Page 228 - ILIAS ATHANASIADIS AKA RO1

Why does it continue?

Victims of abuse are often stressed and confused about their situation. This
confusion can block the person’s confidence to report the issue, or they ignore it,

thinking it will go away in time. It doesn’t.

Often the channel to address the issue leads to the legal department, but law
firms can be a breeding ground for bully protection.

Those with money or positions of power often have the greater access to

lawyers.

They can exhaust the victim’s ability to afford legal support very quickly, and
they know it. The power abusers are often in a position to control the legal

outcomes.

As a result, these cases often go unreported, undetected and unchallenged,
because the victim feels that the threat of action could be worse than the original

form of abuse.

This creates a vicious cycle where the perpetrators feel that by getting away with
the crime, they are empowered to continue their abusive behavior.

If abuse of power isn’t impeachable, what is?

The strongest version of this argument has been made by Alan Dershowitz, who

has insisted that the Constitution’s “high crimes and misdemeanors” include
only crimes found in the statute books, not abuse of power.

That’s obviously wrong. In 1725, in a case the framers knew, Thomas, Earl of

Macclesfield, was impeached by the British House of Commons specifically for
“Abuse of his Power” and “great Abuse of his Authority.” The House of Lords

convicted him for it.