CA: Colleges experiment with restorative justice in sexual assault cases

Source: calmatters.org/ 12/28/22 When a sexual assault survivor walks into Alexandra Fulcher’s office at Occidental College, it’s the first step in a process fraught with consequences for both the survivor and the accused.  If Fulcher, the school’s Title IX director, launches an official investigation, the survivor could be asked to recount their trauma and cross-examined about it in a live hearing. Their alleged assaulter could be expelled. But for the past year, survivors at Occidental have had another option. They can participate in a restorative justice conference with the person…

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Legal Scholars Call on Universities to Reform ‘Victim-Centered’ Sexual Misconduct Policies

[freebeacon.com] Nearly 140 legal scholars have signed a letter calling on universities to reform current policies governing sexual misconduct allegations with a renewed focus on due process, rather than by a doctrine of “always believe the victim.” The letter highlights dangers inherent in “‘victim-centered’ practices” that “undermine neutrality in campus Title IX processes,” and claims the imbalance has been plaguing institutions for nearly three decades. According to the authors, the misleading victim-centered procedure was introduced in the early 1990s and been on the rise since the 2006 publication of an…

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