Alan Dershowitz—famed defense attorney and former professor at Harvard Law School—has been accused of being one of the individuals who were provided with an underage “sex slave” by Jeffrey Epstein, Dershowitz’s friend and client. Dershowitz has not been charged with a crime and is not a party to the lawsuit in which the accusing affidavit was filed. Though neither Dershowitz’s liberty nor his property are at stake, he has responded with public and aggressive victim-blaming.
In 2008, Epstein pled guilty to soliciting sex from a minor; he served only 13 months in prison, an amount of time shorter than that during which he enslaved his victims. Filed in a civil suit against federal prosecutors for violating victim’s rights law in Epstein’s case, the plaintiff who accused Dershowitz (identified as Jane Doe #3 in court documents) gave testimony that she was trafficked from age 15. She describes being forced to have sex with her captor’s politically powerful friends, including Dershowitz, for years.
Dershowitz denies abusing the child trafficking victim; yet instead of acknowledging the gravity of the crime and showing compassion–even while denying involvement–Dershowitz’s response has been shockingly vicious and sexist. In a recent interview, Dershowitz said his accuser was “a prostitute,” and questioned her fitness as a mother. He went on to admit he had no qualms about calling a 15-year-old girl a prostitute, claiming “[s]he was not victimized … she made her own decisions in life.” Those are decisions that the law says no 15-year-old is old enough to make. One day after that interview, 38 Harvard Law School professors joined the many well-connected people who have tried to protect Dershowitz and Epstein, releasing an open letter lauding Dershowitz’s “courage.”
Where is the focus on the plaintiff’s courage? On her horrifying experience, and on the experiences of the millions of other minors bought and sold for sex each year? When rape victims do come forward, where is the focus on ensuring we don’t re-victimize them in the media?
Brutalized by Epstein, betrayed by federal prosecutors who refused to pursue justice, Jane Doe #3 was then publicly shamed by Dershowitz. Shaming rape and human trafficking victims compounds injustice, violating those who report and discouraging others from doing so. It is cruel to call a human trafficking victim a prostitute or to suggest that statutory rape is a victimless crime. The law has made tremendous strides in protecting trafficked minors, but this type of public comment trivializing crimes against them undermines that progress. We fail Jane Doe #3 and countless like her when we accept the trivialization of sex trafficking by victimizers and by the media at large.
This anti-Semitic drivel is a reminder of how much better off Harvard is now than the Bad Old Days.
Back then, Harvard’s leadership used code words like “character” to keep “socially awkward”, “supremacist” Jews out.
Read Dershowitz’s book “Chutzpah” for the details.
(1) Maybe Jane Doe #3 deserves sympathy from us, but I think it’s unfair to expect Dershowitz to be at all sympathetic to her. Put yourself in his shoes–how would you feel if you were falsely accused of such heinous actions?
(2) And as Dershowitz has explained several times, this could not be a case of mistaken identity. Jane Doe #3 has also accused Bill Clinton. Jane Doe #3 might be confused about Dershowitz having sex with her, but there’s no way she’s confused about the president of the US having sex with her. So, that means she’s either (a) telling the truth or (b) lying–there’s no honest mistake here. So, I think Dershowitz has been fair (assuming he’s telling the truth–and I happen to think he is).
And yet this man continues to have such a prominent role in American public life? You Americans really should knuckle down and take your Higher Learning centres back from men like this man.
Dershowitz and Epstein have brought great shame to us Jewish people. They should be shunned.
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DERSHOWITZ ALSO BLAMED THE MANY YOUNG RAPE VICTIMS OF HIS FRIEND, EPSTEIN. THIS SHOWS A LONG STANDING PATTERN OF SEXIST AND CALLOUS CONDUCT BY DERSHOWITZ BY WHICH HE TORCHES RAPE VICTIMS.
“Epstein mounted an aggressive counterinvestigation. Epstein’s friend Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor, provided the police and the state attorney’s office with a dossier on a couple of the victims gleaned from their MySpace sites—showing alcohol and drug use and lewd comments. The police complained that private investigators were harassing the family of the 14-year-old girl before she was to appear before the grand jury in spring 2006. The police said that one girl had called another to say, “Those who help [Epstein] will be compensated and those who hurt him will be dealt with.”
http://nymag.com/nymag/features/41826/index3.html
Anna and Kerry,
Thank your for writing this. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and admire your bravery for choosing to take a stand. I hope there is no serious backlash against you at school or in life, but even if there is, stay strong and know that you are not alone.
God bless,
Tina
Harvard Law is a nest of criminality and abuse, apparently. Do any of the faculty have daughters – or are those thoughts excused because Jeffrey Espstein and his sleaze patrol focused primarily on the poor? In my opinion, Harvard Law is enable child trafficking with its lack of action regarding Alan Dershowitz.
Never mind his peculiar and self-libeling antics on network news, Alan Dershowitz’s actions are hardly the kind Harvard Law ought to excuse without inspection and action. Harvard Law will find itself on the wrong side of history if it continues to gather the wagons to protect the specious Mr. Dershowitz. Teach the teachers! Much respect to you for writing this article – and SHAME on the faculty and administration of Harvard Law.
Professor Dershowitz initially denied getting massages but later admitted massages in an interview at Epstein’s house. He never said if his wife was there.