So the rape charges against three Duke students have been dropped and all is well in the world, right?  Well certainly, this is a vindication of our criminal justice system, having ultimately arrived at the right conclusion so that innocent young men are not sent to prison, right?  Okay, at least we can take comfort in the fact that these three student athletes can now emerge from the dark cloud to pursue their future unencumbered by false charges, right?

No.  Not right.  Not right at all.  Way down yonder in Chapel Hill, there are three young men, and their families, whose lives are forever changed.  No matter what they do now, they will never have their lives back as they were 396 days ago.  Their dreams for their futures are permanently altered.  Their families have spent untold sums to reach this conclusion, but it’s a conclusion that should have never been. 

Lesson Number 1:  The harm is done the moment they were arrested.  Nothing will ever change this fact, and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about.  The notoriety is manifest.  These boys were attacked with a knee jerk ferocity that is only shocking in retrospect.  Of course their names will forever be connected with a rape, but more than that there will be people who will never be able to get it out of their heads that they did something wrong.  Perhaps not the rape as alleged, but something.  They are forever tainted.

Then, of course, there is the impact of this past year on the lives of ordinary and extraordinary kids.  What happened to their year of school?  What happened to their prespective of the world?  What happened to their efforts to establish a normal, productive and satisfying future?  Over the next week, I would expect to see them hounded by Oprah and GMA so they can be the tear-jerker du jour.  The media is relentless in pursing young meat, and human beings seem to be fundamentally weak when it comes to resisting a chance to be on TV. 

But expect these boys to be different.  They have had far more than their 15 minutes, and they have learned too well that it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Once the glow wears off, one finds it to be an enormous burden fraught with innumerable burdens.  The media is not your friend, and given half a chance will elevate to a pedestal, then rip to shreds, anyone it can.  It makes for good TV.  I would imagine that these kids have already learned this lesson well, and will not fall into this trap.  But their lawyers were on TV early this morning.

Lesson Number 2:  People with 5 second attention spans must rush to judgment.  Let’s face facts, we are bombarded with information.  There’s no time to ponder and wait; we must decide this instant right or wrong, guilt or innocence.  The default position is that alleged rape victims, police and district attorneys are right, and accused rapists are wrong.  Ergo, the boys are guilty and we can now change the channel and watch Scooby Doo.  Had the media not followed up on this story because of its sensationalistic potential, these boys would have been forever guilty no matter what happened at trial. 

Lesson Number 3:  District Attorneys sit at the right hand of God.  They do God’s work.  Their only purpose in life is to pursue justice and protect us regular folk.  Or maybe they’re just people who can be good, bad or both on any given day.

Lesson Number 4:  All’s well that ends well.  So the white Duke lacrosse players will walk away from the false accusation of the rape of a black woman.  Change just about any word in that sentence and no one would have ever heard of this incident.  No media interviews of witnesses, who would then recant their stories.  No investigations into their backgrounds.  No network anchors pondering important questions like, “How did it feel to be the viciously raped by three athletic boys from wealthy and powerful families?” 

But, you say, these boys were vindicated!  Get over it!  Yeah.  It never happened to anybody except these three young men.  We cannot extrapolate from the myriad of systemic disasters that were exposed to public scrutiny that there are any other men or women sitting in prisons for the rest of their lives because some purported victim lied, some elected DA abused his power and some cop decided his time was better spent proving the guilt of the person he decided was guilty rather than investigating to find out who was guilty, or even whether a crime was committed.  Those things never happen.

So what grade do we get from this course? 

Media:  B (they did ferret out the recanted witness statements)
Boys:  A (they conducted themselves with exceptional dignity in the face of unbearable scrutiny)
Defense Lawyers:   A- (they were doing great until they succumbed to the allure of early morning TV and sounded only slightly less vapid than the victim)
Society:   D (these kids would have been lynched on day 1 if the Duke professors and administration knew how to tie a knot)
Nifong:  F (no explanation needed)