PannickAtTheDisco
Well-Known Member
This is escalating on Twitter after the Paddy Jackson rape trial, where all 4 defendants were found to be not guilty.
Jackson's lawyer criticised the investigation, claiming bias and the pursuit of a prosecution of a high-profile defendant and questioned its integrity.
Since the verdict, this hashtag has gathered stream with a multitude of tweets, varying from criticism of the verdict due to inconsistencies between the defendants accounts and the testimonies of the accuser and other witnesses.
In addition, there are a notable number of tweets which take a personal approach to criticising a wide range of things, including hoping the defendants still lose their jobs, attacking the "patriarchy" and other such attacks.
A few of the various tweets:
It's clearly an extremely difficult and complicated subject, with a various number of issues including:
I think it's a troubling subject at the moment and this reaction is a prime example.
Jackson's lawyer criticised the investigation, claiming bias and the pursuit of a prosecution of a high-profile defendant and questioned its integrity.
Since the verdict, this hashtag has gathered stream with a multitude of tweets, varying from criticism of the verdict due to inconsistencies between the defendants accounts and the testimonies of the accuser and other witnesses.
In addition, there are a notable number of tweets which take a personal approach to criticising a wide range of things, including hoping the defendants still lose their jobs, attacking the "patriarchy" and other such attacks.
A few of the various tweets:
His solicitor, Joe McVeigh, hit out at the investigation into Mr Jackson.
"It's our belief that the investigation has been characterised by the turning of a blind eye to inadequacies in the evidence of the complainant combined with the very apparent investigative bias," he said.
He added: "The prosecution made much of a perceived privileged position provided by virtue of Paddy being an international rugby player.
"We say that it was this very status as a famous sportsman that drove the decision to prosecute in the first place."
Mr McVeigh also said "real concerns about the integrity of the trial process" had been raised by "vile commentary expressed on social media, going well beyond fair comment".
"Several days of this trial were lost due to problems thrown up by the intrusive infection of the process by social media," he said.
"All the lawyers have been distracted by having to man the barriers against a flood of misinformed, misconceived and malicious content on the internet, particularly during the last phase of this trial and, worryingly, even at the hands of public servants who should have known better."
It's clearly an extremely difficult and complicated subject, with a various number of issues including:
- Naming, shaming and hounding of victims on social media despite risking arrest.
- As seen in this case, the level of scrutiny and disparity of time having to provide evidence and face questioning for accusers compared to the defendants.
- Case reviews after the withholding of evidence led to potentially unsafe convictions.
- The level of male suicides being brought to public attention recently.
- The right to anonymity for accusers but not for defendants.
I think it's a troubling subject at the moment and this reaction is a prime example.