We USA are superior U are inferior // Justice the American way

[Steven Gaal]

U.S. News

Here are 5 ways it’s become a crime to be poor in America — punishable by further impoverishment

]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/here-are-5-ways-its-become-a-crime-to-be-poor-in-america-punishable-by-further-impoverishment/

The criminalization of America’s poor has been quietly gaining steam for years, but a recent study, “The Poor Get Prison,” co-authored by Karen Dolan and Jodi L. Carr, reveals the startling extent to which American municipalities are fining and jailing the country’s most vulnerable people, not just punishing them for being poor, but driving them deeper into poverty.

“In the last ten years,” Barbara Ehrenreich writes in the introduction, “it has become apparent that being poor is in itself a crime in many cities and counties, and that it is a crime punished by further impoverishment.”

A few months ago, the Department of Justice’s Ferguson report revealed how that city has disproportionately targeted its majority minority population with traffic and other minor infractions that heavily support the municipality’s coffers. But Ferguson is far from alone. Municipalities like New York City have greatly increased the number of minor offenses that are considered criminal (like putting your feet up in the subway) or sitting on the sidewalk. Wealthy white people in business attire are rarely targeted for such summonses, and if they are, they can quickly pay the fine or hire counsel to get out of it. The over-punishment of minor offenses is just another way the rich get richer, and as the report says, the “poor get prison.” They also get poorer and more numerous. In one striking statistic, the Southern Educational Foundation reports that 51 percent of America’s public schoolchildren are living in poverty.

Perversely, it is the poor who, according to Dolan and Carr, are subsidizing municipalities’ budgets and becoming reliable sources of enrichment for the private companies contracted by local governments to carry out what used to be government duties.

Here are five troubling trends from the report that show us how the government is financially abusing poor people.

1. Jailing probationers who can’t pay fees and fines. More than four million people are sentenced to probation in America, according to the report. Because state funding for probation services is on the decline, more private companies are talking over the responsibility of managing them. Private probation companies don’t charge local governments for their services, so there is no fee to the taxpayer. Probationers, however, are charged a supervision fee, and if they can’t afford to pay, they face jail time. Despite the fact that it is unconstitutional to jail people because they can’t pay fines, the reality is that many probationers are poor and unaware of their rights and they end up in modern-day debtors’ prisons.

“While indigent people have a right to free counsel in some cases, more municipalities are requiring an ‘application fee’ of at least $50 to pay for a public defender,” Karen Dolan, a co-author of the study, told AlterNet via email. “Many poor people with misdemeanor charges end up before a judge without legal representation and do not understand their rights. Without legal representation, poor people often don’t understand that they ought not to be offered ‘jail or probation’ simply for debt, and they choose probation. They unwittingly enter into a potential dungeon of debt due to the huge fees charged by private probation companies and inability to pay those eventually—illegally—leads to jail anyway.”

At least 13 states allow localities to outsource probation supervision services. In 2012, these companies generated $100 million in revenue.

2. Taking poor people’s property through asset forfeit seizures. More than $3 billion in cash and property has been seized by local and state police agencies through a Department of Justice asset seizure program. Eighty percent of the assets collected through this program stay with the law enforcement agencies that collect them, the Washington Post reported. Under asset forfeit seizure programs, cops can take someone’s property simply under “reasonable suspicion” it was used to commit a crime; the burden of proof is on the property owner that the seizure was unjustified.

Dolan and Carr’s report outlines how this program disproportionately impacts the poor, especially black and Latino people. Given that black and Latino working families are twice as likely as whites to be low-income, they are less likely to have the financial resources to reclaim property that was, in many cases, wrongfully taken from them.

3. School-to-prison pipeline. Black students make up just 16 percent of the population but represent 32-42 percent of students who are suspended or expelled, according to the “The Poor Get Prison” report. Many school districts around the country use local police to provide security, which further increases these students’ chances of arrest.

“When you have zero tolerance policies, combined with law enforcement officers at the doors and in the hallways and you have a poor and black student body—both demographics considered potential criminals from the time they board the bus in the morning—you have the makings of unnecessarily harsh and punitive actions against black students,” Dolan told AlterNet.

“Studies show that students with disabilities are also disproportionately affected by overly harsh punishments at school,” she continued. “The two overriding factors appear to be class and race. Poverty plays a big role, but overlaying that is what seems only explainable by a widespread cultural bias against black youth, especially black male youth, even small children who are black and poor. The presumption that black schoolchildren are potential criminals seems to play into the disparity in the levels and severity of discipline when you compare them with white schoolchildren.”

As previous studies have shown, people with arrest records find it difficult to find employment. A 2013 National Institute of Justice report cited a study that was carried out in New York City that found people with a criminal record are 50 percent less likely to get a call back for a job interview; most of those affected are black.

What this tells us is that the criminalization of poor black and Latino children through hyper-disciplinary actions doesn’t end at the schoolhouse door. It is a poverty-inducing policy that harms these kids’ employability prospects later in life.

4. Hyper criminalization of petty infractions. The New York City Council is considering proposals to make petty crimes like peeing in public and drinking from an open container civil instead of criminal offenses. This follows years of hyper-policing and criminalizing an increasing list of tiny infractions.

Since 2001, 81 percent of the people fined and punished under these “broken windows” policing policies have been Latinos or black Americans, many them from the city’s poorest communities.

New York is not alone in its enforcement of petty violations. In Ferguson, for example, revenue from its police department enforcing municipal codes were expected to account for 23 percent of the city’s budget or more than $3 million. In 2013, that figure was $2.46 million.

Loistine Hoskin, a resident of Ferguson, told CNN that her car was towed in 2009 because it was missing a tire. She chose to pay a $1,200 fine rather than try to fight the ticket in court and face the threat of jail, she said.

“It’s definitely a vicious cycle,” Hoskin, 64, a retired airline reservation agent, told CNN. “Unfortunately for most people who are in this cycle, they continue to be in a downward spiral because they can’t get jobs, they can’t do anything, they can’t pay the fines.”

5. Fining the homeless for being homeless. If you are homeless in America and have nowhere to go and are down on your luck, it is increasingly difficult to find a safe space in which to exist without being fined for loitering. According to the report, an estimated 600,000 people are homeless on any given night. Though nearly 13 percent of the nation’s low-income housing has been lost since 2001, and many people simply cannot afford housing, 34 percent of cities ban public camping, 18 percent prohibit sleeping in public and 43 percent prevent people from sleeping in vehicles, according to a study the report cited.

Often, homeless people who are fined for violating these laws have no way to pay the fine. Jailtime is on the table for many who can’t pay up.

One example of how economically devastating these fines are comes out of Missouri. Edward Brown, 62 and homeless, has been jailed at least twice since 2009 for failing to pay fines, one of which stems from his failure to get a rabies vaccination for his dog, Matrix. He was ticketed $464 and just barely paid it off. Brown’s monthly Social Security check is $484.

The report offers suggestions for addressing some of these issues. Whether those in power will listen to the solutions is another matter.

When asked whether race or poverty was the factor driving the criminalization of the poor, Dolan said the two are intertwined.

“I don’t think we can separate the two,” she said. “It’s not an either/or. It’s a both/and. There’s no question that poor people of all races are vastly more impacted by fines, fees, aggressive policing and more vulnerable in court than people with the ability to pay misdemeanor charges and afford legal representation. And there is no question that the mandate for police and court systems to fill in budget deficits by aggressive collection of these fines are more prevalent in lower-income areas, regardless of race.

“But there is equally no question that racial profiling has been ever-present in our country despite civil rights laws designed to address such bias and discrimination. And black people are disproportionately poor and disproportionately policed and incarcerated in this country. Police and courts in low-income/high poverty areas are increasingly in the service of aggressive money collection rather than public safety. When racist bias is added to this already fraught situation, the match is thrown on this tinderbox and consequences can be deadly.”

Edited April 27, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

May 05, 2015

Jersey cops let K9 maul a man to death, then try to steal the video.

http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2015/05/jersey-cops-let-k9-maul-man-to-death.html see link for video

A police dog tears apart an unarmed black man's face while officers watch.

Policing in this country really seems to be going to the dogs. Yes, that’s a silly euphemism, at least unless you live in Vineland, New Jersey. A video filmed a week ago Tuesday appears to show local police allowing a K9 dog to tear into the face of what looks to be an unarmed black man while he is curled up on the ground. The man, identified as 32-year-old Phillip White, later died while in police custody.

A police dog tears apart an unarmed black man's face while officers watch.

The police were responding to a report of a disorderly person, who was “screaming and yelling,” according to a local television station with access to the police radio transmissions of the incident. Multiple officers arrived on the scene and requested backup, yelling as they allege White reaches for one of their weapons. Moments later, one of them reports, “Slow units down. Subject under apprehension. Tried disarming me.”

According to a statement from Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, "White was handcuffed and restrained… White was placed in an emergency vehicle to be transported to the hospital. At some point during transport White became unresponsive."

Philadelphia’s NBC10 station reported that the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office said White, the father of three, was transported to a local hospital for “respiratory distress,” where he was declared dead, despite efforts to revive him.

The person who shot the footage, which is from a phone, is shown being approached by police, saying, “I need your information and I’m going to need to take your phone.”

It is legal to film police interactions in New Jersey.

The situation is under investigation by the New Jersey State Police, Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, and a private lawyer hired by the family named Conrad Benedetto.

Source:http://www.thedailybeast.com

Edited May 6, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Protests In Wyckoff, N.J., As Residents Demand Answers After Cop Fatally Shot Dog When Visiting Wrong Home; Cover Story Debunked By Evidence, Witnesses.

===============================================

http://xrepublic.tv/node/13142

---------------------------------------------------

#####################################

Civil forfeiture: You can't make this stuff up

http://xrepublic.tv/node/13140

Edited May 6, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Pennsylvania police say it's policy to pepper-spray and cuff students sitting at their desk for not complying with teacher

http://xrepublic.tv/node/13167

=========================================

Santa Fe pays $770k to eight women for ignoring numerous complaints against police officer later convicted of stalking, harassment and unauthorized computer use

http://xrepublic.tv/node/13168

Eight women who filed a federal lawsuit accusing a former Santa Fe police officer of harassment have accepted a $770,000 settlement from the city.
The parties agreed to settle the case in February, but the total amount of the monetary award was not decided until last week. It includes $55,000 that the city previously had agreed to pay one of the women.
The lawsuit, filed in 2012, claims that former police officer Michael Eiskant stalked and harassed the women. Those who sued him include a former Santa Fe police officer and two employees of the state Department of Public Safety.
City spokesman Matt Ross said he couldn’t comment on the case, but he provided court documents outlining the city’s decision to settle the suit.
John Bienvenu, an attorney for the eight women, said they hope others who have been harassed by public officials will realize that they have recourse.
“By bringing up this lawsuit, they wanted to demonstrate that they would not be intimidated into silence by the behavior of this officer,” Bienvenu said.
James Sullivan, Eiskant’s lawyer, didn’t respond Thursday to messages seeking comment. Police Chief Eric Garcia declined to comment on the case and referred questions to former chief Ray Rael. Rael, however, didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
All the women made similar complaints against Eiskant, 45. They said he engaged in lewd and provocative behavior. Two of the women said he pulled them over on the pretext that they had done something wrong.
Terrie Montoya, a human resource administrator at the Department of Public Safety, said Eiskant followed her in his patrol car while she was driving to a doctor’s appointment. Eiskant then approached Montoya, the lawsuit says, and told her that her license plate cover was illegal and that her vehicle registration was incorrect. Her complaint says Eiskant made sexual gestures with his body as he spoke to her.
Montoya later learned that her license plate cover was proper and that her registration was up to date, the lawsuit says.

================

Read more: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/city-settles-harassment...

[Steven Gaal]

Disturbing Video Shows Criminal Justice Student Assaulted & Tasered by Border Patrol, For No Reason

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=50803

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prostitution Sting: Police Force Women To Touch Them Then Charge With Sexual Assault

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=50805

Edited May 10, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Handcuffs, Leg Shackles and Tasers: The New Face of Punishment in the Public Schools

May 11th, 2015

http://investmentwatchblog.com/handcuffs-leg-shackles-and-tasers-the-new-face-of-punishment-in-the-public-schools-2/

=============================================================

Ex-Police Chief Caught Stealing $60,000 From Christmas Toy Fund For Needy Children

Officials say a forensic analyst determined Buffis took "nearly all" of hundreds of individual donations meant for poor children to write checks to "cash," himself, various credit cards and his own bank between 1999 and 2012.

=

By AP | May 11, 2015

http://www.mintpressnews.com/ex-police-chief-caught-stealing-60000-from-needy-childrens-christmas-toy-fund/205514/

-----------------------------------------------------

[Steven Gaal]

Police State vid: Cop Punches Female Model While in Handcuffs & Keeps Job

http://investmentwatchblog.com/police-state-vid-cop-punches-female-model-while-in-handcuffs-keeps-job/

Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/police-state-vid-cop-punches-female-model-while-in-handcuffs-keeps-job/#ImRWwraE5VadqZ78.99

===============================================================================================

Trooper Arrested For Allegedly Sabotaging Case to Keep Son out of Jail

by David Rose and Steve Kiggins

OLYMPIA — A Washington State Patrol trooper who worked as a bodyguard for the governor was arrested in Olympia, accused of destroying evidence connected to his son’s criminal case.

The trooper, Daniel Tindall, is a 24-year veteran of the WSP, but now he’s on paid administrative leave after Olympia Police said he tried to conceal evidence and hide his 18-year-old son’s alleged connection to an attempted arson.

Police said the son, Wyatt Tindall, tried to set a car on fire.

Jill VanHulle said her surveillance cameras caught Wyatt red handed. Court documents said Wyatt was trying to get back at a classmate who stopped returning his messages.

VaHulle said her daughter was the target of Wyatt’s alleged vandalism and stalking.

Investigators said Wyatt’s father, Daniel Tindall, first confronted his son about the alleged arson but didn’t tell Olympia police. According to documents, Daniel then allegedly tried to destroy evidence that could have put his son behind bars.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=50836 (VIDEO)

===============================================================

Washington Police Kill Man Pointing Cell Phone at Them

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=50840

Police in Washington said they ordered Daniel Covarrubias to pull his hands out of his pocket because he was making them fear for their lives.

But when he did, they shot him anyway because they say he begin pointing a cell phone at them, “mimicking a gun,” according to Lakewood Police Chief Mark Zaro.

Not a single reporter in Monday’s press conference asked if Covarrubias was perhaps recording, an action we have seen being compared to holding a weapon by law enforcement officers throughout the country over the years.

Full Article » see link

Edited May 12, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

=

Dispatcher Proof: Cop that Shot Dog and Lied Knew There Wasn't an Emergency

=

By Amanda Warren

=

Last week reported on the "dog that broke the internet" who was tragically and senselessly shot by a Wyckoff, NJ police officer after the officer entered the unlocked gate of a yard at the wrong home. Lots of track covering and convolution ensued to manage the impression that the officer didn't commit the horror that people suspected - shooting someone's pet to death "just because." However, as tempers still flare, more and more proof becomes available that the officer and chief are tangling themselves in a web of lies.

================

see link for more

=

http://www.activistpost.com/2015/05/dispatcher-proof-cop-that-shot-dog-and.html

[Steven Gaal]

Police Killing David Dehmann Video - Officer Chase Wright Slams Autistic Man's Head into the Ground

=
Added by Old Denmark on May 14, 2015 at 12:09pm

http://12160.info/video/police-killing-david-dehmann-video-officer-chase-wright-slams?xg_source=activity

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TSA Groping Scandal Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger

http://mytechnologyworld9.blogspot.com/2015/05/tsa-groping-scandal-just-got-whole-lot.html

Edited May 14, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Cop Fired For Standing By While His Partner Kicked Man In Head Wants Job Back informationliberation 11:19

Facing Intense Pressure, IRS Drops Civil Forfeiture Case in North Carolina informationliberation 11:19

Police Said the Video Showing this Cop's Excessive Force Did Not Exist, They Were Lying informationliberation 11:19

Baltimore Police Officer Will Serve Six Months for Beating Caught on Video informationliberation 11:19

Man Jailed For 29 Years For 'Resembling' Serial Rapist informationliberation 11:19

Video Shows Fayetteville Police Officer Shooting Black Man in the Back as He Attempts to... informationliberation 11:19

Chicago Man: Cops Brought Me to Secret Prison, Anally Raped Me to Force Me to... informationliberation 11:19

State Police Attempt to Punish Man at Checkpoint by Towing His Truck informationliberation 11:19

Security Guard Videos Himself Being Attacked by Plainclothes Cop in an Apparent Fit of "Road... informationliberation 11:19

Five Bogus Excuses for Opposing Freedom informationliberation 11:19

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

go to http://www.informationliberation.com/ for above

(COMMENT, GAAL > police seem to be out of control)

=====================================================

8th Grader Arrested, Threatened with Beatings and Held for 6 Days in Jail – For Throwing Skittles

http://www.blacklistednews.com/8th_Grader_Arrested%2C_Threatened_with_Beatings_and_Held_for_6_Days_in_Jail_%E2%80%93_For_Throwing_Skittles/43954/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Jefferson Parrish, LA — In a Jefferson Parrish School District in Louisiana, an eighth grader was handcuffed and dragged out of the classroom…for throwing skittles. He was then held for six days.

For throwing skittles.

The boy had allegedly thrown the candy on a school bus the previous day. A report from Vocativ states:

“The following day, as the boy was taking a social studies test, a police officer assigned to the school handcuffed him, dragged him out of class and arrested him. He was charged with “interference with an educational facility” and battery.

As the officer led the handcuffed teenager out of the school, both students and faculty heard him threaten to “beat the f*** out of [the boy],” or to have his son, who is about the same age, do it for him. The student, who is African-American, spent six days in a juvenile detention facility before seeing a judge, whose first comment was: “Am I to get this right? Are we really here about Skittles?”

The mother has pulled the young boy from the school.

This is no isolated incident. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Jefferson Parish School District has had over 1600 kids arrested for things like carrying a cell phone, swearing, or not adhering to dress code. Arrested.

In what universe is this acceptable?

They also found that black students make up 80% of those arrested, despite that fact that black students make up only 40% of the school district. The SPLC has reportedly called on the Department of Justice “to intervene with the school’s unwarranted arrests of overwhelmingly minority students.”

According to SPLC attorney Eden Heilman,

“The Jefferson Parish Public School System has continued its destructive practice of arresting and jailing children for minor, and often trivial, violations of school rules and decorum. It’s nothing less than a racially biased system of criminalizing African-American children.”

The school district stated publicly that it was aware of the situation and will be working to fix it.

Edited May 15, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Cops Attack High School Student For Police Brutality Art

-

http://truthvoice.com/2015/05/cops-attack-high-school-student-for-police-brutality-art/

[Steven Gaal]

NYPD FB Page - “They Should All Die a Slow Death”

============================================

http://12160.info/page/nypd-die-a-slow-death

============================================

“They Should All Die a Slow Death”: NYPD 30th Precinct Page Openly Wishes Death on Citizens Who Film Cops"

--------------------------------------------------------------00000000000000-----------------------------------------------------------

Mom Arrested, Shackled, Jailed Because Her Honor Roll Son Had 3 Unexcused Absences at School

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/mother-arrested-son-3-unexcused-absences-school/#KXvEQSbf0CsTYgEK.99

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/mother-arrested-son-3-unexcused-absences-school/#PWMSbyIHkAoCJOKs.99

Edited May 19, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Man Calls Cops About Teenage Party, They Show up And Shoot Him

San Antonio police shot at a man and arrested him in his bathrobe after he called security about a wild teen party in his upscale neighborhood, the man claims in court

Plaintiff Peter T. Conner is a national security consultant, a Department of Defense contractor and a licensed private investigator, he says in his May 13 complaint.

He sued San Antonio, three of its police officers, the Dominion Homeowners Association and G4S Secure Solutions in Bexar County Court.

In the early morning of Father’s Day 2013, after complaining to G4S about a wild party two houses away, Conner says, he was awakened by lights moving in his backyard.

“Believing the intruders to be errant guests from the party, plaintiff donned a bathrobe, went to his garage, turned on the outside floodlight and the lights inside the garage, and opened the three garage doors. Plaintiff then yelled at the intruders to get off of his property,” Conner says in the complaint.

“The next thing plaintiff knew, shots were being fired at him from the intruders. Plaintiff immediately ducked for cover, and the shots hit his vehicle parked just outside the garage. Fearing for his life, plaintiff retreated quickly back inside and closed the garage doors.”

Next thing he saw was flashing lights in his front yard and voices announcing themselves as San Antonio police, to which Conner says he responded, “You better be!”

He says that the police presence “was a surprise to plaintiff since he still believed unknown intruders had fired shots at him.”

“Before plaintiff could speak further, defendant Juarez and Davis handcuffed him and placed him in a squad car, where he sat for well over an hour, still in his robe,” Conner says in the 11-page complaint.

“At no time during the ordeal did plaintiff possess a handgun or make any gestures indicating he was shooting at the intruders,” Conner adds.

Nonetheless, police charged him with aggravated assault on a peace officer and tossed him into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, where he spent most of Father’s Day, Conner says.

A grand jury refused to indict him, “but the damage to plaintiff’s name and reputation had already been done,” according to the complaint.

Conner says police spread a false story about the June 16, 2013 incident, claiming that he had “crashed a truck through the front gate to his subdivision and had fired upon police officers, which was absolutely false.”

==================

Read more: http://truthvoice.com/2015/05/man-calls-cops-about-teenage-party-they-sh...

[Steven Gaal]

Is this police moooooality ???????????

Charges Dropped Against Cop Caught Having Sex With Cows
by M. David and Jackson Marciana

============================================

When a citizen journalist recently sent us a tip about an officer who was caught having sex with cows, we were admittedly skeptical. But it turns out that the case of former Moorestown police officer Robert Melia Jr. is just as bad as it sounds.

In Mount Holly, New Jersey, Officer Melia was indeed caught assaulting sexually abusing a cow. But his sexual crimes did not end with non-humans. Melia was also charged, several years ago, with sexually assaulting three girls.

It was during the course of that investigation that police found a video in Melia’s home that recorded him… abusing multiple cows. Apparently he was so proud of this abuse that he filmed it and saved it for posterity.

The incident was allegedly recorded on a Southhampton farm back in 2006. But a Superior Court Judge ruled in 2012 that prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence to jurors that Melia's actions in fact tormented the cows.

As a result, the judge explained, they were unable to convict him of animal cruelty charges.

"I'm not saying it's okay," Judge Morley tried to explain of his dismissal of the charges.

"This is a legal question for me. It's not a question of morals."

But this was not the end for Melia and former girlfriend Heather Lewis, as both remained charged with the abuse of the aforementioned three girls.

Only months later, a jury found Melia and Lewis guilty of six counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault in addition to multiple counts of sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

US military rape victims face revenge, regret reporting crimes – lawyer

Published time: May 24, 2015 22:07

http://rt.com/usa/261677-sexual-assault-us-military/

=================

The US military’s system of prosecution has to change, as rape victims are often put in positions where they even regret coming forward, Maribel Jarzabek, ex-Air Force lawyer, said on a recent HRW survey of sexual assault survivors.

Of those who answered the US Army’s call to come out as sexual assault victims, 62 percent are facing backlash from their commanders and fellow servicemen, a report released by Human Rights Watch earlier this week stated.

The victims are “spat on, deprived of food, assailed with obscenities – whore, cum-dumpster, slut, faggot – threatened with ‘friendly fire’ during deployment… demoted, disciplined [or] discharged for misconduct,” the paper entitled “Embattled: Retaliation against sexual assault survivors in the US military” said.

According to HRW, only 5 percent of sexual assault cases in the US military lead to convictions of the perpetrators.

“Virtually no-one is held accountable” for retaliating against those reporting rape and other abuses, the report added.

Read more

US military fails to protect sexual assault reporters from retaliation – HRW

Maribel Jarzabek, former special victims’ counsel (SVC) assigned to represent US Air Force service members reporting sexual assault, who was mentioned in the HRW report, said that the situation with retaliations is in the military “serious.”

Jarzabek told RT of “the most extreme case” of backlash among the 42 clients she had while working as a SVC between June 2013 and December 2014.

“In the report, one of my clients was senior airman Beth Robinson – that’s not her real name because she’s worried that if her name gets out, the leadership will keep retaliating against her because she’s still facing difficulty in her unit,” she said.

After Robinson reported a sexual assault, “we went to meet with the commander and she cried during the meeting…because the individual [responsible for the assault], who was coming back from deployment, lived in the room right next to her,” Jarzabek said.

The woman’s tears were quickly used against her as the “leadership took away her guns because they said she was too emotional because she cried at the meeting.”

The victim was then assigned to a new position, which was very stressful for her, and where her every mistake was documented “because if you do that you can get a military member get kicked out from the Air Force for having so many minor disciplinary infractions,” the lawyer said.

The events occurred shortly before Robinson was to get a long-awaited deployment. This was made impossible, however, with the confiscation of her guns.

According to Jarzabek, the commander initially promised to return her client’s guns, if she was “no longer involved in the investigation or until the case is complete.” Robinson “ended up dropping out of the case” because she wanted to be deployed.

As soon as this happened, however, the commander retracted his earlier words and still “wouldn’t allow her to get her guns back,” she said.

“My client was really upset; she couldn’t do her job; she couldn’t deploy; couldn’t do anything – all because she reported this investigation. So, she regretted reporting,” the lawyer stressed.

Robinson was transferred to another supervisor in order to keep her on the force, but she is still “facing a tough time” at the new place, she said.

“Wherever she goes male servicemen tell others: ‘Don’t hang out with her because she’ll falsely accuse you of rape. She’s a walking SARC (Sexual Assault Response Coordinator) complaint,” Jarzabek said.

Read more

US troops, contractors sexually abused Colombian girls with impunity – report

The HRW report also describes a US marine, who had her car vandalized and received numerous threats on social media from fellow servicemen after saying she was sexually assaulted.

“Find her, tag her, haze her, make her life a living hell,” one of the comments said, while the other urged the woman to be silenced “before she lied about another rape.”

A male victim was attacked with a knife and told by his supervisor that he would kill him if they ever served in Afghanistan, because “friendly fire is a tragic accident that happens.”

Jarzabek faced retaliation for representing sexual assault survivors, as her commanders blamed her for being “too victim-centered” and “burning bridges” with her colleagues.

She eventually had to quit the Air Force after her performance rating was downgraded, but continued working on assault cases as a civil lawyer.

The lawyer says the system has to be changed if the US Army really wants to do justice to sexual assault victims.

“Commanders have a difficulty right now when they have… both victim and the accused in their unit so they’re responsible for them” as they have to decide “who’s lying” and “whether to take a case for it or not,” she said.

Jarzabek believes that prosecutorial authority should be taken away from commanders and given to professional prosecutors “so that the commander would be able to support both the accused and the victim, without making the choice.”

The Army should also instruct all of its personnel, not only frontline supervisors, that retaliation against sexual assault victims is a crime, as “a lot of young servicemen don’t know that,” she said.

The way things stand at the moment, “if I was a sexual assault victim and if I had a choice to report I wouldn’t report right now until more changes happen to the system,” Jarzabek stressed.

According to an annual report by the US Department of Defense, 20,300 American service members were sexually assaulted in 2014.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Steven Gaal