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The potential abuse of such laws is a main reason Hollaback! does not advocate for the further criminalization of street harassment, explained Debjani Roy, the organization's deputy director."We have a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets particular communities, and we don't want to facilitate that," she said. "Just having a law threatening harassers with fines or jail time is not a tool that is effective in itself."One doesn't have to look far to find cases of people of color being disproportionately targeted for crime: The US Department of Justice found it happening all the time in Ferguson, and the Drug Policy Alliance found the same occurring in Colorado.While the potential for abuse of anti-harassment laws is there, it's not clear that it's a serious problem, especially because police generally don't take harassment complaints all too seriously, according to Holly Kearl, author of two books about sexual harassment and founder of the group Stop Street Harassment.With an endless stream of crime running around the clock, police resources are constantly contested and often unable to facilitate addressing what can be perceived as a lesser crime. Moreover, Kearl described a "cumulative effect" of harassment; it might not be the first, second, or third instance that in itself causes a feeling of being unsafe or uncomfortable, but collectively, each instance takes a toll."You can't report every single person. It takes so long to pursue, people often think it's not worth the time, energy, and money to seek justice."
—Holly Kearl
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First, it's important to differentiate between harassment in public places—where a perpetrator is difficult to identify and might never been seen again, such as a city sidewalk—and private places, like a work environment or school, where it is usually the same person or group of people committing harassment. The former can be difficult to bring to court; the latter, not so much."When my mom first started working, there were no laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, and if your boss pinched your butt, you found another job," Nielsen said. "That changed because of law."And most of us can agree that physical harassment, such as groping, and more extreme forms of harassment, like stalking, need strong legislation on the books. As lofty as it might sound, there's a resounding consensus that—though it is far from perfect—the law serves as an official state opinion, one that can serve to facilitate shifting cultural norms."A big part of this work is letting people that are harassed know that their feelings around it are validated and that their experience matters."
—Debjani Roy
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