Paper on Chanel Miller's Assault Case: Justice, Response, and Reform

Introduction

According to the criminal systems alongside the related systems, Miller was driven by the desire to obtain justice after she was sexually assaulted and, in part, by the knowledge of experiences that sexual assault survivors go through. Most of these sexual survivors are often denied the chance to pursue their legal processes within the court system. Miller spent a whole year cooperating with prosecutors and police institutions to pursue the criminal legal process, despite the traumatization, embarrassment, and pain that accompanied the legal process (Miller, 2020). Therefore, the systems validated Miller’s response as it followed the provisions of the experiences that the victim underwent.

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The system’s support of the step was validated through the extreme media attention witnessed during the sixteen-day trial process that saw Turner sentenced for three felony sexual assaults. Consequently, Turner was jailed for six months in the local county jail, sex offender registration, and probation. Thus, the stance of the institutional systems of criminal justice was evident.

Besides, Miller published a victim impact statement, which led to a media frenzy after BuzzFeed published it (Miller, 2020). California imposed mandatory prison sentences for sexual assault criminals whose victims are either intoxicated, unconscious, or are voters. The step followed closely after the victim decided to seek justice was a necessity since the country’s criminal justice system validated them.

Alternative Response by the Criminal Justice System including other Institutions

The criminal legal system and other institutions should have exercised best practices because they forced Miller to go through more pain. The response was supposed to be remorseful to the victim she had greatly suffered before the initiative to seek justice. All these systems need to be made more therapeutic for sexual assault systems since recovery and healing is a significant part of any legal or medical ongoing process conducted outside the court. All criminal institutions perpetuate pain and dishearten sexual assault from pursuing justice (Miller, 2020).

Thus, Miller suggested that these systems encouraged sexual victims to sacrifice their sanity as a result of outdated structures and processes, which were fashioned to defend those individuals who decided not to report the crime to law enforcement. By choosing not to report any crime related to sexual assault, survivors are forced to suffer from unbearable pain, shame, and guilt (Miller, 2020). Therefore, an alternative response for the systems was to choose a different framework for handling assault cases so that the assaulters are not vindicated on their acts but penalized instantly once they are proven guilty. The step would help in curbing any instance of assault resurgence in various settings in the contemporary hence permeating to the core of the institutional justice system in the country.

Most Appropriate Response

The most appropriate response would form the legal response that I would like to have witnessed in Miller’s case. Thus, in my opinion, the criminal justice system and other institutions should develop a system that can deal with the everyday facts of trauma. Besides, the developed system should operate in a manner that deals with the emerging issues regarding assault with more immediacy to make the victims witness the functionality of the laws within their country. Generally, the United States legal system, specifically when dealing with cases of sexual assault, should not calibrate victims of extreme pain towards silence (Miller, 2020).

Similarly, the legal system should not encourage sexual assault victims to speak only after being communicated, as in the case of Miller. More importantly, all institutions should not nurture the culture of encouraging sexual assault victims to feel ashamed by speaking with polite or hushed euphemisms (Miller, 2020). The main effect of such a culture is that the survivor is dehumanized and fails to attain justice.

Helpful Responses or Resources to Miller’s Assault Case

The most helpful resource in Miller’s case was the victim impact statement, which went viral and attracted the public (Miller, 2020). Besides, scores of sexually assaulted victims, comprising of women armed with fury and pain, joined her by demanding accountability with the legal, criminal, and law enforcement institutions. At every courtroom session, Miller was joined by her friends and family, who offered immense emotional, physical, and financial support. Miller reported that she could find comfort in privacy and small kindnesses (Miller, 2020).

Nonetheless, the criminal legal process is also an important part of healing and recovery because justice is attained. Miller successfully made a strong case that saw the criminal justice system overhauled because it traumatizes sexual assault victims even in successful cases (Miller, 2020). Thus, the response of the victim was more helpful to Chanel since it made it possible to reintroduce newer and more effective approaches toward sexual assault cases. In this regard, the proceeding victims would manage to find justice without undergoing deeper pain and suffering in their endeavors to acquire justice.

Reference

Miller, C. (2020). Know my name: A memoir. New York.Penguin Books.