When it comes to reporting sexual assaults, the numbers speak for themselves — only 5 percent of undergraduate women report sexual assaults to police, according to a 1999 report in the journal Violence Against Women. There are many factors that contribute to underreporting, such as victim-blaming attitudes that are prominent in our society. However, a large problem is the clear lack of coordination and communication between victim resources, which makes the process of reporting extremely difficult, disconnected and drawn-out.
As someone who has become more familiar with victims’ experience through working with PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment), the disjointed and confusing system seems to be hostile and uninviting to those who are thinking about reporting. The Offices of the Dean of Students, the University of Wisconsin Police Department, the Madison Police Districts, University Health Services and other victim services do not run on a strong communication base to create one comprehensive network. While these services are working hard for our community, efforts to create an environment in which victims feel comfortable reporting and confident that reports will be handled competently are necessities to take the problem of sexual assault seriously.
The University of Wisconsin is federally mandated under Title IX and the Clery Act to respond to and handle crimes according to certain standards. For example, Title IX requires colleges and universities to "eliminate the hostile environment caused by campus sexual assault by requiring grievance procedures that ensure gender equity and to create timeframes for complaint resolutions, among other measures." Also, the Clery Act requires that universities give timely warning of crimes that present a threat to the safety of students or employees and to enact public security policies.
According to the Clery Act Campus Crime Reporting Handbook provided by Security on Campus, Inc., "While Clery does not compel the local police to cooperate with universities, it does require campus officials to make a good-faith effort to obtain such crime report information for both statistics and timely warning purposes." The Clery Act essentially requires continuous awareness rather than an occasional safety summit meeting. Unfortunately, universities often fall short of these mandates due to the poor communication between university services, programs and police — this contributes to the poor handling of incidence reports. Colleges have been found to violate Title IX when their procedures included several complaint processes (through housing, the disciplinary board and campus police) with no coordination among them.
According to the Senior Vice President of Security on Campus, Inc. S. Daniel Carter, “Universities should have a documented request in place that would require local police to immediately inform UW of all incidents occurring at, or suspected of occurring at, the house of any officially recognized student organization.” While the police may need to withhold certain information to protect their investigation and the victim’s confidentiality, there is no reason the school should remain completely oblivious to criminal incidences involving students until the news reports it first. Though the UW Police maintains open communication with the Offices of the Dean of Students, this is not so with the Madison Police Department, which controls certain sections of campus, including all UW fraternities. Following the recent sexual assault at the Zeta Psi fraternity, it became clear that adequate lines of communication do not exist between Madison police and UW officials. The current division of campus between MPD and UWPD hampers our university’s awareness and ability to help victimized students.
Hopefully, Dean of Students Lori Berquam has raised awareness and made efforts to promote campus safety including addressing communication issues between Madison police and UW to increase compliance with Title IX requirements. Perhaps campus boundaries should be redrawn to include student neighborhoods that are currently considered off-campus under UW police jurisdiction, or have cases involving UW students transferred from Madison to UW police to allow increased communication and coordination. Regardless, all victim services from reporting to personal care need to form a cohesive body to cultivate an atmosphere that encourages and properly handles reports of sexual assaults. Ultimately, increased communication and safety networks between Madison agencies will make campus safer for all victims of crime and our community as a whole.
Alexandra Cruickshank
PAVE Media Team
PAVE Voices: Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment is an organization committed to shattering the silence to the silence surrounding sexual violence!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
What our Words Say
Too often our society downplays sexual harm when it is not accompanied by additional physical brutality. Saying that any assault has a silver lining is disrespectful to a victims’ pain and may trivialize the harm of sexual contact against someone’s will without the use of violent force.
Please note Madison Alderman Mike Vereer's comments in the following news story:
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/03/05/student_reports_sexu.php
The base harm in sexual assault is the sexual violation, which is a demonstration of power over and disrespect towards a most private and sacred part of an individual, their sexual being. Whether you need hospitalization after an attack or recover in a matter of days on your own, a most horrible violation has occurred. Wisconsin statutes do not require force for an attack to be considered sexual assault; it merely requires it to be without consent. Two men forcing a woman down to sexually harm her is assault, her wounds are sexual and that is all our wise state requires to make it condemnable.
To end sexual violence we must realize how our own attitudes and beliefs might contribute to the problem. Diminishing the sexual harm can discourage victims from reporting if they were not beaten or violated to the point of physical injury, also these attitudes can work to lessen culpability when someone forces themselves on another without needing much force, like in situations where someone is intoxicated, handicapped, sleeping, etc.
While we can all agree that the physical brutality is an additional harm during a sexual assault we must be careful not to dilute the underlying harm. Sexual violence is a wrong against our autonomy and sexuality, which are intricate parts of everyone’s lives and identities. How we understand the base harm will influence our community’s responses towards eliminating this problem. Sexual contact without consent in and of itself should be what we abhor, regardless of whether physical injuries accompanied the crime.
Please note Madison Alderman Mike Vereer's comments in the following news story:
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/03/05/student_reports_sexu.php
The base harm in sexual assault is the sexual violation, which is a demonstration of power over and disrespect towards a most private and sacred part of an individual, their sexual being. Whether you need hospitalization after an attack or recover in a matter of days on your own, a most horrible violation has occurred. Wisconsin statutes do not require force for an attack to be considered sexual assault; it merely requires it to be without consent. Two men forcing a woman down to sexually harm her is assault, her wounds are sexual and that is all our wise state requires to make it condemnable.
To end sexual violence we must realize how our own attitudes and beliefs might contribute to the problem. Diminishing the sexual harm can discourage victims from reporting if they were not beaten or violated to the point of physical injury, also these attitudes can work to lessen culpability when someone forces themselves on another without needing much force, like in situations where someone is intoxicated, handicapped, sleeping, etc.
While we can all agree that the physical brutality is an additional harm during a sexual assault we must be careful not to dilute the underlying harm. Sexual violence is a wrong against our autonomy and sexuality, which are intricate parts of everyone’s lives and identities. How we understand the base harm will influence our community’s responses towards eliminating this problem. Sexual contact without consent in and of itself should be what we abhor, regardless of whether physical injuries accompanied the crime.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Rape Victims Need Police Protection
A female student from Tampa, Florida was recently arrested after reporting her rape to police due to an old warrant for failure to pay restitution on a juvenile offense. Despite having recently been rape by a stranger behind a building during a local parade the officers arrested her, ceased their investigation, and kept her in jail for two days. To add injury to insult, the victim was also denied a second dose of the emergency contraceptive, Plan B.
Full story at: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/30/Tampabay/Police_jail_rape_vict.shtml
The police excused these horrors on bad policies and immediately changed these harmful policies, but could this happen in Madison?
This November the Madison Police got a wake-up call by the City of Madison with the passage of the Justice for Patty Resolution. Patty was a blind rape victim who was charged with false reporting when she came forward after a brutal rape. She, like this young woman in Florida, was treated like a criminal when reporting one of the most heinous and serious crimes in our society. Like Florida, our local police lacked policies on treatment of sensitive crime victims that would safeguard against revictimize them.
It seems like police everywhere lack these policies despite specialized Sensitive Crime Units and trained detectives. Hopefully this police standard will change here by mid-February when Chief Wray submits policy reforms regarding treatment of sensitive crime victims in Madison. While Resolution supporters expect the elimination of tactics used to break down sensitive crimes victims, such as with lies and coercion, the proposal by Chief Wray may fall short. The Police Chief has suggested videotaping interrogations or instructing detectives on when to use these tactics, but this will not suffice. Everyday there are women disrespected, investigated, or arrested like criminals when bravely reporting the most under-reported crime in our nation. Will it really take another incident like Tampa’s before we make these reforms a priority?
Full story at: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/30/Tampabay/Police_jail_rape_vict.shtml
The police excused these horrors on bad policies and immediately changed these harmful policies, but could this happen in Madison?
This November the Madison Police got a wake-up call by the City of Madison with the passage of the Justice for Patty Resolution. Patty was a blind rape victim who was charged with false reporting when she came forward after a brutal rape. She, like this young woman in Florida, was treated like a criminal when reporting one of the most heinous and serious crimes in our society. Like Florida, our local police lacked policies on treatment of sensitive crime victims that would safeguard against revictimize them.
It seems like police everywhere lack these policies despite specialized Sensitive Crime Units and trained detectives. Hopefully this police standard will change here by mid-February when Chief Wray submits policy reforms regarding treatment of sensitive crime victims in Madison. While Resolution supporters expect the elimination of tactics used to break down sensitive crimes victims, such as with lies and coercion, the proposal by Chief Wray may fall short. The Police Chief has suggested videotaping interrogations or instructing detectives on when to use these tactics, but this will not suffice. Everyday there are women disrespected, investigated, or arrested like criminals when bravely reporting the most under-reported crime in our nation. Will it really take another incident like Tampa’s before we make these reforms a priority?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Victims as Criminals
A female student from Tampa, Florida was recently arrested after reporting her rape to police due to an old warrant for failure to pay restitution on a juvenile offense. Despite having recently been rape by a stranger behind a building during a local parade the officers arrested her, ceased their investigation, and kept her in jail for two days. To add injury to insult, the victim was also denied a second dose of the emergency contraceptive, Plan B. The police excused these horrors on bad policies and immediately changed these harmful policies, but could this happen in Madison?
This November the Madison Police got a wake-up call by the City of Madison with the passage of the Justice for Patty Resolution. Patty was a blind rape victim who was charged with false reporting when she came forward after a brutal rape. She, like this young woman in Florida, was treated like a criminal when reporting one of the most heinous and serious crimes in our society. Like Florida, our local police lacked policies on treatment of sensitive crime victims that would safeguard against revictimize them.
It seems like police everywhere lack these policies despite specialized Sensitive Crime Units and trained detectives. Hopefully this police standard will change here by mid-February when Chief Wray submits policy reforms regarding treatment of sensitive crime victims in Madison. While Resolution supporters expect the elimination of tactics used to break down sensitive crimes victims, such as with lies and coercion, the proposal by Chief Wray may fall short. The Police Chief has suggested videotaping interrogations or instructing detectives on when to use these tactics, but this will not suffice. Everyday there are women disrespected, investigated, or arrested like criminals when bravely reporting the most under-reported crime in our nation. Will it really take another incident like Tampa’s before we make these reforms a priority?
Full Associated Press story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2835475
This November the Madison Police got a wake-up call by the City of Madison with the passage of the Justice for Patty Resolution. Patty was a blind rape victim who was charged with false reporting when she came forward after a brutal rape. She, like this young woman in Florida, was treated like a criminal when reporting one of the most heinous and serious crimes in our society. Like Florida, our local police lacked policies on treatment of sensitive crime victims that would safeguard against revictimize them.
It seems like police everywhere lack these policies despite specialized Sensitive Crime Units and trained detectives. Hopefully this police standard will change here by mid-February when Chief Wray submits policy reforms regarding treatment of sensitive crime victims in Madison. While Resolution supporters expect the elimination of tactics used to break down sensitive crimes victims, such as with lies and coercion, the proposal by Chief Wray may fall short. The Police Chief has suggested videotaping interrogations or instructing detectives on when to use these tactics, but this will not suffice. Everyday there are women disrespected, investigated, or arrested like criminals when bravely reporting the most under-reported crime in our nation. Will it really take another incident like Tampa’s before we make these reforms a priority?
Full Associated Press story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2835475
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Athletic Gang Rapes
The Duke LaCrosse case has been all over the media lately, but what most media have not picked up on is that the scenario of a black women being raped by multiple white, rich athletes is not. Back in 1991 an extremely similiar situation was reported by a black women at St. John's where she was raped multiple ways by three lacrosse players after they served her a quantity of alcohol.
St. John's rape: http://newsday.typepad.com/sports_lacrosse/2006/03/a_quick_history.html
From 1989-90 around 15 gang rapes were reported involving around 50 athletes. In a society that worships athletes and expects women around them to be always willing sexual partners, is it any wonder that these rapes occur and can be excused by media and juries? Gang rape among athletes happen, but they are just called 'group sex':
OUT OF BOUNDS: THE TRUTH ABOUT ATHLETES AND RAPE
http://www.interactivetheatre.org/resc/athletes.html
"Psychologist Chris O'Sullivan, Ph.D., of Buckness University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, studied 26 alleged gang rapes that were documented between 1980 and 1990, and found that fraternity groups committed the highest number, followed by athletic teams. In addition, she found that "the athletes who do this are usually on a star team, not just any old team. It was the football team at Oklahoma, the basketball team at Minnesota, the lacrosse team at St. John's. It seems to be our most privileged athletes - the ones, by the way, most sought after by women - who are often involved in gang rape."
The study of gang rape, as reported by the above article, terrifying exposes the reality of willing participation in such activities. Men not raping participate in other ways, and seem not to intervene or support the victim who they watch brutalized. It's about team bonding, men and conquests. Despite the boastfulness in which these assaults are discussed few prosecutions ever occur. We don't want to defame our heros, we don't want to lose that star athlete...so what are the female students? The sacrifice of families and the university unto our athletic gods? Suspending unwillingness to view the perpetrators as anything but good athletes and thinking about the realities the victim has and will continue to suffer may soften our nation's hearts and promote efforts to prevent this violence, rather than hide and excuse it.
Suggestion: Read 'Media Support for a Rapist' below to see if it sheds a different light onto the story.
St. John's rape: http://newsday.typepad.com/sports_lacrosse/2006/03/a_quick_history.html
From 1989-90 around 15 gang rapes were reported involving around 50 athletes. In a society that worships athletes and expects women around them to be always willing sexual partners, is it any wonder that these rapes occur and can be excused by media and juries? Gang rape among athletes happen, but they are just called 'group sex':
OUT OF BOUNDS: THE TRUTH ABOUT ATHLETES AND RAPE
http://www.interactivetheatre.org/resc/athletes.html
"Psychologist Chris O'Sullivan, Ph.D., of Buckness University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, studied 26 alleged gang rapes that were documented between 1980 and 1990, and found that fraternity groups committed the highest number, followed by athletic teams. In addition, she found that "the athletes who do this are usually on a star team, not just any old team. It was the football team at Oklahoma, the basketball team at Minnesota, the lacrosse team at St. John's. It seems to be our most privileged athletes - the ones, by the way, most sought after by women - who are often involved in gang rape."
The study of gang rape, as reported by the above article, terrifying exposes the reality of willing participation in such activities. Men not raping participate in other ways, and seem not to intervene or support the victim who they watch brutalized. It's about team bonding, men and conquests. Despite the boastfulness in which these assaults are discussed few prosecutions ever occur. We don't want to defame our heros, we don't want to lose that star athlete...so what are the female students? The sacrifice of families and the university unto our athletic gods? Suspending unwillingness to view the perpetrators as anything but good athletes and thinking about the realities the victim has and will continue to suffer may soften our nation's hearts and promote efforts to prevent this violence, rather than hide and excuse it.
Suggestion: Read 'Media Support for a Rapist' below to see if it sheds a different light onto the story.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Encouraging Male Voices
Susan Estrich, an outspoken sexual assault activist, recently wrote on male rape and the "lack" of victims. In Houston, Texas a serial rapist has victimized over 5 males ages 18 to 21 since September:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/18/male.rapes.ap/index.html.
More victims are suspected, but may be silent for many reasons. Fear of being revictimized in the criminal justice system, not believed, facing homosexual stigma regardless of sexual orientation, and because rape is viewed as a "women's issue" often encourage such silence.
Susan Estrich's column: http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20061220/cm_uc_crsesx/susan_estrich20061220
Statistics based off police reports often show low to no levels of male sexual assault. As Ms. Estrich notes, "what none means is that serious criminals are getting away with rape, and boys and men are suffering the stigma of shame along with the pain and anguish of brutalization." Normally reported male rapes involve children, leading to facts like the average age for male rape is 4 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000).
When male sexual assault is brought to the fore-front we learn much about the nature of rape. Perpetrators of reported male rape are 61% male, 28% female, and 11% are both! We learn that female perpetrators more often use coercion 91% of the time and 50% are adolescents baby sitters (JAMA, 1998). Many people don't realize females rape; rape is not solely men raping women. If we want to create a world without sexual violence male victims need support and outlet for their voice.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/18/male.rapes.ap/index.html.
More victims are suspected, but may be silent for many reasons. Fear of being revictimized in the criminal justice system, not believed, facing homosexual stigma regardless of sexual orientation, and because rape is viewed as a "women's issue" often encourage such silence.
Susan Estrich's column: http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20061220/cm_uc_crsesx/susan_estrich20061220
Statistics based off police reports often show low to no levels of male sexual assault. As Ms. Estrich notes, "what none means is that serious criminals are getting away with rape, and boys and men are suffering the stigma of shame along with the pain and anguish of brutalization." Normally reported male rapes involve children, leading to facts like the average age for male rape is 4 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000).
When male sexual assault is brought to the fore-front we learn much about the nature of rape. Perpetrators of reported male rape are 61% male, 28% female, and 11% are both! We learn that female perpetrators more often use coercion 91% of the time and 50% are adolescents baby sitters (JAMA, 1998). Many people don't realize females rape; rape is not solely men raping women. If we want to create a world without sexual violence male victims need support and outlet for their voice.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Media Support for a Rapist
A New Years party two years ago has landed Genarlow Wilson in jail for 10 years, though it could and should have been more. While ABC's news story clearly attempts to paint a picture of "normal teen sexual behavior" it still manages to show the assaults for what they were. Please visit for the full story:
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LegalCenter/story?id=1693362&page=1
As noted from the article "a portion of a tape ...[shows] Wilson, then 17 and an honor student and star athlete who was homecoming king...having intercourse with a 17-year-old girl, who was seen earlier on the bathroom floor. During the sex act, she appears to be sleepy or intoxicated but never asks Wilson to stop. Later on in the tape, she is seen being pulled off the bed."
As stated in the definitions provided on this site, consent cannot be obtained from unconscious or severely impaired individuals, therefore making any sexual activity with them illegal. Even in the construction of this paragraph the writer is doing everything in their power to "soften" the rape. They mention he's an athlete, I'm sorry, a "star" athlete, an honor student, homecoming king...but what about this girl? Was she homecoming queen, top of her class, a star athlete? No, she is "sleepy/intoxicate" and apparently consenting to sex without awareness (sarcasm!). The fact that she was previously passed out in the bathroom and then seen pulled off the bed after her rape clearly demonstrates her inability to have consented or prevented her assault.
It turns out, as you read the article, that he was not convicted or raping this 17-year-old girl, but does receive charges for corruption of a minor since the tape shows a 15-year-old girl giving oral sex to a "train" of men including Wilson. The article says people are outraged that this is called an assault and that the child molestation law was "never meant to police teen sex." Call me crazy, but when I was a teen having sex with a nearly unconscious or unconscious individual was not put into "teen sex" but into the rape category. Am I the only one shocked not only by the case but by the media's response?
The article contains a site to Wilson's appeal for his supporters: www.wilsonappeal.com, but I encourage individuals to write to ABC Primetime: abc.news.magazines@abc.com about their coverage, to New York's Coalition Against Sexual Assault: info@nyscasa.org to encourage efforts to affect local media, and to Georga's Network to End Sexual Assault: gnesa@mindspring.com to encourage their awareness and actions against moves to diminish sexual assault legislation around such "teen sex".
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LegalCenter/story?id=1693362&page=1
As noted from the article "a portion of a tape ...[shows] Wilson, then 17 and an honor student and star athlete who was homecoming king...having intercourse with a 17-year-old girl, who was seen earlier on the bathroom floor. During the sex act, she appears to be sleepy or intoxicated but never asks Wilson to stop. Later on in the tape, she is seen being pulled off the bed."
As stated in the definitions provided on this site, consent cannot be obtained from unconscious or severely impaired individuals, therefore making any sexual activity with them illegal. Even in the construction of this paragraph the writer is doing everything in their power to "soften" the rape. They mention he's an athlete, I'm sorry, a "star" athlete, an honor student, homecoming king...but what about this girl? Was she homecoming queen, top of her class, a star athlete? No, she is "sleepy/intoxicate" and apparently consenting to sex without awareness (sarcasm!). The fact that she was previously passed out in the bathroom and then seen pulled off the bed after her rape clearly demonstrates her inability to have consented or prevented her assault.
It turns out, as you read the article, that he was not convicted or raping this 17-year-old girl, but does receive charges for corruption of a minor since the tape shows a 15-year-old girl giving oral sex to a "train" of men including Wilson. The article says people are outraged that this is called an assault and that the child molestation law was "never meant to police teen sex." Call me crazy, but when I was a teen having sex with a nearly unconscious or unconscious individual was not put into "teen sex" but into the rape category. Am I the only one shocked not only by the case but by the media's response?
The article contains a site to Wilson's appeal for his supporters: www.wilsonappeal.com, but I encourage individuals to write to ABC Primetime: abc.news.magazines@abc.com about their coverage, to New York's Coalition Against Sexual Assault: info@nyscasa.org to encourage efforts to affect local media, and to Georga's Network to End Sexual Assault: gnesa@mindspring.com to encourage their awareness and actions against moves to diminish sexual assault legislation around such "teen sex".
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