Each court case detailed by Krakauer, in my opinion, can be seen as intergroup conflict in which the larger community in-group such as government officials such as Kirsten Pabst, and Grizzly fans try to legitimize their claims against the “out group” of sexual assault victims and their victim advocates in order to threaten the out group’s validity and distinctiveness (Tajfel & Turner 1985). One instance where this group-divide is present both before and after the proceedings is in the case of Kelsey Belnap. After agreeing to hang out with her friend Betsey Fremont, Belnap is immediately put in an awkward situation where she is at a party of people she doesn’t know, and doesn’t feel comfortable with. Even though she was apprehensive, Belnap
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She fails to meet the victims of the case, but still makes negative statements about them (i.e. the cases of Kaitlynn Kelly, Kelsey Belnap, and Allison Huguet); it is in the job description for an attorney to speak to both parties of the case to corroborate facts. Most people would think that attorneys would seek the truth and justice, but in the justice system of Missoula, many of these cases’ attorneys skew the data in order to invalidate the victims’ claims. In essence, these attorneys are keeping potential rapists on the streets without legal repercussions, and the victim helpless and without restitution for what they’ve been through. In aligning themselves with the larger community centered around its football team, attorneys representing the accused find they will win cases from the bias within the …show more content…
Pabst surprises many co-workers by dropping out of her tenured position, and deciding to create her own firm (Krakauer 348). In her separation from the MCAO while it was undergoing a fight with and an investigation from the Department of Justice, Pabst tries to distance herself from the negative aspects of the fight. This can be explained by the social identity concept of “individual mobility,” where a person may distance him or herself from a group in order to achieve a separation from the beliefs of that group, and join a group with superior status (Tajfel & Turner 1985). In fact, under Pabst’s role in MCAO, the rates of prosecutions in Missoula of reported sexual assaults at 12.2% was even lower than the already-low national average at 18%, which was one of the details that prompted the DOJ investigation (Patterson & Campbell 2010). In the DOJ’s claim that under her supervision some of the sexual-assault cases were handled poorly, Pabst openly denies that this “would not have been tolerated” and hinted that it was most likely Van Valkenburg’s refusal to cooperate (Haake 2014). It is as though Van Valkenburg’s social identity, to Pabst, is
She fails to meet the victims of the case, but still makes negative statements about them (i.e. the cases of Kaitlynn Kelly, Kelsey Belnap, and Allison Huguet); it is in the job description for an attorney to speak to both parties of the case to corroborate facts. Most people would think that attorneys would seek the truth and justice, but in the justice system of Missoula, many of these cases’ attorneys skew the data in order to invalidate the victims’ claims. In essence, these attorneys are keeping potential rapists on the streets without legal repercussions, and the victim helpless and without restitution for what they’ve been through. In aligning themselves with the larger community centered around its football team, attorneys representing the accused find they will win cases from the bias within the …show more content…
Pabst surprises many co-workers by dropping out of her tenured position, and deciding to create her own firm (Krakauer 348). In her separation from the MCAO while it was undergoing a fight with and an investigation from the Department of Justice, Pabst tries to distance herself from the negative aspects of the fight. This can be explained by the social identity concept of “individual mobility,” where a person may distance him or herself from a group in order to achieve a separation from the beliefs of that group, and join a group with superior status (Tajfel & Turner 1985). In fact, under Pabst’s role in MCAO, the rates of prosecutions in Missoula of reported sexual assaults at 12.2% was even lower than the already-low national average at 18%, which was one of the details that prompted the DOJ investigation (Patterson & Campbell 2010). In the DOJ’s claim that under her supervision some of the sexual-assault cases were handled poorly, Pabst openly denies that this “would not have been tolerated” and hinted that it was most likely Van Valkenburg’s refusal to cooperate (Haake 2014). It is as though Van Valkenburg’s social identity, to Pabst, is