Court Is not therapeutic!

This past week I had the opportunity to attend a court proceeding to support my friend as he gave a victim statement and watched his uncle sentenced to four years for sexually abusing his sister and him. I learned a few things.

1. My friend is a courageous young man to speak up in the midst of sobbing and say the truth.

2. He also has a lot of strength in him to show his love toward his family who seemed to be in worse shape than he was.

3. The adversarial system of the court can be quite damaging to the abused person and their family. The two "learned friends" (as the opposing lawyers referred to each other) sliced diced and julienned the very personal and painful facts of the abuse in front of my friend and his family. There was much shaking and sobbing. The defense listed about twenty other abuse cases as precedents to lessen the sentence of the accused. In great detail. It was brutal.

4. Psychology can be misinformed and manipulated in court. The things brought up were mitigating factors for one lawyer and aggravating factors for the other lawyer. The lame excuse of the accused being sexually abused as a boy was introduced by defense as a mitigating factor. Rubbish. Most sexually abused men grow up to be healthy in their boundaries and sexual behaviour. And so on.

5. It was disturbing to hear arguments that suggested that my friend's abuse was not as bad as other cases or that the accused should be credited for not being coercive. Its not hard to coerce a lonely fatherless child.

6. The adversarial process risks ignoring the deeply mixed emotions everyone feels in this situation. But in the end, justice was served.

I just wish no one had to go through abuse and therefore not need this extra ordeal.
S