Criticizing how rape culture theory is used, vs. criticizing the idea itself.

The specifics of how this have been done have subverted (undermined the power and authority of) the criminal justice system to handle rape cases.

I don't agree with this. Merely having two different authorities that can rule on rape cases, does not subvert the justice system.

This is no different from, for example, employers. In fact, employers usually have much greater power to punish people by firing them at will, than schools have. At worst, a school can kick someone out, bar them from attending in the future, and keep their paid tuition for that semester. But a school is a lot like a business that is providing a paid service for the student...what a student loses from being kicked out is a lot less than what an employee loses for being fired from a job.

And businesses can fire employees on a whim...for example, in many states it is legal for an employer to fire an employee because of them actively voicing political views that the employer doesn't like.

The criminal justice system is separate. People can choose to prosecute, or not. Having the colleges or universities handle the rape case doesn't make it harder to prosecute--it often makes it easier because people collect the evidence and they have a bunch of documentation from the college/university case that can then be used in a court of law.

I also want to point out that one of the main reasons colleges and universities deal with rape cases internally is that the police often refuse to cooperate or cooperate halfheartedly in these cases, so it's not so much a question of subverting justice, but like, a college/university to do as much as they can to create a patchwork to get a "second best" attempt at justice when the normal justice system fails completely.

/r/AskFeminists Thread Parent