My heart breaks for the victims of this situation, as it does for all survivors of sexual abuse. Any individuals responsible for such atrocities on innocent victims must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I think the main problem here is that SafeSport is NOT the official governing body who is responsible for determining whether or not the alleged perpetrator is guilty or innocent. They are NOT the law. That’s up to the criminal justice system in the state/country/jurisdiction where the alleged crimes took place. Being banned for life by the SafeSport organization is one thing, but it holds no official weight whatsoever to the criminal justice system as an automatic guilty verdict. At most, the documentation collected in SafeSport’s internal investigation and its resulting ban could be presented at trial by the prosecution as evidence of an aggravating factor against the accused. Innocence or guilt must always be proven in a criminal court of law, AFTER the accused is arrested, taken into custody by the police, officially charged with the crimes, appears in front of a judge for a preliminary hearing to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, and is given the option to stand trial if they choose to plead not guilty.
Think of it like this, using a much less serious accusation: An employee is caught stealing money while on duty at work. Evidence of this is recorded on the store’s security camera that is positioned to monitor the area surrounding the cash registers. Management becomes aware of the situation, reviews the security footage, then calls the employee in for a meeting. The manager presents the video to the accused employee, then fires them on the spot.
In its most basic, objective definition, theft is a crime. Period. Full stop. It doesn’t matter if the amount stolen is two dollars or twenty thousand dollars. I don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to argue otherwise.
Now, if this hypothetical manager wishes to criminally prosecute the now ex-employee, he does not have the authority to do so on his own. He must contact the police and present them with the evidence. Usually a detective is given the job of reviewing said evidence and investigating the scenario further using other means. After this process is complete, it is then at their discretion to determine whether or not they have enough hard evidence to arrest and charge the ex employee and prove their guilt to a judge.
Sometimes, likely more than you’d think, for various reasons, the manager chooses not to get the justice system involved, believing the accused’s immediate loss of employment is punishment enough.
Back to the situation at hand. SafeSport is basically the equivalent of the aforementioned hypothetical manager. By no means do either of them have the authority to act as the criminal justice system.
Just as all victims of a crime deserve the right to be listened to, believed, comforted, and supported; the accused party also has the right to due process and a fair trial.
SafeSport seems to just throw the results of their internal investigations to the media, which then creates this massive ripple effect, where the general public automatically believes the accused is guilty.
If you can’t understand how this can have a serious impact on the accused’s mental health, to the point where it leads to them taking their own life, irregardless of their guilt or innocence... honestly, I don’t know what else I can say to you.
Think of all the individuals who have been vilified on social media by the court of public opinion, over some sort of trivial faux-pas that isn’t even criminal in nature. Many lose their jobs, experience shunning from friends and family, watch their marriages fall apart, their children become embarrassed of to be seen with them, their neighbours and acquaintances turn the other way if they see them in the grocery store... etc.
Now, imagine you’re accused by the masses of being a sexual predator, all because of information provided by a private organization’s private investigation, NOT the judicial system. What if you’re innocent? What if you aren’t given a chance to tell your side of the story? What if nobody even cares to hear your side of the story, because the general consensus is you’re a liar who’s guilty as sin?
SafeSport’s investigative policies and procedures desperately need to be more transparent for the general public. Contrary to popular belief, this CAN be done while concurrently protecting the identities of the victims. SafeSport should be working WITH the criminal justice system to bring perpetrators to justice, NOT conducting these secretive internal investigations, handing out lifetime bans, and throwing the accused to the wolves.
