Literature Review #3

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

Krakauer, Jon. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. New York: Doubleday, 2015. Print.

Several sexual assault cases were reported from Missoula, particularly from the Griz football team at the University of Montana. One case in particular was the sexual assault of Cecilia Washburn by Jordan Johnson. Washburn picked up Johnson from his friend's house because he was too intoxicated to drive. Washburn brought him back to her home because Johnson insisted on watching a movie with her. Eventually, they began to kiss and Johnson overpowered Washburn and held her down while having sex with her. Washburn then drove him home and told her housemates about the horrfic incident that she experienced. 

Jon Kraukner is the author of the national best selling novel, Into the Wild, which is about an Emory graduate who was found dead in the wilderness. Kraukner wrote Missoula to examine the sexual assault cases on college campuses and how they are handled by federal and college officials. He discussed the reasons why some vitcims do not report their sexual assaults to the police because of the previous vitcims stories with court trials and how the perpetrators are set free. 

"Duerk emphasized to the jury that according to Montana law, 'resistance by the victim is not required to show lack of consent. Force, fear, or threat is sufficient alone to show lack of consent,'" (Kraukner 231).

Key Terms:

Resist: withstand the action or effect of

Mixed Signals: a message that is uncertain because of multiple interpretations

"Pabst declared, 'Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this is a case that's not about rape, but about a girl's regret.' Pabst argued that Cecelia Washburn's disappointment over a sexual encounter that hadn't lived up to her high expectations was transformed into an accusation of rape by the 'brewing storm' of the Missoula rape scandal,'" (Kraukner 238).

"Paoli asked yet again, 'So, Miss Washburn, you gave Jordan Johnson mixed signals; isn't that right?' 'It could be seen that way,' she answered. 'And you have told us you could have been clearer?...' 'Yes.' 'And you have told and expressed on several different occasions that you considered yourself responsible and you felt guilty for what happened; isn't that right?' 'Right.'..." (Kraukner 249).

This book is very useful for my final paper. I have been trying to find the ideal case to fram my final project around and this one fits the best. This book encompasses multiple sexual assault cases from the same football team that have let the perpetrator go free. There is a lot of victim blaming with the case against Jordan Johnson which is a very important point to notice because that is one of the reasons why sexual assault cases are underreported. The victims are scared and blame themselves for being raped due to the views on sexual assault in our societ. Instead of teaching not to take advantage of others, we are taught to not "dress" or "lead people on" to think that its okay to have sex with each other.