Hot Crimes: A Study in Excess
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Authors
Grossman, Steven
Issue Date
2012
Volume
45
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION|In the fall of 1984, after a jury acquitted two parents she had accused of sexually molesting their children and before she was forced to drop charges against the twenty-one remaining defendants she had accused of child sex abuse related charges, the chief prosecutor in Jordan, Minnesota said that she was "sick to death of things like the presumption of innocence." After the tragic mass murders at Columbine High School in 1999, Mothers Against Drunk Driving ("MADD') issued a press release classifying the "murders as 'insignificant' compared to those killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents." |What do these two announcements have in common? This Article suggests that each is but one manifestation of the pathology that exists regarding certain crimes and the reaction to them on the part of the public, the media, legislative bodies, law enforcement authorities, and ultimately members of the judicial system. For a long time, crimes such as these were either not treated with the seriousness they deserve (i.e. drunk driving) or the extent of their prevalence in society was significantly underestimated (i.e. child sex abuse). Fortunately, in ways this Article discusses, the previous undervaluation or under apt The author, a former New York City prosecutor, is the Dean Julius Isaacson Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He wishes to thank Chris Trumpower and especially Justin Fine and Ashley Marucci for their thoroughness and dedication to this project...
Description
Citation
45 Creighton L. Rev. 33 (2011-2012)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law