Since Mom’s death, I’ve been reading a lot of fanfic – re-reading old favorites and discovering new ones, especially in the Harry Potter fandom. Recently, I was reading YATTFIF (yet another time travel fix-it fic) that shall remain nameless because no one likes being used as a teaching example, however good the story is otherwise, and an incident jumped out at me.
The incident involved Vernon Dursley physically shaking Hermione on the non-magical side of the platform at King’s Cross station – at the end of first year. He verbally confronted her, and when her response didn’t satisfy him, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. Hermione’s father decked him in response, and the transit police came over to investigate. Several witnesses who corroborate the Granger version of events come forward as well.
So far, so good – nothing bothersome about that. What bothered me, though, is that the transit police ask Dad!Granger if he wants to press charges against Vernon. Ah – no.
To explain why this is wrong requires a brief (and very general) description of the difference between a criminal case and a civil case. I’m a legal assistant in real life, so I do have a clue – but if someone with more knowledge than I have cares to chime in, I’ll be happy to listen and maybe learn something new.
A civil case is, generally speaking, a wrong done by a person(s) against another person(s) – where “person” includes corporate entities. Some of the most famous cases in U.S. history are civil cases: Marbury v. Madison; Brown v. Board of Education; and Roe v. Wade, to name a few. Punishments for civil cases typically include monetary awards.
By contrast, a criminal case is a wrong done by a person(s) against society as a whole. These cases are generally known as United States of America v. Person (in Federal cases), or the State of XX v. Person (in state cases). In the U.K., as far as I can tell, criminal cases are known by R. (for Rex/Regina) v. Person, and sometimes spoken of as the Crown v. Person. Punishments for criminal cases can involve fines, prison terms, or both.
Where this gets fun is when the same set of events can result in both civil and criminal cases being filed. As one example, O.J. Simpson faced both types of lawsuits in relation to the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. He was acquitted in the criminal case, but as a result of the civil case had to pay millions of dollars in damages to his children (as recipients of their mother’s estate) and the victims’ families.
Getting back to Vernon Dursley’s confrontation with Hermione and Dad!Granger, this is a situation that can give rise to both sets of charges. (At least in the US; since the US and UK share many common legal principles, I believe the situation would be similar, but haven’t researched the matter thoroughly.)
Dad!Granger, as natural parent and guardian of Hermione Granger, could choose to file a civil suit against Vernon (likely styled Granger v. Dursley) for torts such as emotional distress. Given sufficient testimony and evidence, he could win thousands of pounds, to be paid by Vernon Dursley. It’s Dad!Granger’s decision whether or not to file this suit.
However, the transit police were given sufficient evidence of a crime being committed (testimony from Dad!Granger and several witnesses) that they could (and likely should) have arrested Vernon Dursley right then and there. Based on the evidence presented in the story, Vernon would likely be found guilty of crimes including assault on a minor child, battery of a minor child, and possibly others (public nuisance, maybe?) under UK law. Why? Because he violently attacked another member of society without provocation. This case would be styled Crown v. Dursley or R. v. Dursley, and Vernon could face a prison term.
Dad!Granger has no say in whether that case is filed or how it would be prosecuted – though he and/or Hermione might be called to testify as witnesses during trial.
I want to stress that this isn’t the only fic in which I’ve seen a similar situation; often, it’s Harry choosing to press charges or not.
The point is, in a criminal case – and most fics describe events that could lead to criminal charges – it’s not the individual’s decision whether or not to prosecute. They may not want to get involved, but if the state/crown chooses to prosecute, they may not have a choice about being involved. (They can be subpoenaed, they can refuse to testify/be a hostile witness, but that’s still involvement.)
I get that the author of the fic didn’t want to dwell on the aftermath of the shaking incident; often
, I skip over things that don’t geek me when I’m writing. I’m not blaming the author for skipping the aftermath.
I do wish more authors would take a few to search the ‘Net for just enough information to make the events of their stories more plausible. In the story in question, the author could have had the transit police arrest Vernon and then later mention that they’d decided not to prosecute for whatever reason.
Then again, the author’s choice led to this blog post, so I really shouldn’t complain. GRIN
