An Addendum to “ ‘Alleged’ is Bullshit”

Trigger Warning: More talking about rape.

The nice thing about posting things online is that people get relatively quick criticism to their arguments.

Several people pointed out a significant flaw in my argument: Journalists’ Obligations.

Journalists are obligated to tell the truth — or at least, they’re obligated not to tell false things. At the immediate moment a journalist hears about a crime, that crime really is an allegation. Under normal circumstances, it would be trivial to confirm that yes, Person X was mugged/raped/beaten.

However, it is not trivial to confirm that Person Y was the perpetrator. This is the flaw in my original argument.

That said, the headlines I called out in my original post are still bad. At some point, the charge becomes more than an allegation. “An allegation of X” means people are only certain enough about X to say it with no immediate repercussions. Rumors. Hearsay. Gossip.

But…

“A search/arrest warrant for X” means people — police — are certain enough about X (and its perpetrators) to waive people’s rights to privacy.

“A criminal charge for X” means people — prosecutors in the criminal justice system — are certain enough about X (and its perpetrators) to argue for punishment.

“A conviction for X” means people — juries in the criminal justice system — are certain enough about X (and its perpetrators) to put the defendants in the trial in jail, or to demand money from the defendants, or to ruin the defendants’ lives.

If you’re getting a warrant, a criminal charge, and/or a conviction for an “allegation,” either it’s not an allegation or you’re the victim of a police state.

Probable cause is not an “allegation.” “Beyond reasonable doubt” is not an “allegation.” The American criminal justice system is messed up, but I’m inclined to believe it expects a bit more than hearsay before throwing the book at you.

So let’s rewrite some headlines:

“Freshman swimmer Brock Turner faces five felony counts after alleged rape” (Stanford Daily, Alice Phillips and Joseph Beyda, 27 Jan 2015)

Becomes: “Freshman swimmer Brock Turner faces five felony counts for rape”

“Stanford freshman Brock Turner arrested after sexual assault allegations” (Swim Swam, Braden Keith, 30 Jan 2015)

Becomes: “Stanford freshman Brock Turner arrested for sexual assault”

“Police report: Brock Turner admits sexual contact, denies alleged rape” (Stanford Daily, Alice Phillips and Joseph Beyda, 29 Jan 2015)

Becomes: “Police report: Brock Turner admits sexual contact, denies rape”

See? It’s easy. These headlines don’t say false things, and they also don’t use the word “alleged” to imply that the writers don’t believe the victims of sexual assault.

What people say outright is important. But you can’t forget what people imply, as well.

Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. You are free to share, repost, edit, and make money off of this post.

I just want people to read this.