The extent of shock from individuals studying the Epstein information is fascinating.
I’ve learn hundreds of pages up to now (I’m in there as a excessive profile advocate for victims) and apart from the pathetic obsequiousness of seemingly influential individuals like Noam Chomsky, Deepak Chopra, Invoice Gates, Alan Dershowitz, and ex-Harvard president Larry Summers, who fawned over Epstein’s cash like heroin addicts jones-ing for his or her subsequent repair, there’s nothing surprising within the information for these of us who work within the “enterprise” of sexual violence.
Even my closest associates and colleagues appear shocked, which is odd as a result of I’ve been telling them tales about my work for a very long time. A couple of have been texting me about Epstein, saying issues like “you’ve been speaking about this for a very long time, however I didn’t actually hear as a result of I didn’t wish to consider it.”
They consider it now as a result of it’s all over the place. They knew Epstein did very dangerous issues on planes, however now additionally they know that he had a mattress on his aircraft, and that dangerous issues can occur on planes as a result of at a sure altitude, even the worst crimes can’t be prosecuted as a result of there’s no authorized jurisdiction except the crime interferes with the operation of the aircraft.
Bombarding the general public with disturbing data helps individuals get comfy with their discomfort, which can at the least assist jurors convict extra rapists as a result of they received’t discover victims’ testimony troublesome to consider anymore. And with luck, the general public will now refuse to vote for District Attorneys who disrespect victims and refuse to file rape and little one abuse circumstances. We should always make Epstein a very powerful difficulty in each race for District Lawyer (elections are this fall), however we received’t.
See, as with most issues, there’s extra to the Epstein story than meets the attention. The predictable speaking heads blame Trump or the Democrats, however each events are deep within the crap on this one as a result of the line-up of dangerous guys is as a lot blue as crimson.
Those that suppose Epstein is larger than partisan politics are attempting to unite throughout occasion traces to do no matter it takes to cease the epidemic of intercourse trafficking, little one abuse, violence towards girls, torture, and human slavery. These human rights atrocities needs to be a high precedence on the voting sales space, however they received’t make a dent as a result of no person appears keen to give attention to the cash. Who paid whom, how a lot, for what, and the place did the cash go?
These questions matter greater than all the things else, together with what’s going to occur to Andrew formerly-known-as-Prince. Andrew is nothing in comparison with the cash points.
Not that it doesn’t matter when a prince will get prosecuted. It does — as a result of at the least that one man will likely be stopped. However token incarceration of a high-profile does nothing to guard girls and youngsters sooner or later. We noticed this with the so-called MeToo motion. Splashy information tales made some huge cash for the individuals concerned in lawsuits towards Cosby and Weinstein, however as soon as the settlement checks cleared, the story ended. The identical factor will occur with Epstein. He’s out of enterprise now, however another person identical to him remains to be doing the identical issues to different girls and youngsters.
All of us observed when a category motion go well with by a few of Epstein’s victims settled final week for upwards of $50 million. And we’re all watching to see what different offers are being negotiated behind the scenes with different perpetrators, both to maintain circumstances out of court docket, or hold their names redacted within the gradual drip of paperwork.
Backside line, there’s all the time extra to the story, and it’s NEVER in regards to the victims. As I’ve stated many occasions on this area, race trumps intercourse, politics trumps race, and cash trumps all the things.
Wendy Murphy is a victims’ rights legal professional and advocate.
