The Defendants podcast explores the justice system and sexual assault crimes

Award-winning writer Jane Aster Roe sheds light on sexual assault and the Canadian justice system with new podcast.

Roe is the host and executive producer of The Defendants. The six-part series blends personal storytelling, investigation, and reporting about sexual assault, featuring survivors, lawyers, and advocates.

Through her own experience in the system, Roe says that insiders know it’s failing. 

She says she created the podcast to inform people how the justice system actually handles sexual assault cases.

“In order for us to have a better system and create more change, we need to have a better understanding of how it is right now and how it actually works,” Roe says.

“I think a lot of people peripherally understand that the system doesn’t work, but they don’t really know the nuts and bolts of it.”

Roe says the podcast is called The Defendants to draw attention to how roles are reversed for sexual assault crimes.

“Victims of sex crimes are asked to justify their status as a victim from the very beginning, and they are asked to justify even speaking up and saying that they were a victim. They’re questioned right from the start and all the way through the process,” she says.

She says it’s important to zoom out to understand the systems you live in, adding that Canada is a patriarchal society.

“Sex assault crimes affect women more so than other genders … [and] almost all the perpetrators are men,” Roe says.

“The system is built up to protect the people who are in power, so when you have a crime that is almost entirely committed by men towards those who are disempowered, … [that’s why] we’re at the place that we are.”

Roe adds that the goal of The Defendants is to understand that the system doesn’t work for a reason.  

“We’re the ones who created the system, so we have the power to change it.”

The Defendants final episode was released June 24, available on Spotify, Substack, and Apple Podcasts.