Letter to DOJ Re Junk Science in Start by Believing Programs

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

I just received an email from Ed Bartlett of SAVE that says that although the overall movement to restore due process on campus continues to gain support, one aspect appears to be actually getting worse:  Campus and criminal investigations are increasingly based on guilt-presuming “believe the victim” and “trauma-informed” concepts. Each year, literally thousands of law enforcement and campus Title IX personnel have participated in sessions where they are told to repeat, in sing-song manner, “Start By Believing.” This has continued since 2016.

I am deeply concerned about this lack of concern for due process and advocacy of fascistic investigative process, apparently based on junk social science. 

Bartlett says that the U.S. Department of Justice has spent millions of dollars to promote such “victim-centered” approaches, including a national start-by-believing campaign;  a law enforcement training program "Approaching Your Work with a Trauma Informed Lens"; and an Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Report,  “Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence: A Roundtable Discussion.”

On May 29, the DOJ will be sponsoring a program on such “victim-centered” approaches titled, “Law Enforcement Response: Approaching Your Work with a Trauma-Informed Lens.”

Bartlett suggests that it's hard to imagine a more direct assault on the presumption of innocence and the impartiality and integrity of the investigative process than these programs.

It is time to bring the three-ring, junk-science circus at DOJ to an end. I am copying the president on this.

Sincerely,

Mitchell B. Langbert, Ph.D.