AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

University students have an option which most citizens don't. When they feel they have been wronged, they can file a complaint with the University's Judicial Inquiry Office, seeking justice there instead of or in addition to the criminal justice system. If they file with the JIO, the University can investigate and prosecute completely within its campus. Although the University judicial system cannot send anyone to jail, it can permanently put a mark on student's academic transcripts, have students attend sensitivity workshops or expel them. The JIO even handles cases involving rape and assault, in addition to academic dishonesty, administering penalties out of the public eye and without anything ever being proved in a real court room. University Police often plays a dual role, responsible for investigating matters for both the criminal justice and University judicial systems. When University Police responds to a crime that involves students, officers can let the crime be resolved within the University's judicial system, take the matter to the criminal justice system or have investigations pending in both systems. Even if officers respond to a serious crime, the victim can decide to pursue justice through the JIO, avoiding the hassle and legal expenses associated with a criminal court proceeding. "If there is a behavior that is a violation of policy, and that behavior also constitutes a criminal act, officers refer it to the JIO, take it to the criminal justice system, or do both," University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said. "They can concur because one is upholding the law, and the other is a policy violation, and there's a lot of legal basis for that." To many students, the option of pursuing a complaint through the JIO is a lot more welcoming than the criminal justice system, officials say. "Most students do not want to go through the criminal justice system, but they do want the students held accountable," Kuprevich said. "They want it handled internally. "I don't think we should duplicate the criminal justice process. I don't see this as a duplication, I see it as both, policy and criminal." But if Philadelphia police were to respond to a crime such as an assault or rape, the crime would automatically be placed into the criminal justice system, assuming the victim wanted to prosecute. Although Philadelphia police cannot approach the JIO, if the JIO finds out about an incident, the JIO can still prosecute the student under the University judicial charter. "Clearly, being a campus police officer is different from being a municipal police officer," Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta said. For one thing, University Police officers swear to uphold University policy in addition to the law, Kuprevich says. Assistant Judicial Inquiry Officer Robin Read sees merit in resolving some conflicts inside the University. "If a student is a complainant, they feel they have been wronged, and they want the wrongdoer to have consequences for what they did," Reed said. "And a lot of the time the consequences [imposed by the JIO] can be more meaningful than the criminal justice system. They feel if their academic record is affected in some way it is of big significance." But Moneta stresses that the JIO is not a tool for revenge, but is part of the educational process. The JIO is intended to discipline students who engage in behavior which the University deems inappropriate or unacceptable, he says. Countering the perception that the JIO conducts witch hunts or goes after students without cause, Moneta said, "The JIO does not look for violators. There's always a complainant." Moneta says by handling certain crimes within the University, the JIO also aids the criminal justice system in addition to providing a service to students. "The criminal courts do not want to be clogged with the problems that students in their fertile maturing phase [go] through," Moneta said. Kuprevich agrees, saying some courts have referred cases involving students back to the University. Moneta says the JIO helps safeguard the University community against students who may pose a threat to others because it can deal with offenders much faster than the criminal justice system, where cases can often take months and years. "If you're talking a felony case, you're talking 24 months," Kuprevich said. "If you're talking of a felony case, we want to refer to both. The University has a decision to make. They have to decide if somebody's existence on the campus is a threat to others." Moneta and Read say that if there is a serious offense, they often encourage the victim to pursue justice both in the University and outside justice systems. But if the student does not want to go to the courts, the JIO cannot bring the matter for them. "If it was a matter of rape for example, and the student wanted it only to go to the JIO, we can't disclose information to the judicial system," Read said. The only time a JIO would have to disclose information is if he or she were subpoenaed by the courts to testify or if the JIO's records were subpenaed, Read says. And the JIO cannot take up a complaint with the criminal justice system for a student without a student complainant. "I don't know a D.A. who will take a case without a complainant," Kuprevich said. But he added, "As long as we've collected all the evidence, we can give the complainant time to choose which venue they would like to pursue." He says a student's decision to seek justice internally and not externally poses many questions for the University. "There's a decision to be made at times," he said. "Let's say there's a rape situation, and the defendant does not want to go externally. Some campuses say they will only supply support, but that they will not punish the behavior unless the students pursues the behavior externally." He also said he feels the internal system is very effective and more educational than the criminal justice system. "My position is that, one, this is a private institution, which means that we do not have constitutional standards, which means we do not have to meet constitutional standards of due process, which means we shouldn't have a judicial process which is based as a legalistic system," Kuprevich said. "I think [the JIO] ought to be there to enforce behavioral expectations and policies. It should not be based in due process." Kuprevich says the criminal justice system's failure can be seen in the large amounts of people who commit crimes after having gone through "the system." "I see a system that doesn't give people a reason to change their behavior," he said. "Nor is justice necessarily the truth. Justice is an outcome of all our legal restraints: how good a lawyer you have, not what actually occurred." Other universities have judicial processes different from the University's, he says. "At the University of Delaware, if you engage in a behavior which is criminal and behavioral, they deal with it internally and they go to the criminal justice system [every time]," he said.