A Case Study
Stechna reported that in one case of incest rape a 10 year old girl was impregnated by her uncle who was living in the home (2011). The victim did not believe that she was raped, and although she said she understood that she was pregnant, she didn’t know the vocabulary for her own body parts, nor how they functioned as a female (Stechna, 2011). Further details of this case are revealing:
The girl’s patient care plan included reminders for the staff that, unlike most deliveries, this is not a joyous occasion (Stechna, 2011). A sheet barrier was used as the patient and her family did not want to see or hear the baby, the baby was to be moved to the next room immediately after delivery where the pediatric nurse team would be on standby (Stechna, 2011). The sheet
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The age of the victims may result in an absence of knowledge of legal rights and protections. Being able to even identify that an assault has occurred may be minimal or non-existent for many women and children (for example, the pervasive perception that a husband can’t rape a wife). Children may also believe that they are willing participants or have provoked the incidents (Russell, 1986). They may report that they enjoyed some elements of the experience or didn’t do anything to stop the experience and feel that they then deserved what happened and could not blame the offender and thus didn’t report the assault (Russell, 1986). Due to the highly sensitive and personal nature of sexual violence, pregnancy due to sexual violence, and incest, data collection is limited to substantiated cases from law enforcement agencies, well as self-reported survey data, and case study data. None of these forms of data collection are capable of giving a comprehensive, or completely accurate about the breadth and scope of these phenomena in the United
Trawick-Smith (2014) argues “Modern technology has given rise to a set of standard medical procedures used frequently in hospital births in Western Societies” (pg. 89). One of these standard medical procedures is the caesarian section. The caesarian section is a process where the newborn is removed surgically, an incision is made in the abdomen and the baby is removed from the uterus (Trawick-Smith, 2014, pg. 89). Throughout the years the caesarian section has become increasingly popular. The film argues that hospitals have different motives when it comes to the delivery of newborns.
However, even though they are usually not the ones at fault, nothing is ever said about the event. In a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, it was found that 75 to 77 percent of sexual assaults, attempted rapes, and completed rapes were never reported (“Sexual Assault and Rapes”). Furthermore, the blame of the whole event was never put on the person responsible. Instead, the victim was blamed for not denying the advances, or for not making themselves clearer in their intents(“Sexual Assault and Rapes”). This huge chip to carry often leaves the victims feeling isolated, scared, full of shame, depressed, and with a low self-esteem(“Sexual Assault and Rapes”).
In the book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in College Town, by Jon Krakauer, the reader delves into how rape and sexual assault are treated in the town of Missoula, and the University of Montana. As the reader, we are informed on how the university, the police department, the district attorney’s office, and the community reacted to these rape and sexual assault allegations. We see how the criminal justice system has failed the victims, and are forced to live with what happened to them, while their assailants are free of any burden. The law is set in place to protect people from victimization, but when the men, in this book, are not legally held accountable, then any woman, or man, is more susceptible to victimization. It is interesting
In 1997 the total number of sexual assault cases recorded in Australia was 14,138, 60 percent of victims were aged under 20 and 79% of victims were female. Statistics by ABS show in the year of 2021 there were 11,550 reports of sexual assault, 71% of victims being under the age of 18. 83% of the victims were female, an increase of 4 percent since 1997. Many sexual assault cases go unreported in fear that the justice system will fail the victims, statistics such as recent as 2019 show that 14,994 incidents were reported to NSW Police but only 1,207 finalised charges. This shows that the conviction of sexual assault is also a problem towards the victims. Although with the many law reforms in place, sexual assault is still a continuing issue in todays society with 1 in 4 women having experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.
Sexual assault remains the most underreported crime for teens as well as adults, (Why Don’t They Tell? In the award-winning novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson writes about a character named Melinda Sorinado who was raped in the summer of freshman year and during freshman year we read about her dealing with the trauma she experienced. “Its choppy, nonlinear narrative gradually reveals that shortly before the first day of school, Melinda went to a party, where she was raped by a handsome, popular senior… But also, I had been sexually assaulted a month before ninth grade started,” (Interview with Author). Due to him being so popular, she didn’t tell anyone, some of the reasons that may have happened could be.
Of the 22.3 million children between the age of 12 and 17 in this country, at some time in their life about 1.8 million have been the victim of a serious sexual assault, 3.9 million have been the victim of a serious physical assault, and almost 9 million have witnessed serious violence (Helen, Connelly,
In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident.
Sexual violence can affect anyone. There is no end all be all strategy to avoid any and all sexual violence. However, studies have shown that some people are more likely to be affected by sexual violence than others. Typically, the people most likely to be at risk of sexual violence are people who are disenfranchised, in prison where a whole different cultural dynamic exists and people who can’t care for themselves. Just a few of these groups are Native American women, male prisoners, and children.
In Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals describes her arduous battle for racial equality in the brutal town of Little Rock, Arkansas in the late 1950s. When she was only twelve years old, Melba survived attempted rape by a white man. Scared and confused, Melba went home and told her family. However, they instructed her to keep quiet about the abuse because they believed getting the police involved would only make things worse. Unfortunately, thousands of sexual assaults still go unreported for a myriad of reasons, including distrust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system, the possibility that the abuser will not be punished, and victim blaming, a common occurrence in our society.
However, from the late 1970s through 2008, rape and sexual assault rates, as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey, steadily declined (Mears, 2010, p. 82). This survey, however, does not consider all crimes that are considered sexual crimes. There is no existing data on all the various crimes that could be considered sexual crimes. Over the past 30 years, according to a new
Molestation occurs around the world, and can happen to anyone at anytime. In 2010, the University of Montreal surveyed 800 Quebec women and men. “The investigation found that 22 percent of women and 10 percent of men reported beings survivors of abuse, which ranged from molestation to rape, which is comparable to the findings of previous studies on the topic.” A large amount of people reported experiencing some form of sexual abuse, which is also illustrated in Jeannette’s story “He pressed me to him and started dancing again, but I knew this was not going in a direction I wanted, and I resisted him... He squeezed my bottom, pushed me onto the bed, and began kissing me…
The authors received, and analyzed data on 111 cases of female perpetrators, which was obtained from the women after they had been charged with sex offenses. Among the characteristics of the offenders under investigation, it appeared that offenders “emerged as intellectually low in the average functioning group, with a high prevalence of psychiatric or personality disorders, a high prevalence of neglect and (especially sexual) abuse” (Wijkman, Bijleveld, Hendriks, 2010). From the conducted study, it was also evident that the victims of the offenders were relatively young (median age 13) and mostly of the female sex. In 93% of the cases, the victim was either an own child, a relative’s child or an acquaintance. Often, the abuse was carried out with a male partner (Wijkman, Bijleveld, Hendriks,
According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, another person endures sexual assault every 98 seconds. This information may have been shocking ten years ago, but for many, this news is a basic fact of life. Sexual assault cases have continued to become more and more common as time goes on. What is causing this surge in unwanted physical contact? The cause of sexual assault is one hundred percent of the time, the assaulter’s fault.
In other words, the rapes that included more violence included acts such as being held down, slapped around and seriously injured while on the other hand less violent rapes may include verbal abuse so victims may not acknowledge this is still rape even if they were not seriously injured (Burgess et al., pg.376). In addition, fear of the legal system is another reason of not reporting rape. The legal system can alter the victim’s decision to
According to The Child Welfare Outcomes Reports made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2011 there were approximately 742,000 cases of confirmed child maltreatment. The national child victim rate was 9.9 child victims per 1,000 children in the population. This rate decreased from 10.3 child victims per 1,000 children in the population in 2008 to the most resent 9.9 rate in 2011. The state rate varies ranging from 1.2 child victims per 1,000 children to 24.0 child victims per 1,000 children. Even though the rate has decreased some of these instances are not reported until something major occurs like in Brianna’s