I usually pride myself in not following the crowd, but I will admit that this week, I did just
that. I grabbed a copy of Jon Krakauer’s
new book, Missoula: Rape and the
Justice System in a College Town. It
is flying off the shelves in our area, making Krakauer the most popular (or
unpopular) man in the county.
Mr.
Krakauer must have a thing for Montana.
He has questioned the integrity of Montana icon Greg Mortenson in his
book, Three Cups of Deceit. Now,
with this new release, he uses Missoula as his tableau in his exploration of
non-stranger rape, college towns and a faulty justice system.
A few
years back, Missoula made the headlines for being the “Rape Capital” of
America. As Krakauer’s book notes, it is
an unfair description – Missoula is merely average when it comes to incidents
of sexual assault. But since Missoula is
average, it becomes a great case study for Krakauer on how such sexual assault
is handled in a small city.
Missoula
is also a college town and the football team rules the town. It is Griz nation, and the community reacts
violently when one of its favored sons is accused of a crime, especially
rape. And so when two high profile Griz
players – quarterback Jordan Johnson and running back Beau Donaldson – were
accused of rape, much of the community rose up to their defense. Tracing the trials of Johnson and Donaldson,
along with the troubles of other Griz players and U of M students, Krakauer paints a rather
disturbing picture. A word of warning –
in painting this disturbing picture, Krakauer is graphic. This book is not for the faint of heart. The description is not at all titillating – I
found it rather nauseating – but it is graphic.
As
Krakauer discovers in his investigations, rape is not all that rare among the U
of M crowd. And the vast majority of the
rape cases, as they are nationally, were non-stranger rapes.
These were rapes perpetrated by friends and acquaintances of the
victim. Contrary to the vision we have
of rape being about a man in a mask jumping out from behind a bush, about 80
percent of rapes in America are non-stranger rapes.
The
book tells the story of four victims, only one of whom received any form of
justice from the legal system. Your
heart goes out to them as he tells their story.
It is meant to do that – Krakauer is clearly on the side of the victims
here. Is it a hit piece? Some will say so. The current county attorney is suing over
allegations made in the book. Krakauer
is not neutral, but he does appear to be thorough.
These
are stories of pain, fear, misplaced trust, betrayal and extreme
disappointment. In Krakauer’s mind, the
system in Missoula failed in a variety of ways.
The University and the local police for both failed to protect victims. But Krakauer reserves his harshest judgment
for the local county attorney’s office, especially both the former and current
county attorneys for failing to pursue justice for women who have been raped.
Four
things stood out to me as a read this book.
Two of the things Krakauer discusses, the other two are not discussed at
all. First, Krakauer paints a pretty
sordid picture of trial lawyers, especially in the context of rape cases. Both the county attorneys and the private
defense lawyers come off pretty badly, especially with regard to the lengths
they will go, or not go, to win cases. I
recognize that they are there to win, it is the lack of ethics displayed in the
attempt that disturbed me. The second
thing Krakauer brings up is the vehement reaction of Griz nation to the
tarnishing of their heroes. A football
player in Missoula is always innocent, no matter what. A woman accusing a football player in
Missoula is always guilty, no matter what.
And the comments that are made, especially on the “anonymous Internet”,
curdled my stomach in their hateful surety and lack of compassion.
There are two things Krakauer definitely does not discuss which seem to me to be central to the issue. Those things are the presence of alcohol and the campus hook-up culture. I realize he is a liberal, so he cannot go there, but I wish he would have. The book’s dustjacket states, “College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk, or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek attention.” That statement is correct – these women are raped because of the horrific actions of a predator. They are victims deserving of compassion. But know this: every assault portrayed in Krakauer’s book involved alcohol, often to excess, and often involving underage drinkers. Every assault! I wonder what removing the alcohol-fueled party scene would do to the incidents of rape in our area? Krakauer has nothing to say on this topic. A second topic is related – the casual sex, hook-up culture found on campus. As a Christian, I believe the Bible lays out the only proper context of sexual activity, and that is marriage. You can agree with me, or disagree with me, go right ahead. But the fact is, trouble always follows when sexual activity is let out of the box that God intended it to be practiced in. Again, what would happen to the rape culture on campus if the casual sex culture, and our wider sex-worshipping culture, was not there? Mr. Krakauer does not deal with these topics, and I honestly don’t expect him to as they are taboo in liberal circles, but they are part of the problem.
Missoula
is a good read. It is disturbing and
powerful. And as a man with two
daughters, including one in college, the topic of campus rape is one that
concerns me personally. I am glad that
the Missoula police, the University of Montana, and even the Missoula Country
attorney’s offices are making changes.
Let’s hope they are enough to bring justice to victims of these horrible
crimes.
