Statement: BARCC Responds to Bail in McClinton Case

On Wednesday, August 5, Boston police arrested and charged a Dorchester resident with aggravated rape, armed kidnapping with sexual assault, strangulation, and assault by means of a dangerous weapon. Shawn McClinton had been released on bail three weeks prior while awaiting trial on similar charges for an attack that occurred in 2018. His bail was paid by the Massachusetts Bail Fund, a nonprofit organization that pays the bail of low-income defendants who would otherwise remain behind bars until their cases are resolved. The defendant has two prior convictions for rape in 1994 and 2007. On Thursday, a Dorchester District Court judge ordered the man held without bail. Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Executive Director Gina Scaramella released the following statement in response: 

“This case is a searing reminder that there is much work ahead of us to ensure that people in our communities who play important roles in the criminal legal system—as either investigators, prosecutors, judges, jurors, and advocates for reform—understand sexual assault and the individual and community responses to it.

“It is indisputable that the criminal legal system failed the most recent victim of the defendant at multiple points along the way. In Massachusetts, there is a process in place for prosecutors to request a hearing to assess the danger to the public if a defendant is released on bail before trial. These dangerousness hearings are limited to felony offenses that include the use or threatened use of force. The reported 2018 crime that this defendant is awaiting trial is rape at knifepoint. With two prior convictions for rape, and a new charge of violent rape, it is unfathomable that this defendant was eligible for bail in the first place. Rape is a serious, violent crime and should be treated as such. 

“By posting bail for the defendant without regard to the charges he was facing, and his prior convictions for similar behavior, the Massachusetts Bail Fund showed an incomprehensible disregard for public safety. There is no doubt that bail reform is urgently needed. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 people jailed in the United States who have not been convicted of a crime. Most are extremely low income and have committed lower-level crimes such as failure to pay criminal legal fees and fines, theft, and drug offenses. They are disproportionately Black and Latinx because of structural racism baked into the criminal legal system. 

“In all attempts to reform the criminal legal system, it is vital that the needs of survivors of sexual violence are considered, and particularly the needs of Black, Indigenous, and non-Black survivors of color who are less likely than their white peers to be taken seriously by law enforcement and prosecutors. 

“We know that survivors of all races, ethnicities, and genders are reluctant to report sexual assault and abuse to law enforcement for many reasons. It is enormously discouraging to see the courageous decision by the survivor of the 2018 attack to report the assault against her to law enforcement essentially undone by a series of failures in our criminal legal system. We hope that the survivor of the 2018 attack and the one that took place this week are getting the support they need.”