May 18, 2011--The Law

Though most of the media attention has focused on the salacious details--how Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Chief of the International Monetary Fund allegedly assaulted a maid in his luxurious Manhattan hotel suite--there is another important aspect to the story that has not been covered. The remarkable if flawed way in which the law works in the United States.

You of course know about the case:

How Strauss-Kahn emerged from the shower and, while fully naked, purportedly sexually assaulted the maid who came to his room thinking he was out. For those wanting the lurid details, and for others who take schadenfreudean pleasure is seeing the wealthy and famous fall from their pedestals--the very same pedestals on which we tend to place the rich and powerful--there are the numerous news accounts.

He up to now in his IMF role was considered to be one of a handful of most powerful men in the world, fully engaged and playing a leadership role in struggles to resolve the European debt crisis while at the same time regulating and supporting the economies of developing nations. He was, for example, after the alleged attack, hauled off a jet that would have taken him to Europe for a meeting yesterday with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and others, seeking ways to deal with the failing Greek economy.

And, we have learned in the process, that he was the odds-on favorite to be elected France's next president since Nicolas Sarkozy's poll numbers are in free fall.

So Strauss-Kahn's own fall is nothing short of seismic and remarkable.

Remarkable because on the other side of the story we have the reported victim, a 32-year-old African immigrant who lives in the Bronx with her young son.

In most places in the world, such a person would not be able to bring charges of sexual assault against a Strauss-Kahn. Her allegations would likely be dismissed by the authorities where the attitude would be: What was she doing in his $2,000-a-night suite in the first place? Wasn't she inciting him by her very presence? And, further, excuses would be made--It was merely a matter of a man behaving like a man. What's the big deal.

We do not have a perfect justice system--I suspect that attempts will be made to get her to withdraw her charges after money exchanges hands or her lawyer reminds her that the rich are able to buy themselves a strong defense team and that she is likely, by them, to be turned into the accused.

Then there are the legitimate questions about the uniquely American perp walk, where someone like a Strauss-Kahn, charged with a sex crime, is marched in handcuffs before the cameras. Mind you, he is "only" an alleged criminal who, here, thanks to the implications of the 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments to our Constitution, is considered innocent until proven guilty.

The French, who do not allow the public humiliation of alleged criminals, are understandable outraged. More by the perp walk, it seems, than their up-to-now future president's apparent penchant for engaging is this kind of behavior. As we are also learning, he has quite a track record in this regard.

But we should also take a moment to step back to reflect on how remarkable it is that just a maid, even an immigrant housekeeper, protected by the Constitution and the American justice system, has the right and the power to bring such charges and, if they are proven beyond a reasonable doubt, can see her attacker, no matter how exalted, forced to pay for his crimes.