CRIMINAL JUSTICE FORUM: RUINED: LANGUAGE USE AND CHOICE BY JUDGES AT SENTENCING IN RAPE & SA CASES
Schedule
Thu Sep 29 2022 at 05:00 pm to 06:00 pm
Location
CSU Cleveland-Marshall College of Law | Cleveland, OH
Judges play a critical role in one of the most important states of a criminal case’s adjudication—sentencing. While there have been substantial limitations placed on the discretion judges can exercise in devising punishments, there are little to none on what judges say at such hearings when articulating their rationales for the sentences they impose on convicted defendants. In her lecture, Professor Romero will examine the language judges use when sentencing defendants convicted rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse that describes victims of those crimes and the harms they have sustained, especially language that describes victims as “ruined,” “broken,” or “destroyed.” Guest speaker Maybell Romero, Felder-Fayard Associate Professor of Law at the Tulane University School of Law, argues that the use of such language, while apparently meant to be empathetic, only serves to uphold misogynistic understandings of rape and sexual assault and actively harms victims. Judges trying to justify harsh sentences for defendants convicted of sex crimes also engage in shaming and exploitation of victims when saying that defendants have left victims “ruined” at sentencing.Free public event; 1 hour CLE pending.
Where is it happening?
CSU Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, 1801 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, United States