Paper Example on Jane Doe V. Metropolitan Toronto 1998

Introduction

In the year 1986, a stranger broke into the apartments of Jane Doe through the balcony while she was sleeping where he raped her at knife-point. After seven months after Jane Doe was raped, four other women were raped in the neighborhood of Jane Doe where they reported to the police that they had been raped by a stranger in similar circumstances. However, even after reporting to the police, they were too slow to link the assaults where they did not employ adequate resources to the investigation hence hindering the process of getting up with the strangers. Additionally, the police upon realizing that a serial rapist was common in the area, they did not like the women who were at risk in the area and also they did not put necessary measures as required by law to prevent or stop further raping cases in the areas (Randall). Although many cases were reported to the police concerning rape cases which needed investigation and justice to prevail, this essay will consider more on the case which was reported by Jane Doe to the Metropolitan Toronto Commissioners of Police.

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After Jane Doe realized that justice was delaying after reporting her rape case to the police, she sued the Board of Commissioners for the Metro Toronto Police demanding that justice must prevail. She sued her cases based on three separate grounds which included negligence by the Toronto police to protect the people in their areas and also the violation of her quality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Moreover, she sued the police based on the ground that the police failed to provide security to her according to an infringement of her charter right to security. After Jane Doe presented her case to the respective authorities, Madam Justice MacFarland on July 3, 1998, ruled in favor of Jane Doe on all the three counts.

The evidence presented before the court clearly shown that before the rape Jane Doe, similar crimes had been performed by PDC on December 31, 1985, January 10, 1986, June 25, 1986, and July 25, 1986. All of the above crimes took place in residences which were next to the Church as well as Wellesley area in the city of Toronto. The people who were investigating the matter realized that the police knew that there was serial rapist who would attack women who lived alone in the second and third floor apartments with climbable balconies and therapist would certainly attack again if necessary actions were not taken, but ironically, the police did not employ the necessary precautions to control the matter (Graham et al.). The serial rapist most likely performed the crimes on the 24th and 25th days of the month but despite all this information, no precautions were put or protection to prevent further cases. The investigation also clearly shown that the two officers who were assigned to investigate the case were enormously busy with substantial commitments to other cases which they were also entitled to examine.

The police are entitled to protect the people and their property as speculated in the constitution as well as prevent crime from occurring and prosecute the law offenders as the law stipulates. However, the police failed in their duty as the law expects them. They additionally were unable to warn the women where the crimes took place so that they can protect themselves. The police upon realization of sexual assaults that were rampant in the area were expected to put in place a meaningful warning to women in the area and particularly those who were at risk of being sexually assaulted. It was expected that the warning could not have compromised the investigation which was to be carried out later to cope with the situation. It is clear that had the warning being given; the victims would have taken steps to protect themselves and probably those steps would have prevented them from being raped. The balcony rapist was regarded not as severe as the Annex Rapist crimes which were highly distinguished by more violence. The investigation which was carried out by the police was carried out in a manner that Jane Doe was denied the right of protection and also the equal benefit of the law.

The court supported its ruling by saying that the police are entitled with the duty of protecting as well as take care of the women who were raped in Jane Doe's neighborhood after Jane Doe was raped. Madam Justice MacFarland concluded that the police were irresponsible on the so-called ''balcony rapist'' and they were grossly negligent on the matter (Chamberlain and Erika). Interestingly, the court also accepted the argument by Jane Doe that the main reason why the carried out substandard investigations was that the police did not commit the crime of sexual assault seriously. The evidence which was presented to the court was shown clearly that there were long-standing systematic problems in the manner through which the police investigated the rape cases. Ironically, the police had not applied genuine efforts to correct the crime of sexual assault which was rampant in their area (Zaami and Mariama). According to the evidence presented before the court, it was clear that the police who were responsible of investigating the sexual assault crime was motivated by rape myths as well as sexist stereotypes about women hence the investigation they were carrying out was impeded.

The person who was responsible for investigating the police by the court realized that the police decided not to warn the women in Jane Doe neighborhood about the ''balcony rapist'' with believing that if they warned them, women would panic and become feverish. The police therefore deliberately withheld the necessary information they could have given the women to prevent further rape cases where they could have taken appropriate actions to protect themselves if the police could not. Also, the court also ruled that the police violated the equality rights of Jane Doe and also her constitutional right of security of the person. The court also found that there was not enough evidence presented before the court to justify that the Charter breaches. As a result, the court demanded that Jane Doe is awarded $220,000 as compensation to damages done to her which twelve years after the legal battle began had amounted an interest of virtually $500,000.

After Madam Justice MacFarland ruled in favor of Jane Doe on all the claims which Jane Doe presented to the court, the Toronto city council apologized to Jane Doe as well as all the women of Toronto according to the manner in which the case was handled. After a short while, the Toronto police services also issued a formal apology to Jane Doe to crimes performed to her. It is clear that one of the results of the pervasiveness of male sexual violence in the society is because most women in the society fear sexual assault hence they govern their conduct because of the fear. The investigation also clearly shown that majority of sexual assaults committed against women were not reported to the police for the necessary actions to be taken against the law offenders as well as justice to prevail to those who have been sexually assaulted. The main reason why important cases were not reported to the necessary authorities was that strong negative attitude people have concerning the substandard investigation police carry out and also the delayed justice by the courts (Shore and Jacques). The investigation showed that after the rape cases are reported to the police, the police themselves comprise their first names with the criminal justice structure hence hindering the process of investigation therefore at most instances, justice to the victims fails to succeed.

Conclusion

As portrayed above, it is clear that women face a lot of crimes with sexual assault being one of them. Despite the crimes being evident or reported to the police, justice fails to occur or if it occurs, it takes a long time. Jane Doe who was sexually assaulted while she was in her house reported the matter to the police, but despite the police getting in touch with the information, more raping cases occurred to four other women who were living next to Jane Doe. It clearly shows that the police ignorance to put in place necessary measures to stop the crimes as well as carry out official investigations to get the law offenders is the key to the rampant crimes against women. The investigation clearly shows that if the police had put a warning to the women in the area more so those who were at risk of being sexually assaulted; the crimes would not have occurred. The police, as well as the government at large, should protect the rights of people and their property more so the women to avoid crimes in the societies.

Additionally, those people who are caught acting against the law as it is speculated in the constitution should be punished accordingly. Punishment should also include those police officers who fail in their duty to protect the people and their property to reduce crime cases. By doing so, crime rates especially sexual crimes to women would be controlled to a great extent.

Work's Cited

Chamberlain, Erika. "To Serve and Protect Whom? Proximity in Cases of Police Failure to Protect." Alta. L. Rev. 53 (2015): 977.

Graham, Katherine A., and Susan D. Phillips. "Who Does What" in Ontario: The process of provincialmunicipal disentanglement." Canadian Public Administration 41.2 (1998): 175-209.

Randall, Melanie. "Sex Discrimination, Accountability of Public Authorities and the Public/Private Divide in Tort Law: An Analysis of Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto (Municipality) Commissioners of Police." Queen's LJ 26 (2000): 451.

Shore, Jacques JM. "An Obligation to Act: Holding Government Accountable for Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security." International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 28.2 (2015): 236-251.

Zaami, Mariama. "'I fit the description': experiences of social and spatial exclusion among Ghanaian immigrant youth in the Jane and Finch neighborhood of Toronto." Canadian Ethnic Studies 47.3 (2015): 69-89.