Why Does Campus Rape Remain an Under-Reported Crime - Term Paper Example

Introduction The female gender has always been subjected to sexual exploitation and even outright assault ever since the dawn of civilization, right during man's cave days. Today, the danger is still there but in many instances, it has not been given prominence and attention it deserves. As a result of this, many women are not even aware of the dangers they are exposed to and it includes supposedly safe areas like college campuses. Colleges and universities are normally hosts to a large number of women but the female concentrations in these areas are at a higher risk of rape and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general population or in other comparable age groups outside of these settings (Fisher, Cullen & Turner, 2000, p. 5). There is a clear need for more awareness programs intended to protect the young and vulnerable women who mistaken believe they are safe when within campus grounds. On the contrary, there is a greater danger because of the closer proximity these women have with the male classmates and school mates when they interact with them in dorms and on the school. A problem like this is usually hidden from the public view because some women victims often are reluctant to report these crimes committed against them for a variety of reasons. Some of them do not characterize these assaults as crimes resulting in misreporting of the true crime statistics. Embarrassment, reluctance to report and define a friend as the rapist or the sexual offender, blaming themselves for the crime and a lack of understanding the legal definitions of what constitutes sexual assault make these women hesitant to approach the proper authorities (ibid.). The prevalence rate is about 350 rapes annually per 10,000 female-student population which is an alarming rate indeed and has serious implications on how campus administrators need to make their colleges and universities safer for these young women. Campus rape and sexual assault is under-reported just like how prevalent school bullying is in the lower grades. Background Only lately has campus rape and other forms of sexual assault inside school grounds gained prominence in the public consciousness because of such new terms like date rape and domestic violence. Although there are existing rape prevention and awareness efforts through seminars and information campaigns, these are often not enough to reverse this rising tide of sexual assaults on campus. Many women victims do not bother to report anymore these acts of sexual violence committed against them and many of them eventually drop out of school, resulting further into an underestimation of the magnitude of the problem (Bohmer & Parrot, 1993, p. 23). However one looks at it, rape and various forms of sexual assault is a serious form of crime and from the perspective of the victim, is often a life-changing tragic event. In other words, it is a social issue that needs to be focused on by the school authorities and the other stakeholder groups like the parents, the local police and local government units where these schools are located. Statistics do not count much from the viewpoint of the victim because rape is an individual crime and each crime is a tragedy which is totally preventable. It is this concern which led the Federal government to enact laws to address this issue such as a Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 (also known as Jeanne Clery Act) which mandates all schools participating in Federal student aid programs to prepare, publish and distribute an annual security report regarding campus security policies and importantly, its campus crime statistics for that particular educational institution. This is to make present and future employees, and especially the students, aware of the security situation at their campus. The act had been amended in 1992 and again in 1998, with a new emphasis on the rights of a sexual assault victim as many of the victims feels victimized a second time with the careless and insensitive mishandling of the assault case, resulting in further trauma to the victim. The amendments resulted into the adoption of a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program. Discussion There is a wide range of sexual victimization that includes stalking, verbal abuse and ten other forms of sexual assault. Most of their schools' responses to these threats and actual rape cases had been ineffective at best because many of the prevention measures were taken or formulated by mostly male school administrators. In campus rape, there is a clear need to adopt a different viewpoint. What I am talking about here is using a feminist viewpoint which I think is a more effective approach to prevention (Sandoval, 2002, p. 384). Experts on rape prevention classify various preventive techniques into four broad categories which are social change strategies, environmental control, potential victim awareness and self-empowerment. An example of this gender bias is the slow acknowledgment of male rape victims on campus (Gold & Villari, 2000, p. 44) and sometimes even outright denial it exists. This is because the crime of rape is generally taken to mean within the context of violence against women. In this regard, it is therefore more logical and probably more effective to design prevention programs which are crafted by feminists because they seem to have a better understanding of the issue. One possibility for this feminist approach is through educational seminars to be held in meetings at on-campus dormitories and Greek houses aimed at student organizations. It can be directed also in particular at fraternities and school sports teams (Smith, 2004, p. 34). This focused approach is an attempt at using social change strategies to prevent rape by changing the attitudes and viewpoints of the usual perpetrators of campus rapes which are the males. It utilizes a feminist viewpoint which is a more stringent approach to rape prevention compared to the present methods which are not considered very effective. A concrete example is the big difference in the prevalence between stranger rapes and acquaintance rape statistics because many women victims are hesitant to report the crime (DiCanio, 2004, p. 38) due to their fear of retaliation, embarrassment, ridicule, lack of a witness and hostility by the campus police. Risk Factors – the two studies reviewed by the team of Prof. Fisher et al. indicated a variety of factors that can put vulnerable young women at greater risk to sexual assaults. The two broad categories of variables are individual-specific and institution-specific. The first has variables like demographic characteristics, lifestyles, routine activities and types of the living arrangements while on campus. The second category has for variables items like location of the school (whether rural, urban or suburban settings), size of the student population and the prevalence of crime rates within the school itself. Types of Victimization – the twelve kinds of sexual victimization were grouped into three broad categories which are completed rape (consummated), attempted rape (includes a verbal threat of rape) and a third is threatened rape (threatened sexual coercion and unwanted sexual contact but no penetration with penetration graphically described as putting the penis into the vagina, anus or rectum); this is just to make sure there is no ambiguity in the survey questions conducted by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) as funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics Office. From the above, completed rape is defined as the forced sexual intercourse (through psychological coercion or physical force) that resulted into anal, vaginal or oral penetration including from foreign objects (for example, an empty bottle). Types of Offenders – most of the victims knew the offenders who were their friend, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, classmate, acquaintance or co-workers. College professors were also cited but more for unwanted sexual contact offenses. This confirms the predominance of date or acquaintance rapes compared to stranger rapes in which the offender is someone else. Where and When Victimization Occurs – most of sexual assaults happened in living quarters, most likely in the victim's residence. Others occurred in a fraternity house, a bar or dance clubs and night clubs. Most rapes occurred after 6 p.m. A big majority of them were after midnight (51.8%), with 36.5% between 6 pm and midnight and 11.7% at 6 am to 6 pm. Possible Solution Any meaningful campus rape prevention program will be immensely successful if it is directed at the various fraternities there. A study by Wantland (2005, p. 157) showed often the exclusive boys' clubs are responsible for 46% of the cases of sexual violence on campus but a deeper look showed these fraternity men accounted for only 25% of male-student population. If done right, a feminist approach will have prevented half the number of all possible sexual cases. This can be done if feminists tie up with college sororities to implement this program. This attempt to prevent sexism can yield good results because it preempts sexist attitudes and aggressive behavior that later on manifest into rapes. Further, feminist advocates question the fear-based approach of most prevention programs today (Hall, 2004, p. 3) and they want this anti-rape movement to move past vague threats and scare tactics as the best line of defense. Recommendation Adopting a feminist approach to rape prevention program will be a more effective tack because feminists tend to understand the situation much better. Secondly, they are determined to let women enjoy their lives and not live in constant fear of sexual assault. The feminists are needed to fight this risk like what they did with women's rights and the struggle for equality in the workplace and in society in general. A very interesting prevention program tried out by a campus that was feminist in nature was letting male participants empathize with rape victims including a male-on-male rape incident which significantly reduced likelihood of these males to commit rape and other forms of sexual assault (Foubert & Newberry, 2006, p. 134). Conclusion Campus rape is an under-reported crime because most victims do not bother to report. However, recent national and public attention on this hidden crime necessitates new approach to prevention programs. A feminist approach which directly addresses the shortcomings of the present programs will do away with the fear-based mentality that anchors said prevention. References Bohmer, C. & Parrot, A. (1993). Sexual Assault on Campus: The Problem and the Solution. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. DiCanio, M. (2004). Encyclopedia of Violence: Frequent, Commonplace, Unexpected. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc. Foubert, J. & Newberry, J. T. (Mar-Apr 2006). Effects of Two Versions of an Empathy -based Rape Prevention Program on Fraternity Men. The Journal of College Student Development, 47 (2), 133-148. Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T. & Turner, M. G. (2000, December). The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Retrieved from the National Institute of Justice at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/182369.htm Gold, J. & Villari, S. (2000). Just Sex: Students Rewrite the Rules on Sex, Violence, Activism and Equality. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littefield. Hall, R. (Summer 2004). “It Can Happen to You.” Rape Prevention in the Age of Risk Management. Hypatia, 19 (3), 1-19. Sandoval, J. (2002). Handbook of Crisis Counseling, Intervention and Prevention in the Schools. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge. Smith, M. D. (2004). Encyclopedia of Rape. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Wantland, R. (Summer 2005). Feminist Frat Boys?: Fraternity Men in the (Women's Studies) House. National Women's Studies Association Journal, 17 (2), 156-163. Read More