#MeToo began spreading virally on social media in October 2017 in order to spread awareness about the widespread prevalence of sexual harassment and assault. According to the Me Too website, 17,700,000 women have reported a sexual assault since 1998.
In Minnesota, 2 lawmakers were forced to resign over sexual misconduct allegations: United States Senator Al Franken and State Representative Tony Cornish. In the wake of the movement, many new laws were proposed in Minnesota and a couple made it into law. In May a bill sailed through the legislature with unanimous support which set a time frame of 60 days for testing future rape kits due to thousands of untested rape kits sitting on law enforcement shelves. Another bill Dayton signed required sex trafficking prevention training for hotel and motel employees. Additionally, the House updated its sexual harassment policy, but the Senate did not. Bills that didn’t make it through include one that would lower the threshold for workers to sue their employer over sexual harassment, one that would outlaw butt-grabbing, and one that would outlaw cops having sex with prisoners and teachers having sex with students who are over 18.
In July, the Star Tribune reviewed 1,000 sexual assault cases from a 2 year period and found that police never assigned an investigator in nearly 25% of them, no potential witnesses were interviewed in half of them, 75% of cases were never forwarded to prosecutors for criminal charges, and fewer than 10% of cases resulted in a conviction.
Campus sexual assault is especially pervasive. Among undergraduates, 23.1% of females and 5.4% of males experience rape or sexual assault. Yet, 80% of female students do not report their assault to law enforcement. Among cases reported to law enforcement, less than 10% of cases result in criminal charges against the perpetrator. Given this, survivor-activists argue that colleges are often a victim’s best route for justice because the accommodations and interventions a college is legally required to provide can make the difference between a student staying enrolled or dropping out including issuing a no contact directive, providing extensions and counseling, and ensuring you can continue your education without further discrimination or assault. Activists oppose bills that send all cases to the police and call campus sexual assault a civil rights issue that campuses have a legal responsibility to handle. Any school receiving federal funding is obligated under Title IX to investigate and respond to allegations of sexual assault regardless of whether a police report has been made because sexual assault can deny someone equal access to education that they are entitled to under Title IX.
Here is where the candidates stand on sexual violence:
Jeff Johnson (R): Candidate Johnson as no public stance on this from what I could find and he didn’t comment on the Star Tribune report mentioned above when asked for comment. All other major candidates did.
Erin Murphy (D): Candidate Murphy, the only female candidate I am covering, is the only candidate to address this issue on her website. She supports and has authored affirmative consent legislation under which universities must constitute consent as a fully informed “yes” given without the influence of drugs, alcohol or intimidation. She will make sure that health insurance covers the cost of health costs that come with an assault, or that the state will. She will be proactive in addressing sexual harassment and assault by providing age appropriate K-12 curriculum that teaches personal boundaries, bodily autonomy, and respect. She wants to create a task force that will evaluate how effective Minnesota is at investigating sexual assault cases, and she wants to see a standard adopted that will lead to an investigator assigned to every case.
Tim Pawlenty (R): Candidate Pawlenty says, “Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors need to focus on better investigation and prosecution of these violent offenders. The POST Board should develop statewide standards for sexual assault investigations. ... We need to ensure that justice is delivered for victims of sexual assault."
Tim Walz (D): Candidate Walz wants to see state legislation "to ensure law enforcement has the skills and resources to avoid re-traumatization and effectively see investigations through to prosecution." Walz is a co-sponsor of the Abby Honold Act which reforms how investigators are trained.
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