September 20, 2007

Duke U. to Create Criminal-Justice Center in Wake of Lacrosse Scandal

Duke University announced on Wednesday that it would create a center to promote criminal justice and train lawyers to fight wrongful convictions. The university said it would spend $1.25-million on the center, which will be part of its law school’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project.

The yearlong prosecution of three innocent Duke lacrosse players exposed serious problems in the legal system, the university said in its announcement.

“Their ordeal reminded all of us that our legal system is imperfect and innocent people can be accused unfairly,” Duke’s president, Richard H. Brodhead, said in a written statement. “I am determined that we will make some good come out of the grave injustice that took place,” he said.

The new center will develop an undergraduate course on wrongful convictions and run workshops on topics such as eyewitness identifications and false confessions. Students will also study prisoners’ claims of wrongful conviction and possible reforms to the criminal-justice system.

As for the exonerated lacrosse players, they settled with Duke in June and now say they will sue the city of Durham, N.C., for their treatment by law-enforcement authorities if it does not pay them $10-million each, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. —Sara Lipka

Comments

1. There was no wrongful conviction in the famed Duke case. There was only a willing suspension of the Constitutional right of the presumption of innonence on the part of 88 Duke staff, among others. Perhaps the money would be better spent on institutiing a mandatory course on basic civics to be attended by all students and teachers…

   — DPR    Sep 20, 02:08 PM    #

2. What a great idea – it’s just too bad they don’t have any way at all to address the behavior of academic professionals that prejudge and slander their students. But it’s best to concentrate on the flaws of others, I suppose.

   — sherlock    Sep 20, 02:20 PM    #

3. See to the “beam in thy own eye” Mr and Mrs professor working at Duke University.

   — RSulli    Sep 20, 02:27 PM    #

4. this is a wonderful idea – someone needs to stand up against the wrongful conviction of Nifong! Those Duke boys (and their Uncle Jesse!) were guilty as sin – they had to be because they were rich, white males and their victim was a poor black woman. Free Mumia! Free Nifong! Free Ward Churchill!

   — joeg    Sep 20, 03:03 PM    #

5. The worst aspect of the entire despicable affair is that cowards and bullies, Brodhead and the Gang of 88, walk away without penalty or reprimand.

   — Jrich    Sep 20, 03:24 PM    #

6. I guess they had to do something. And a Center for Screening Exotic Dancers for Character was probably out of the question. A Center for Avoidance of Stupidity probably didn’t make the cut either.

   Oh wait, that’s what a university is supposed to be.

   — Bryan    Sep 20, 03:34 PM    #

7. “A Center for Avoidance of Stupidity probably didn’t make the cut either.” ?

   Of course not! Tenure rules would not allow that.

   — Larry Sheldon    Sep 20, 03:43 PM    #

8. This “center” will become a weapon to attack police officers who have made good arrests, rather than a tool to prevent DA’s from using the fanny-kissing media to boost their support among voters.

   I agree, money would be better spent teaching knee-jerk academics about right and wrong.

   — beekums    Sep 20, 03:46 PM    #

9. I think that every person on staff of the university that was protesting and claiming the Duke 3 were guilty should all be fired. Their actions were not only unprofessional as they reperesent the college, it clearly shows the liberal brainwashing that goes on at the college.

   Brian

   — Brian    Sep 20, 03:47 PM    #

10. Gang of 88. Talk about a “good ole’ boys” club…yeesh.

    — Tim Kunkel    Sep 20, 03:56 PM    #

11. “The yearlong prosecution of three innocent Duke lacrosse players exposed serious problems in the legal system, the university said in its announcement.
    ...
    “Their ordeal reminded all of us that our legal system is imperfect and innocent people can be accused unfairly,” Duke’s president, Richard H. Brodhead, said in a written statement. “

    Problems with our legal system? How about problems with Duke’s administration jumping the gun and jumping on the bandwagon early on in this.
    It’s always been true that innocent people can be unfairly accused. The “serious problems” in this case were the media and the Duke university administration’s desires to be oh-so politically correct.

    — reine.de.tout    Sep 20, 04:23 PM    #

12. The behavior of the Duke 3 and their colleagues when the 2 ladies first arrived would be enough to get them kicked out of many universities, minimally they should have been required to take a class in cultural anthropology and sensitivtiy (and pass it, not like the Duke FB, MBB, WBB, .. attend and you pass courses). They and their lawyers also should be brought up on charges of extortion. To demand $10 million dollars or we sue, sounds like blackmail and extortion to me. They and their lawyers are not the innocent choir boys they make themselves out to be. Let the case go to trial and hear testimony from all the witnesses: both ladies under oath, all people at the party under oath, the hospital workers who gave evidence of the possible rape under oath. I think the case should have gone to trial. You are presumed innocent until found guilty. But WE SHOULD all remember, they were not found not guilty by a jury, but only by one of the two DAs who looked at all of the evidence. The jury NEVER got a chance to see and hear all of the evidence in the case. Hopefully one day they will. So bring on the court case and we will all get a chance to see and hear all of the evidence and testimony in this case.

    — Karl    Sep 20, 04:29 PM    #

13. Karl, Chill. Take a pill. Stay away from all things scientific. Perhaps a visit to Iran would be in order. Chow.

    — Da Coyote    Sep 20, 05:07 PM    #

14. It’s amazing to me how specific elements of our populace jump quickly to shout about the failings of our justice system when Black folks are the beneficiaries of those failings. Before Duke lacrosse, I’m sure there were thousands of Black and poor victims of said justice system. Who shouts for them? This center is a wonderful idea, but centuries late — not because of a few lacrosse players who saw what lies on the other side of the tracks firsthand, but for those who lack the power, influence, and wealth to have a voice.

    — Bruce    Sep 20, 05:10 PM    #

15. The LaCrosse Boys should have been expelled for hiring strippers to dance at a team clubhouse. They should not have been prosecuted for a rape that did not occur. The DA has been disbarred, but the Duke 88 who joined in the persecution, if not the prosecution, should be disciplined as well. Maybe force them to read the US Constitution as a start, as that is apparently odious to them.

    — michael    Sep 20, 05:16 PM    #

16. Da Coyote,
    Chow? Are you hungry, suggesting better food, or did you really mean Ciao?

    — Sharon    Sep 21, 07:42 AM    #

17. The Duke Lacrosse case was just one of many hate crime hoaxes. Individuals fake attacks on themselves in order to gain money, sympathy, or take revenge. Hoaxers and believers feel justified to do harm to their community because of past grievances. We’re seeing this happen today with the “Jena 6”, where self-victimizing crowds support a racial gang attack because they believe a previous symbolic hate crime wasn’t punished enough. Hate crime hoaxes are most common at universities, where faculty and activist groups exploit the incident to demand faculty positions, new curricular programs, and their own higher prominence on campus.

    — Steve    Sep 21, 09:59 AM    #

18. Karl – Tell me your post was meant to be a joke! Because it is so far beyond reason it’s laughable except for the reality of what happened to the 3 “innocent” lacrosse players

    — oj66    Sep 21, 10:35 AM    #

19. The biggest lesson to be drawn from this is the willing submission of otherwise learned men to an incompetent, raving lunatic who spoke in legalese, suggesting that the next Hitler will no doubt be an attorney.

    — marci    Sep 21, 12:39 PM    #

20. I would hope all those commenters on the Duke injustice will show the same outrage and support for all the young blacks males in their local city who are unjustly arrested and convicted of crimes for which they profess innocence, but are ignored. The forthcoming law suit sounds like reparation for the wrong committed against them. Funny, when black folks mentioned reparation for the wrongs of the past as well as the present, it has met with very little support. Good idea players, penalize the tax payers of Durham for the injustice caused by one…...

    — Daryl    Sep 21, 10:00 PM    #

21. Totally agree with comment #11. The Duke Univ. statement really is as self serving as it sounds!

    — Bill    Sep 23, 04:27 PM    #

22. How does a wrongfully convicited citizen apply for help in restoring his life and stopping this outrage from happening to others?

    — Allen Skip Roth    Sep 24, 09:46 AM    #

23. Is someone under the whimsical impression that Nifong is the only prosecutor to pull those stunts?
    How naive!

    — James P. Moore    Sep 24, 10:58 PM    #

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