Missoula

Read Missoula Storyline:

From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously
reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University
of Montana ­— stories that illuminate the human drama behind the
national plague of campus rape Missoula, Montana, is a
typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic
surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team — the Grizzlies — with a rabid fan base.  The
Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the
Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults
were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In
this, Missoula is also typical.  A DOJ report released in
December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen
and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer’s devastating narrative of
what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on
American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report
assault.  Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike
burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes
under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially
true if the victim is sexually active; if she had been drinking prior to
the assault — and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports
team. The vanishingly small but highly publicized incidents of false
accusations are often used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the
case goes to trial, the woman’s entire personal life becomes fair game
for defense attorneys.  This brutal reality goes a long way
towards explaining why acquaintance rape is the most underreported crime
in America. In addition to physical trauma, its victims often suffer
devastating psychological damage that leads to feelings of shame,
emotional paralysis and stigmatization. PTSD rates for rape victims are
estimated to be 50%, higher than soldiers returning from war. In Missoula,
Krakauer chronicles the searing experiences of several women in
Missoula — the nights when they were raped; their fear and self-doubt in
the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors,
defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their
bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them. Some of them
went to the police. Some declined to go to the police, or to press
charges, but sought redress from the university, which has its own,
non-criminal judicial process when a student is accused of rape. In two
cases the police agreed to press charges and the district attorney
agreed to prosecute. One case led to a conviction; one to an acquittal.
Those women courageous enough to press charges or to speak publicly
about their experiences were attacked in the media, on Grizzly football
fan sites, and/or to their faces. The university expelled three of the
accused rapists, but one was reinstated by state officials in a secret
proceeding. One district attorney testified for an alleged rapist at his
university hearing. She later left the prosecutor’s office and
successfully defended the Grizzlies’ star quarterback in his rape trial.
The horror of being raped, in each woman’s case, was magnified by the
mechanics of the justice system and the reaction of the community. Krakauer’s
dispassionate, carefully documented account of what these women endured
cuts through the abstract ideological debate about campus rape.
College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk,
or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek
attention. They are the victims of a terrible crime and deserving of
compassion from society and fairness from a justice system that is
clearly broken.