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The Courage to Heal versus the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights
Note how the beliefs, practice, and techniques promoted by The Courage to Heal
violate basic American principles of justice. The result, inevitably, is injustice.
| The Courage to Heal | The Bill of Rights |
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| "If you think you were abused and your life shows the symptoms, then you were." (p. 22) |
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless
on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury ... nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law" (Fifth Amendment) |
| "To say 'I was abused,' you don't need the kind of recall that would stand up in
a court of law." (p. 22) |
"the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial
jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall
have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law,
and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defense." (Sixth Amendment)
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| "There are many ways to confront or disclose. You can do it in person, over the
phone, through a letter, in a telegram, or through an emissary." (p. 139) |
"the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be
confronted with the witnesses against him" (Sixth Amendment) |
| "The initial confrontation is not the time to discuss the issues, to listen to
your abuser's side of the story, or to wait around to deal with everyone's reactions.
Go in, say what you need to say, and get out. Make it quick." (p. 139) |
"the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial
jury ... and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defense." (Sixth Amendment) |
| "... take a friend with you as a witness. Be careful about whom you pick to do this.
Choose someone who won't get drawn in by your family." (p. 139) |
"the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of
the state and district wherein the crime shall
have been committed" (Sixth Amendment) |
Note how The Courage to Heal also tramples on other basic American principles
of justice. Its apologists will argue that The Courage to Heal is a book for
therapy, not judicial procedure, but they miss the point: The Courage to Heal
encourages women to treat other people as if those people were guilty of
sexual abuse, without giving those people due process of law, and those
people, just as any other American citizen, are indiviuals with a constitutional right
to be innocent until proven guilty and not to be punished until proven guilty.
The Courage to Heal also commits a subtler error: it encourages individual
women to take a dangerous amount of power into their own hands. The saying that
"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely" is justly famous because it
succinctly states the historical observation that putting too much power into one
person's hands is dangerous both for that person and others. Taking heed of this
historical lesson, the founding fathers designed a system of constitutional government
in which power is divided among the different branches of government. This safeguards
individual rights by ensuring that no one individual (or individual branch of government)
has too much power. The legislative branch makes laws; the executive branch enforces them
and investigates violations; and the judicial branch interprets the laws and determines
whether violations have occurred. In history, when one person has assumed all three
kinds of power, tyranny has been the inevitable result. When a single person is free to
make the laws, interpret them, determine whether they've been violated, and carry out
punishment, the result has been massive injustice because such a situation places no
restraints on the dictator's power and puts no barriers in the way of emotion,
carelessness, abuse of power, and personal vendattas.
The Courage to Heal encourages individual women to take all of these forms of
power into their own hands. It encourages them to personally define the laws (rules for what
constitutes acceptable conduct, or conversely, "abuse"), investigate to their own
satisfaction whether violations occurred (or decide without investigation, if they
wish), determine a sentence for the accused, and carry out the sentence--all without
giving the accused the benefit of a presumption of innocence, the right to confront
the accuser, the right to due process, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to a
public trial.
| The Courage to Heal | Other Basic Rights |
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| "If you think you were abused and your life shows the symptoms, then you were." (p. 22) |
The accused are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. |
| The Courage to Heal encourages women to try the accused in absentia in their
own mind, in the therapy room, or during group therapy sessions. |
In the United States, the accused are not tried in absentia. They have the right
to be present at their trial and to have the assistance of counsel. |
| The Courage to Heal encourages women to act as prosecutor, judge, jury, and
executioner of sentence upon the accused. |
The constitutional doctrine of separation of powers provides that to prevent abuses
of power and protect the rights of the accused, legislative, police, and judicial powers
shall be held and exercised by different branches of government (i.e. never all together
by a single person). |
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