Fantastic Lies a documentary about three students who were accused, charged and convicted of kidnapping, raping, sodomizing and sexually assaulting an African American girl during a school varsity lacrosse team party. The school captain for Duke lacrosse school team Dave Evans decided to throw a party for the team in a rented house and invited two strippers to the party. One of them, the accuser called Crystal Mangum came into the party highly intoxicated and would not perform as required causing a shouting contest between the Duke lacrosse team members and Crystal's friend. Her friend had to leave, seeing that they could not dance and only remembered that she had left Crystal behind after she drove off. She called 911 for the police to take her as she feared Crystal might not make it home. The police arrived and took her intending to take Crystal to a psych facility. However, they first check her inn a clinic when the nurse asks her if she was raped, seeing the bruising on her body. Knowing very well how to play the system, she consented to the notion that she was raped, and that was the beginning of the problem for all members of Duke lacrosse team, especially Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and Dave Evans. The next day the news was out and the whole lacrosse team except one African American because the accuser told the police that all three of her accosters were white had to go to the police station to give their DNA samples for exoneration on their part and for the culprits to be identified from the police's perspective. After Crystal's identification of two of her attackers, Seligmann and Collin, they were arrested. Evans was later detained, and all of them were convicted of the crimes under the stewardship of the Durham district attorney Mr. Mike Nifong. However, a year later, cracks into the case were noticed, and Nifong found guilty of conspiracy as well as violating several ethical procedures in the field of justice, leading to the wrongful conviction of three innocent youngsters.
Looking back into the case, it can be seen that different contingents in society played a role in the conviction of innocent young adults. The roles can be seen in society, the fourth estate, Duke administration, and politics. When the news broke, the first to react was the fourth estate or the media. For the media, this was a juicy story that covered different aspects of news all in one story. It covered the social injustice propagated against the women who are considered a weaker species in society; it covered some aspect of racism because the victim this time was an African American and the perpetrators were white and some aspect of politics because the district attorney at that time was running for political office. The media wanted to capture how he would have driven the case at that time (Kramarae & Spender, 2000). Therefore, the media fully grasped the story and ran with it and, at some point, becoming an instrument for Nifong's press releases. The role of the media is to take a neutral stance, especially in social issues and ensure that processes if any abide by the rule and regulations in whatever process take shape in the community they cover. However, in the Duke lacrosse case, they seemed to resonate with society and give them what they wanted to hear.
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The social stance of the community was one that a woman has been wronged, and the perpetrators had to face justice (Lazarus, 2019). From the first day, the news broke, and the media shaped the narrative, the society in Durham was sympathetic for Crystal's ordeal, and she cemented this feeling by seeming devastated of her ordeal. Soon the social stance around the community was that a wrong was committed, and the culprits must be brought to book. Protestors in the region protested as far as going to the captain's residence with banners that implied they should be castrated for the heinous crime they committed. This already sets precedence for a guilty verdict in the court of social justice, and people were eager for the same to be replicated in the actual justice system, and it was. Society at the time did not take into consideration the fact of due process, which is essential in gauging the truth from either party (Calvi & Coleman, 2017). However, if due process was the best way of yielding truthful results, it was not done with the Duke lacrosse case. In this case, the process was designed with the presumption that Crystal is telling the truth, which was normal in college rape scenarios. The notion was that the accuser must be telling the truth and testing that presumption was another sexual assault to Crystal, and society would not allow it.
This made it easier for the Nifong to exert his political influence on the case. As Durham's district attorney with political aspirations for getting elected, he was handed his election on a silver platter as he was ready to use the high-profile case to his advantage. He even stated that the case and justice for the accuser would be he's campaign strategy and legacy. Nifong introduces the aspect of politics in terms of personal aspiration to relegate a high-profile case for his gain and the conviction of innocent individuals. Nifong too failed to follow due process with his client, Crystal. The DNA evidence did not match at the state's lab, but he conspired with a private lab to leave out the fact of evidence that the DNA results did not also match. Given Nifong's position in society, he may have had some influence on the system to the extent that he could bend the rules. Another fraud of ethics he committed was to allow the use of mugshots only belonging to the Duke lacrosse team, which are not standard procedure and also another failure of due process. The police's participation in the flawed process without raising concerns shows their expediency in giving society a speedy conviction and not caring about innocence. A statement released by Nifong through the press was strategic to get the narrative going against the accuser, and any statements brought ahead to counter were muffled by the media. Efforts by their coach to be a judge of character were unabetted by his getting fired, lawyers' cries through the media for due process to be followed and discloser that the DNA had no match were shut down by the media and Nifong who suggested the boys might have used a condom even after the victim stated the perpetrators did not use a condom. The school administration that was meant to protect them left the three accused to hand and dry as they became the driving ground for activist activities against the lacrosse team and the three accused players. Later, when it was established that the course the case took was unconstitutional, wrong and full of flaws that originally should not have seen the light of day. The ordeal clearly shows the manner through which socio-political aspects in society can impair the judgment of society and the judicial system into propagating true justice. The three players were later exonerated of all charges, and they became free people.
Works Cited
Kramarae, C., & Spender, D. (2000). Routledge international encyclopedia of women: global women's issues and . Routledge.
Calvi, J. V., & Coleman, S. (2017). American law and legal systems . Routledge.
Lazarus, S. (2019). Power And Identity In The Struggle For Social Justice: reflections on community psychology ... practice . Springer.
