I've had several conversations about the justice or lack thereof in the sentencing of Professor Anna Stubblefield since I posted about her four days ago. One person made a strong case against any jail time on the basis that (a) although every reputable professional society that has examined "facilitated communication" has concluded that it is bogus, it's not illegal to use the "technique," and, most importantly, (b) Anna Stubblefield did not have what in legal terms is called "guilty mind" (mens rea).
If I erroneously take your suitcase from the airline carousel because it looks exactly like mine, I'm not guilty of theft. But if when I get home I decide to keep it because I like the content of yours better than mine, I've become a thief. The difference is in my knowingly and intentionally appropriating your property. That's guilty mind.
My critic was right. In initiating a sexual relationship with D.J., a disabled man, Professor Stubblefield (a) believed he had given enthusiastic consent via "facilitated communication," that she was (b) fulfilling his wishes (as well as hers), and that (c) bringing a disabled, previously uncommunicative 32 year old into the shared human world was an ethically admirable act. That doesn't look like a guilty mind. How could jailing her for rape possibly be ethically allowable?
That argument troubles me too. But here's my response. "Facilitated communication" (placing the uncommunicative person's hand on the facilitator's hand to guide writing at the keyboard) has been decisively and definitively shown to be a false theory. The writing comes from the "facilitator," not from what believers in the false theory call the "communication partner."
But given the widely known results of scientific evaluation of "facilitated communication," and the multiple condemnations of it by reputable professional societies, Professor Stubblefield should have known that D.J. could not give valid consent. She should not have accepted her experience at the keyboard as evidence for consent.
Another interlocutor invoked the history of science. Haven't there been examples of theories widely regarded as false that were later determined to be true?
Yes, there have.
Professor Stubblefield and her co-believers in "facilitated communication" are entitled to believe that mainstream science is wrong, and to make ethically allowable efforts to disprove the scientific consensus. But they're not entitled to invade the rights of others, as by "determining" that consent for sexual relations has been given. Similarly, the occupiers of the federal wildlife refuge in Oregon are entitled to argue that the federal government is acting wrongly, but they are and should be liable for trespass for acting on their beliefs.
Still, from the perspective of ethics, sentencing Professor Stubblefield to 12 years in prison makes no sense. She's not a danger to others as long as she neither commits nor incites actions like hers with D.J. That would be a condition of probation. She did not have a guilty mind. Although her case is not a slam dunk, I hold to my view that given 25 years of well publicized scientific findings, she was not entitled to act on her beliefs.
In my view, the jury was correct in defining her actions as rape. But guilt is one thing and sentencing another. The sentence may be consistent with state law, but the 12 year sentence does not fit the crime.
If I erroneously take your suitcase from the airline carousel because it looks exactly like mine, I'm not guilty of theft. But if when I get home I decide to keep it because I like the content of yours better than mine, I've become a thief. The difference is in my knowingly and intentionally appropriating your property. That's guilty mind.
My critic was right. In initiating a sexual relationship with D.J., a disabled man, Professor Stubblefield (a) believed he had given enthusiastic consent via "facilitated communication," that she was (b) fulfilling his wishes (as well as hers), and that (c) bringing a disabled, previously uncommunicative 32 year old into the shared human world was an ethically admirable act. That doesn't look like a guilty mind. How could jailing her for rape possibly be ethically allowable?
That argument troubles me too. But here's my response. "Facilitated communication" (placing the uncommunicative person's hand on the facilitator's hand to guide writing at the keyboard) has been decisively and definitively shown to be a false theory. The writing comes from the "facilitator," not from what believers in the false theory call the "communication partner."
But given the widely known results of scientific evaluation of "facilitated communication," and the multiple condemnations of it by reputable professional societies, Professor Stubblefield should have known that D.J. could not give valid consent. She should not have accepted her experience at the keyboard as evidence for consent.
Another interlocutor invoked the history of science. Haven't there been examples of theories widely regarded as false that were later determined to be true?
Yes, there have.
Professor Stubblefield and her co-believers in "facilitated communication" are entitled to believe that mainstream science is wrong, and to make ethically allowable efforts to disprove the scientific consensus. But they're not entitled to invade the rights of others, as by "determining" that consent for sexual relations has been given. Similarly, the occupiers of the federal wildlife refuge in Oregon are entitled to argue that the federal government is acting wrongly, but they are and should be liable for trespass for acting on their beliefs.
Still, from the perspective of ethics, sentencing Professor Stubblefield to 12 years in prison makes no sense. She's not a danger to others as long as she neither commits nor incites actions like hers with D.J. That would be a condition of probation. She did not have a guilty mind. Although her case is not a slam dunk, I hold to my view that given 25 years of well publicized scientific findings, she was not entitled to act on her beliefs.
In my view, the jury was correct in defining her actions as rape. But guilt is one thing and sentencing another. The sentence may be consistent with state law, but the 12 year sentence does not fit the crime.
No comments:
Post a Comment