Double Standard Regarding Shropshire?

Written by Jesse Barron from on December 15th, 2009 | 0 Comments

The Observer at Eye on Annapolis chimed in on December 4th asking if readers thought justice was served in the Shropshire midshipman case.  I was the only person to weigh in and did so with the opinion of thinking it was a witch hunt.

I stand by my comments and now just eleven days later have found a new article that may demonstrate a double standard:

There are not a lot of details, but a female midshipman reported to the Naval Academy that she was sexually assaulted back in June while on summer training in Norfolk, VA.

NCIS investigated and said that there was not enough evidence to charge anyone or take the case to military court. They will not be releasing anymore details out of respect for the privacy of those involved.

Granted, I am willing to admit that there could be a million and one reasons for not pursuing charges against anyone, but we must remember that Shropshire was charged and found guilty based on the mere accusation by a midshipman.  As far as I am aware there was zero physical evidence in the case.

I cannot help but wonder if investigators would have shown little to no interest in the Shropshire case had a female accused him of inappropriately touching her.  I am left wondering how much the “male on male” angle played into everything from it being a media sensation all the way to him being found guilty.

With Shropshire it seems that the male victim made an accusation without any physical evidence to back it up and he was found guilty.

I cannot find it so I cannot source it, and I may be a little bit (or a lot) off with the numbers so please do not quote me, but the other day I read some statistics saying that something like 4 million people are now registered sex offenders and that the number is double what it was just four or eight (I forget which — I think they said 2001) years ago.  What I do remember for sure is that the person did the calculations and that by the end of the century, unless something changes, every single person in the U.S. will be a registered sex offender.  Ponder that.

Thoughts?  I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

Before anyone jumps on me, I take sexual assault very seriously and know first hand the pain and suffering it causes victims.  Having said that, I also believe in a justice system that requires a confession or physical evidence in order for a guilty verdict to be handed down.

Tags: Annapolis, Annapolis City Council, Crime