0suicide because of a single reason. \u00a0Any mental health professional or suicide prevention\u00a0counselor will tell you that you can’t go from perfectly happy to suicide in the matter of days. \u00a0Being watched shirtless on a webcam with another man for two seconds did not alone intimidate Clementi into killing himself. \u00a0I fear this ruling sends a message that suicide is clean and simple to understand. \u00a0“A” leads to “B.” \u00a0Just punish “A” and there will be no “B.” \u00a0Simple. \u00a0Why do we need to invest in mental health or provide resources for gay teens coming of age? \u00a0Let’s just make it a crime to be an asshole. \u00a0Most importantly, Ravi’s defense team was barred from accessing Clementi’s computer files or a note left in his backpack<\/a>. \u00a0There they may have found the evidence they needed to demonstrate that Clementi’s state of mind was complicated and impacted by a lot more than boorish behavior by a freshman year roommate.<\/p>\n\n

Speculating for a second it seems like the jury, like much of modern society, was more interested in being fair (and in sticking to the\u00a0prosecution’s\u00a0interpretation of the law) than in being just. \u00a0It is sad that Clementi was troubled. \u00a0It is even more tragic that he took his life. \u00a0I get the impression that the jury sought to punish Ravi because they felt bad about Clementi and his family’s situation rather than being motivated by the need for meting out dispassionate justice. \u00a0As a society, when we punish “bad thought” (especially in the young) and blur the line between it and “bad action,” we not only risk censorship but we push real ignorance or bigotry under the rug without dealing with it. \u00a0Now, more than ever, we have become a society that favors punishment over rehabilitation. \u00a0It is telling that the prosecution offered Ravi a plea bargain consisting of only community service…but a jury of his “peers” goaded by that same prosecution then threw the book at him after he refused to admit guilt.<\/p>\n\n

“This was very difficult, but it was a really good experience. You feel like justice has been served,” he said.<\/blockquote>\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n

He said decisions on the charges of witness tampering, evidence tampering and invasion of privacy were “easy” and “cut and dry,” but the deliberations on the bias charges were more difficult. He estimated the panel deliberated for much more than one hour on the bias charges, but would not say how long.<\/blockquote>\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n

“You can’t know what someone’s thinking. You have to get inside their head,” he said.<\/strong> “Afterwards, you think about it not being done once, but being done twice another day. That’s why we came to that conclusion.”\n\nHe also said he hopes the verdict will bring some peace to the families.<\/blockquote>\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n

“I hope they can put everything behind them and move forward,” he said. “Hopefully, they finally have closure.”\u00a0[Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n

Ravi’s team will appeal but his life is destroyed now. \u00a0In America you can be 14 and put away for life<\/a>. \u00a0You can be 18 and be jailed for being immature and\u00a0insensitive. \u00a0Everyone lost in this episode. \u00a0Especially justice.<\/p>\n\n

It is fitting that Tyler Clementi’s dad basically paraphrased Gandhi at the end of the day, maybe without even knowing it:<\/p>\n\n

To our college, high school and even middle-school youngsters, I would say this: You\u2019re going to meet a lot of people in your lifetime. Some of these people you may not like. But just because you don\u2019t like them, does not mean you have to work against them. When you see somebody doing something wrong, tell them, \u201cThat\u2019s not right. Stop it.\u201d<\/blockquote>\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n

You can make the world a better place. The change you want to see in the world begins with you.<\/strong> [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was naive I suppose. \u00a0I really thought that the jury, upon hearing all the detail that the mass consuming public was not privy to, would\u00a0acquit\u00a0Dharun Ravi on all charges, regardless of the fact the prosecutor seemed to be cleverly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8619"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8679,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619\/revisions\/8679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}