Things like "victim's rights" sounds good, and has knee jerk support from a majority. The reason is obvious, true victims deserve it.

However, and I do not see much of a way around this, the fact remains that the accused has the right to a fair trial and must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This can make things uncomfortable for a true victim, but as common as false accusations are, the credibility of the witnesses, the victim in particular, is important.

While we all hate seeing true victims run through the meat grinder, the cost of removing due process to the person facing prison time creates bigger problems for all of us. Namely, a system that ceases to operate on "innocent until proven guilty" is a system that imperils us all.

That's the thing about justice... it isn't easy, and unlike fairy tales, it isn't always fair. But failure to convict a guilty person is far more just than succeeding to convict an innocent person.

I'll add, my mother got on board with victim's rights groups after her brother was murdered five years ago. There were a lot of things about the process that frustrated her.

In the end, the murderer took a plea deal and will be in prison for the next 28 years. Yes, it took longer than she wanted, and yes the investigators and lawyers were not as forthcoming as she wanted, and yes, they had to scrutinize my uncle and his associations/history in case there was a path to a suspect there.... their jobs were not as simple or as quick as it looks on TV.

That's just an example from my family. People, especially close to it, want justice now, want answers now, and do not want any scrutiny of the victims. But that isn't real life. It may feel like justice, but too much efficiency is dangerous when taking away one's liberty.

Hey, if the campuses can somehow find a way to give "survivors" (actual victims of rape) priority over the liars who file most of these complaints, I'm all for it. But let's make sure their alleged method of separating the real from the fake passes scientific muster worthy of a university.

A followup: The Washington Post story speaks of two bills, one that would improve due process for those accused of campus sexual assault, and one that would only make it worst. I did some hunting on congress.gov and have both bill numbers.

The good one is the Safe Campus Act (H.R. 3403).

There are several bad bills which would make the kangaroo courts worse, including the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act (H.R. 2680); the Campus Accountability and Safety Act (H.R. 1310 and S. 590); and the SOS Campus Act (H.R. 1490 and S. 706).

Some are due more process than others. That seems to be the attitude of the universities. And if you happen to be on the receiving end of the accusation (usually, that means male), you're due much less.

Schools are not courts. Rape cases should be going to courts. Having it be handled by schools/churches/workplaces is absurd.

NicoleK is obviously correct in her commonsense comment. It's insane that something as serious as a charge of sexual assault or rape should be handled by a school instead of law enforcement.

True words. If I was a university student and they found out that I was selling crack out of my dorm room, or stealing cars on campus, what would they do? They'd turn me over to the police. What makes rape accusations different? (Never mind, I know the answer that already...)

Patrick: "It's insane that something as serious as a charge of sexual assault or rape should be handled by a school instead of law enforcement."

Exactly. But if they hand it over to law enforcement, the accused would receive something that at least approximated due process, which is what they want to avoid.

There are some beginning to pay lip service to due process, but it's all pretense. Their actions speak louder than their words. They'll always resist any specific steps in that direction.

If a young woman actually was raped, they would (and they do) want her to report it to the police. Anyone who commits such a crime deserves a lot worse than being expelled from school. But most accusations are spurious and wouldn't stand up to an objective investigation, or a trial in a court of law. They need their kangaroo courts to make them feel in their own minds like their fantasy rape culture and female victimization narratives are valid.

The legal process is, at its heart, interested in ferreting out the truth.

The school's process is interesting in punishing the accused - lest the school be accused of being insensitive or not politically correct enough. As Ken R. points out, nothing must disturb the current narrative - in liberalism, the narrative is all.

Therefore, the adjudication of the charges must under no circumstances be turned over to law enforcement. One cannot always count on getting a Michael Nifong or an Angela Corey as the prosecutor.

I'd be in favor of a mandatory rape reporting law for schools and churches. It'd solve a lot of these problems.