Bipartisan Women's Caucus Members Host "Victim/Suspect" Film Screening & Discussion
October 18, 2023
Fellow Bipartisan Women’s Caucus members Reps. Jillian Gilchrest, Kate Farrar, and Nicole Klarides-Ditria joined me in hosting a panel discussion and screening of Victim/Suspect, a documentary that brings attention to a disturbing issue of law enforcement disregard and disbelief of women reporting sexual assault.
The documentary quotes a statistic of over 460,000 annual cases of sexual assault, and cases of law enforcement accusing victims of manipulating for personal benefit, damaging the reputation of perpetrators, or otherwise lying about their experiences; in many cases, questioning techniques coerced women into pleading guilty and victims charged and arrested for false reporting, cases closed, and perpetrators never questioned.
When the filmmaker reached out to me a few months ago, I was immediately interested in learning more because we had a situation like the ones described in the documentary happen in Canton. I’m grateful we are showing the film at the Capitol to shine a light on the issue. Survivors need to feel comfortable reporting sexual assault without fear of being made the suspect.
You can watch the documentary, “Victim/Suspect” on Netflix and to learn more about the case in Canton, can listen to the “Reveal” podcast “From Victim to Suspect” wherever you listen to podcasts.
