Hollywood Producer, Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty Of Criminal Sexual Assaults

Harvey Weinstein, seen arriving at court in Manhattan on February 24, has been on trial for over a month

A court in New York City has on February 24 found Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of criminal sexual assaults including third-degree rape.

In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women accused Weinstein of The Weinstein Company (TWC), of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least thirty years.

Victims of Weinstein’s sexual assault who shared their stories through #MeToo movement, a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault, gained global attention. 

The powerhouse film producer was found guilty of a felony sex crime and rape and faces up to 25 years in prison, after a trial in which six women testified that he had sexually assaulted them.

Harvey Weinstein is being remanded straight to jail to await sentencing on March 11.

This ruling is a partial victory for the #MeToo movement even though the 67-year-old was found not guilty of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault charges that could have seen him jailed for life.

Over eighty women in the film industry accused Weinstein but he denied having ‘any non-consensual sex.’ Shortly after, he was dismissed from TWC, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and retired from public view.

On May 25, 2018, Weinstein was charged by New York prosecutors with ‘rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.’

Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct which he all denied.

The scandal triggered many similar allegations against powerful men around the world, and led to the ousting of many of them from their positions.

It also led a great number of women to share their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social media under the hashtag #MeToo. The scandal’s impact on powerful men in various industries came to be called the “Weinstein effect”.