Incidences of Sexual Assault in College Campuses - Essay Example

INCIDENCES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN COLLEGE CAMPUSES Unit: Sexual assault is used to refer to various forced and unwelcomed sexualactivities such as rape, kissing, groping and exhibitionism. Victims may be forced into sexual activities both verbally and non-verbally intimidations or by use of drugs. Sexual assault does not all times involves physical contact but acts like exhibitionism or voyeurism can still be referred to as unwelcomed sexual interest (Petrak et al. 2003:12). There had been various instances of sexual assault in campuses and this has shown a rise in the number of victims of sexual abuse. This paper therefore forms an argument on the reasons for increase sexual assaults in the campuses. The paper looks into the recent reports concerning sexual assault in colleges and ways in which sexual awareness had been promoted in the colleges. According to the research, most incidences of sexual assault in colleges go unreported. This has been related to the various social stigmas that men and women victims are experiencing. From the research carried out by The Sexual Victimization of College Women, less than 5% of attempted or actual rape of girls in college goes unreported to the police. The study stated two-thirds of the victims reported sexual assault incidence to someone like a best friend. Another study finds that nine in ten of college victims were not reported to police. Apart from the policed, the college victims did also not report the sexual act to other professionals like doctors, school administration or counselors (Flowers et al.2009:85). Survey results that were also given by RAINN stated about 60% of victims do not report to the police and only about 25% of acts that were reported resulted to the arrest. The National Institute of Justice provided the reasons for failure of report of sexual assault by the women such as lack of trust of authority and fear of being blamed for the assault. Men are also sexual assault victims as reported by statistics given by Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. It reported about 10% of incidences of sexual assault facing men. The Male Survivor, support organization, stated how male victims experienced various types of stigma including lack of vulnerability and stereotypes of toughness and machismo. The misconception in the society can limit report of discarded sexual activities by men. High rate of sexual assault in campuses is driven by the dynamics of life in the campus. Many of the survivors usually fall under the category of incapacitated assault as they are abused sexually under the influence of drugs. Perpetrators always feed on incapacitated women and most of the times give drugs to the victims. The perpetrators who drink prior to the sexual assault are usually driven by their drunkenness and assume that the woman being drunk is having interest in sex. Most victims in the college are assaulted by someone they are familiar with most commonly incapacitated assaults. A study in 2007 reveals a 58% incapacitated rape cases and about 28% 0f forced rapes. Remarkably, perpetrators in campuses are always sequential criminals. One study shows that about 7% of men in college confessed of trying rape activity of committed rape. Furthermore, about 63% of these men had agreed to have been involved in several crimes, about six rapes each (Lisak et al. 2002:76). Reports on sexual assault have gone up as compared to the previous years. This increase was connected to the increase awareness and strengthened educational programs that encouraged the victims to be open on cases of sexual assault. A survey carried out in largest colleges in New England shown an increase by 40% on reports of forced sex between 2012 and 2013 (Sixth Report of Sessions, 2008:104). This was in accordance with the Globe data review provided by the colleges. Taking a quick glance on colleges that provided high incidences of assault reports shows that these colleges were small, moderate arts colleges. It is therefore possible that colleges like; Reed, Grinnell and Gallaudet were stated to be the campuses experiencing high rates of sexual assault in the nation. These campuses, however, had developed a setting where survivors were more comfortable and open to report the sexual activity. The recent analysis on report in the colleges on sexual assault in 1570 colleges with over 1000 students enrolment carried out by The Washington Post reveals a 50% increase in the rate of sexual in Campus from 2010- 2012 (Powers, 2015:2) .Many analyst and spokespersons of colleges call upon the high victim reporting crime numbers as the major shift in numbers cause. The also gave the reason of increase focus in schools to increase more intervention, education and training programs in campuses. The analysts however concluded that there is an upward surge of campus rape in the recent years. These statistics however included only the cases that are known. Most experts have related the increase in sexual assault reports to the increase in awareness. This awareness started with the 1990 Clery Act which required colleges to provide report data on crimes in campus annually including number of instances of rape or sexual battery. The number of assaults depended on the effectiveness of the ways by which assault allegations were handled in campus rather than the frequency of sexual assault. Reports had been given stating imminent investigations at 89 Colleges over the ways the cases of assaults were dealt with in the schools. The Obama administration also prioritizes campus assault through encouraging address of problem by the colleges and the universities. This administration requires clarification of sexual harassment federal laws and carrying out campaigns publicly target towards encouragement of men in reporting and preventing assaults. Promotion of sexual assault awareness has been the key goals of most of the colleges in a way towards preventing incidences of sexual abuse. Students together with faculty have developed media awareness and filed various complaints on sexual assault with the federal government concerning the ways in which sexual assault cases are handled in the colleges. The students have moved into looking for the preventive measures and ways of providing help to the victims. Colleges and universities have also come up with ways of providing education to students on sexual assaults and to make sure victims are aware of procedures for reporting the assaults. The victims are also given access to health care and support emotionally together with information regarding their legal decisions. There is the provision of increased education to all university community members on sexual activities (Ottens et al 2001:286). There is also the formation of a team for investigation to handle complaints concerning sexual harassment or violence. The creation of special victim sector in the police department to handle cases of sexual violence is also a move towards the control of sexual assaults in the campuses. Some measures however were not available in the proposed changes. Climate survey was carried out to determine students’ responses on sexual assault and harassment on colleges. The survey also looked at the transparency on how students who were found to be involved in such sexual activities were punished. Some colleges were found to be providing information online in simple languages. Other schools relied on the convoluted legal wording to provide the explanation to the ways of handling sexual assault cases. However, while all the schools stressed on commitment in the exclusion of sexual brutality in colleges, the obligation will be placed to test at the time the survivors come ahead looking for help. In my conclusion having looked at the prevalence of sexual assaults in campuses and the past researches and reports I conclude that the increase in sexual assaults has been due to the increased awareness. The researchers have stated the victims speaking out and this is encouraged by the awareness carried out in the recent years. The development of policies to govern student sexual behavior in campuses has been towards minimizing of instances of sexual assault. The government is also formulating its own policies towards the handling of assault cases. It is therefore still stands that the recent increase is due to awareness. However, the incidences are expected to reduce in the coming years if the policies in the colleges are heightened and most of the victims have come out. REFERENCES Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage and "honour"-Based Violence: Sixth Report of Session 2007-08. London: TSO, 2008. Print. Flowers, R B. College Crime: A Statistical Study of Offenses on American Campuses. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co, 2009. Internet resource. Lisak, D.& Miller, P.M. Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists: Violence and Victims, 2002. Top of Form Ottens, Allen J, and Kathy Hotelling. Sexual Violence on Campus: Policies, Programs, and Perspectives. New York: Springer, 2001. Internet resource. Petrak, Jenny. The Trauma of Sexual Assault: Treatment, Prevention and Practice. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. Internet resource. Top of Form Powers, Kirsten. The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing Free Speech. , 2015. Internet resource. Bottom of Form Read More