A Study of Child Abuse and Acquaintance Rape Victims - Term Paper Example

? A Study of Child Abuse and Acquaintance Rape Victims A Study of Child Abuse and Acquaintance Rape Victims IntroductionVictims need to be understood. Their pain truly needs to be felt by others in society in an effort to begin the healing process for all involved. This is often difficult to achieve, especially given the horrendous nature of many crimes that victims are subject to. Victims of child abuse, for example, carry a lifetime of scars. Such victims are not usually subject to just one occurrence of a given crime; rather they often suffer years of abuse (either physical, sexual, or verbal) before it is discovered and treatment given. By then, the scars may be too deep to fix. Offenders of child abuse are often family members or close acquaintances, which makes this particular crime even worse. Children who suffer abuse at the hands of such people often find it difficult, even impossible, to let anyone get them close to them again. They fail to trust others because they have been let down so many times before. In a similar fashion, victims of acquaintance rape suffer emotionally as well. Someone they deeply trusted did horrible things to them. Rape should never be condoned. When someone is close to you emotionally, however, and they force sexual action upon another person, then the crime becomes even more difficult to fathom. Couple that with the fact that many in society are still skeptical of any claim of acquaintance rape, and victims may become likely to not report the crime out of fear that others will not believe them. When this happens, the victim often becomes leery of getting too close again to a member of the opposite sex and develops severe relationship problems. There are numerous advocacy groups in existence to help both victims of child abuse and acquaintance rape. Many members of these groups are former victims themselves, so they can truly understand what the people are going through. Until you ‘walk in a victim’s shoes’, it is quite difficult to counsel them on how to overcome their fears and anxiety and begin to trust others once again. Both groups of victims need to be served by the community that has let them down and much research is to be done. Following in an in-depth review of current studies and a comparison of both types of victims. Literature Review It is difficult for many members of our civilized society to even comprehend how an adult can abuse and victimize a child. Nonetheless, this is exactly what occurs in communities around the country and the world. There is a great deal of literature dealing with child victims and their reactions to the crime. How we expect them to behave, however, is often quite different from the actual behavior exhibited. Shackel (2009) states, “There is some evidence which suggests that children may behave in a way that is contrary to such stereotypical expectations” (p. 65). It is important, then, to understand how certain behaviors can be used to identify particular victims. This is especially important for any professional tasked with the responsibility of caring for children. As a child enters into adulthood, professionals can often sense a history of childhood abuse based on numerous factors that may be present. This can include anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, interpersonal, sexual dysfunction, and a host of other issues (Zinzow, 2010, p. 80). It is a shame that these behaviors only point to the signs of abuse after the fact. It is critical that we begin to help move children away from abusive situations as early as possible. As Mansor (2011) points out, “This distressing and inhumane behavior towards children seems to be on the rise” (p. 229). Part of the issue with child abuse, and the reason it goes undetected for so long, is that the victim often possesses strong positive feelings towards the abuser (Shackel, 2009, p. 56). Research, and perhaps common sense, suggests that the public expects the child to have negative feelings towards their abuser. Once this manifests itself, then the abuse and the abuser can be identified and the victim moved to a safe environment. This is often not the case, however, as the child either develops a strong bond to their abuser, or they become so terrified that they grow accustomed to not letting their true feelings be known outside the abusive environment (Lyon, 2012, p. 450). In many cases, the child may not even fear the abuser and will actually begin to behave in a manner consistent with living in a stable environment. They will not exhibit any abnormal behavior whatsoever. This is particularly troublesome because a recent study found that 12 percent of childcare professionals responded that if a child behaves normally and looks happy, their belief is that abuse is not occurring (Shackel, 2009, p. 56). Much work needs to be done in this area to identify areas of concern and to act swiftly and appropriately and in the best interest of the child. Similarly, acquaintance rape is often difficult to distinguish because of the unique nature of the crime. The traditional idea of rape, where the victim does not know her attacker, is much easier for society to understand and punish. To understand the unique emotional status after a victim suffers through acquaintance rape, however, is a bit more difficult to achieve. When the notion of acquaintance rape first hit mainstream media, many insensitive members of society began to blame the very victim of the crime. Some claimed that the woman was simply having remorse after sexual activity, while others believed it was their way of getting back at a man who had since broken off the relationship. These ideas alone have likely resulted in countless victims refusing to even report their abuse out of fear that they will be shunned by society and that their life will be made even more difficult (Masser, 2009, p. 495). First, it is important to establish the commonly accepted definition of acquaintance rape. Cohn (2009) postulates that, “Acquaintance rape has been defined as forced sexual intercourse between individuals who are already acquainted or romantically involved” (p. 1513). Sexual victimization is a grave social problem. Studies suggest that nearly 70% of college women will experience some form of sexual violence before they graduate college. Rape, perhaps the gravest of sexual offenses, will be experienced by 15% of women in the United States at some point in their lifetime (Harrison, 2008, p. 715). It remains to be determined just what percentage of these victims knew their attacker, but the reality is that there is much work to be done to understand not only how this crime can be avoided, but also how to care for the victim after the fact. Some researchers have gone so far as to suggest that, “Acquaintance rape is not thought of as ‘real’ rape, even by the victims” (Cohn, 2009, p. 1513). Law enforcement, and society in general, seems to attribute much of the responsibility for the sexual crime to the victim herself. In addition, some victims of this crime many not consider it to be serious either and, thereby, choose not to report it. Consequently, because these victims believe a crime has not been committed, society begins to believe one has not been committed either (Guerette, 2007, p. 33). The problem with this mentality is that a crime has been committed and it ‘cheapens’ the thousands of victims who choose to make their voice heard and press forward with chargers against their attacker. They then face an uphill battle in the court of public opinion because many already believe they were also partly responsible for enduring the event in the first place. “In contrast to stranger rape, acquaintance rape is more ambiguous, and attribution of responsibility becomes more complex as people must tease apart who is to blame when those involved know each other” (Cohn, 2009, p. 1515). Similarly, child abuse victims often go unnoticed because their abuser is seen by society as a person of respect. Such a person could ‘never’ abuse a child, so their actions often go unchecked for years, and often never even gets discovered (Zinzow, 2010, p. 91). Both groups of victims have volumes written about them, but both are still misunderstood in their own way. Literature suggests that children who are ‘happy’ are not being abused, and a woman who knew her ‘attacker’ was partly to blame. As such, both groups end up carrying lasting scars that may never go away. It is now time to compare and contrast these groups in an effort to better understand them both. Comparing and Contrasting the Victims Victims of child abuse and acquaintance rape have numerous similarities. Their abuse often goes unreported. For children, it is often out of admiration or fear for their abuser, while for victims of acquaintance rape it is out of shame or a belief that they were partly to blame. When these crimes go unchecked, both groups of victims do not get the emotional and physical help that they need to overcome what has happened to them. For children, the multiple crimes may have been committed over a period of years (or even decades), while the victim of acquaintance rape may have only suffered the abuse once. Whatever the situation, scars remain. While it is quite possible that the emotional pain of child abuse runs much deeper than the scars associated with acquaintance rape, both are victims and must be treated as such. There are five different areas that are worthy of discussion and that conversation will take place below. Data Collection Issues Collecting of data is a painstaking process that must be carried out methodically and under strict conditions. To base studies and findings on the data that is discovered is wrought with responsibility. If a researcher or statistician incorrectly interprets data, individuals will be operating under false assumptions that can prove counterproductive. This is particularly true when collecting data on child abuse and acquaintance rape. When such data is published, the public reasonably expects that these findings are accurate and true, and they thereby form their opinions based upon the reports. Reporting child abuse has always been a problem. First, as already mentioned, it is often difficult to discover the actual abuse is taking place. Unless a formal complaint is made, or there are outward signs of abuse, children cannot really be approached by a social worker and questioned to determine if they are the victim of a crime. The source of any data collected often comes from the child directly, or from the childcare professional that discovered the abuse. This can often take years to unravel. In addition, there are false claims filed against adults every year that compounds the problem. Many professionals have become hesitant to report a case of suspected child abuse out of fear of the repercussions if they are wrong. After an abuse victim is discovered, data can certainly be collected. Inferences are made about the number of victims in a certain demographic group. For example, data collection has shown that more abuse victims come from a poor socioeconomic environment. Even these findings are misleading, however, since children from an upper middle class or wealthy family a more private life and are often not seen by members of society that might notice the abuse (Lyon, 2012, p. 453). This can dramatically impact the reliability of data collected since members of society can take those findings to mean they should only be looking for ‘poor’ kids that are victims of abuse. In comparison, collecting data from acquaintance rape victims can be an equally daunting task. It is reported that more incidences of this type of crime go unreported, rather than reported. This skews the data to the point that many may be lead to believe that this is not as serious a problem as social scientists make it out to be (Cohn, 2009, p. 1520). The source of data from this type of crime comes from women themselves, as well as from medical professionals. Often times, medical professionals can verify the claim of ‘rape’ based upon injuries that indicate forcible sexual intercourse. The victim can them either verify or deny this fact. If they do claim rape, then it comes down character witnesses to determine whether or not she is telling the truth. Because of the difficulty and the lengthy process involved in reporting rape, many women simply refuse to report the crime if it was perpetrated by somebody they know (Harrison, 2008, p. 721). They feel they either will not be believed or that society will look at them differently. This provides a perspective that shows how data can be misleading, much like in the case of the reporting child abuse. Shared Responsibility To determine whether or not a child has a shared responsibility in his or her own abuse is difficult to write about. Children often cannot control the environment in which they are thrust into. We ask children to trust their parents, teachers, and other adults in a position of authority in our society. As such, when one of these adults approaches a child in a manner contrary to the values of society, the child is left wondering what they should do. If they are to trust these adults, then surely the actions, which are being forced upon them, must be ok. Such a child cannot reasonably be expected to report their abuse because, in their mind, it must be ok. By the time a child realizes that such abuse is occurring, they may be too afraid to report their attacker. They might also have a strong bond with their abuser that solidifies in their mind that the abuse is really ok. In fact, they may not see it as abuse at all. In these situations, again, the child cannot be considered to have a shared responsibility in the abuse. We classify human beings in society as a child or an adult for a reason. Children do not yet have the capacity to make many of their own decisions and to think critically through a host of actions that they might be encountering. To blame a child because they did not report abuse that was happening to them for a period of years is simply wrong and should not be condoned. The very adults that were charged to protect the child ended up letting them down. If anything, it would be society that has a shared responsibility with the abuser, but certainly not the child. In contrast, the shared responsibility on the part of the victim in the case of acquaintance rape may not be as cut and dry. On the one hand, if another person forcefully rapes someone, then the person responsible should be fairly obvious. In the case of acquaintance rape, however, it is not that cut and dry. The criminal justice system puts much of the burden of proof on the woman to demonstrate that something happened on the day/night in question that constituted rape; as opposed to all the other times the two individuals were together. Society seems to ask if the woman simply changed her mind, or possibly she now simply regrets the action. Perhaps she is angry with the individual and is now ‘crying rape’. These, and other similar questions, sound harsh, but they are exactly what the system and society examines when looking at shared responsibility in the case of rape. There really is no comparison in terms of shared responsibility between victims of child abuse and those of acquaintance rape. We can say that a child should have simply told somebody what was happening, but then the question becomes whom would they tell. They are told to trust an adult, yet it usually an adult who is abusing them in the first place. No, children cannot have a shared responsibility when considering abuse because it is the very system that has let them down. In the case of acquaintance rape, however, the system does often put some of the responsibility on the victim until she can prove happened the way she said it did. The criminal justice system will ensure that the woman did everything she could possibly do to avoid the attack before truly going after the perpetrator. This makes the way the two crimes are looked at by society and by the system quite different from one another. Victim-Blaming In the case of child abuse, victim blaming usually occurs long after the abuse has been uncovered. As an adolescent, many instances of ‘acting out’ or aggression may be explained away by the abuse that they endured as a child. If a child is physically abused, for example, they are likely to be abusive themselves as a teenager. Also, children who are abused may turn into adults that have a tendency towards becoming an abuser. Many psychologists and other social workers will point to the abuse they, themselves, had to suffer through and blame that. The criminal justice system will weigh this heavily in deciding the eventual punishment for an abuser who was also a victim. Many victims who were abused know that as their only way of life. Often they may feel that they were abused in this way as a child, so it is ok to do the same thing now that they have reached adulthood. This type of victim blaming exists and must be taken into consideration as the system grapples with a serious problem. By contrast, blaming the victim in cases of acquaintance rape is already the norm. Rape is a crime where 84 percent of those raped knew their attacker; yet only 27 percent of those believe they were truly raped (Masser, 2010, p. 500). This already tells us that many of the victims already blame themselves. Couple that with the fact that others often puts the blame on them, before they even know the facts surrounding the case, and it is quite easy to see victim-blaming in the case of acquaintance rape taking place. It has been argued that a woman who does not fight back during the attack has not been raped. It has further been said that if a woman allows a man to take her to dinner and out for drinks, then sex is a logical result to the evening. Furthermore, in the case of allowing intimate kissing to occur, if sex then follows after, the woman it partly to blame. Thoughts, such as these, perpetuate this notion that the victim of acquaintance rape is party to blame in many situations. Both child abuse victims and acquaintance rape victims have been subject to horrible crimes. Yet, the first reaction on the part of the criminal justice system, and by society in general, is to try to assign partial blame to the victim. In the case of child abuse, society will use the victim’s history of abuse as a partial root cause of their tendency to be abusive themselves in the future. In the case of acquaintance rape, blame is similarly assigned to the victim to the point that the victim herself may not believe a crime has truly occurred. When you have only 27% of these crimes even going reported, and still fewer ever being prosecuted, there is a problem of victim-blaming going on. Support Services Thankfully, there are many child advocacy groups in existence in America today. Many of these groups solely focus on child abuse. One such group is Prevent Child Abuse America. They exist to help present such abuse and claim this is vital to the preservation and well being of the family structure system in America. The court system also employs child advocates. In most jurisdictions, the court will appoint a child advocate that attends court hearings and is assigned to look after the best interests of the child. This person acts a conduit between the criminal justice system and the child. They work to make sure that the child is not only in safe environment moving forward, but that they receive any restitution due them for the years of abuse they suffered. While a child does not always receive monetary compensation, they have the same rights as an adult in terms of confronting their attacker and making sure that they are duly punished. Similarly, there are quite a few advocacy groups looking after rape victims as well. RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) is one such group that serves this population by helping them cope and recover from the attack. Rape victims often suffer from sleep disorders; mood swings, feeling of humiliation, nightmares, anger, anxiety, fear, and a host of other ailments as a result of the rape (Lyon, 2012, p. 450). These are areas that a psychologist or other caring adults can help the rape victim with if they will seek the assistance. If there is a provable loss of income as a result of the rape, these groups work to help ensure that the criminal justice system punishes the attacker with not only jail time, but with monetary damages as well. There seem to be many more victim advocacy groups for children than for adults. Society feels a need to protect their children, so this could be a likely cause for that. This should not cheapen, however, the fact that rape victims need assistance as well. Adults may be more ‘shy’ to seek out this assistance, but it is there to be used. Arguments of Victim Advocates Child abuse victims need more help. Much of what is occurring today is ‘too little, too late’. As adults, the psychological trauma experienced at the hands of their attacker is severe. Many never recover. This student believes society has let these children and adults down in countless ways. As a result, they deserve to be compensated and looked after for as long as it takes. Currently, we seem to be fixated on the attacker themselves. In the case of the Penn State football coach, by way of example, the nation was focused on making sure the adult got severely punished. This is all well and good, but the victims now seem to be forgotten. They were forgotten as children, and now they are forgotten as adults. This should not happen. Similarly, acquaintance rape victims deserve more help than they are currently getting. Many victims fail to report the crime primarily because of the uphill battle they know they will face. It often begins at the hospital, with nurses and doctors looking at them skeptically as they recount the events leading up to the attack. Numerous questions asked by law enforcement are endured with similar looks being exchanged as well. We need to move towards a society that believes the account of the rape victim until proven otherwise, rather than the other way around. Conclusion Let us remember that both of these victims suffer at the hands of their abuser. Be it the physical, verbal, or sexual abuse of a child, or the forced sexual rape at the hands of an acquaintance, the effects can be devastating. Add to that a society that is still ill equipped in many cases to offer help to these victims, it is little wonder that they often feel so alone. Many are left to deal with their own turmoil and strife and, in the case of child abuse victims, may turn into abusers themselves if left unchecked. This is a sad cycle of events indeed. Thankfully there are numerous victims advocacy groups propping up around the country. These groups serve not only to help the victims of these horrific crimes, but also to educate society about child abuse and acquaintance rape so that they can assist the victims as well. In the case of child abuse, advocacy groups work tirelessly to inform the community of signs to look for that may indicate possible abuse. They also advocate on the part of the child to make sure they are immediately placed in a safe environment and that they get the counseling and care that they need to resume a normal childhood. Advocacy groups also work on behalf of victims of acquaintance rape by informing the community that this is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with. Society should not look at the victim as part of the problem, but look to their attacker as a person who must be punished the same as any other rapist. In addition, they serve the purpose of encouraging the victim and helping them get to a safe place in their life where they can move. It is a difficulty journey, but these advocacy groups are invaluable to victims towards this end. References Cohn, E. (2009). In the eye of the beholder: Do behavior and character affect victim and perpetrator responsibility for acquaintance rape? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(7), pp. 1513-1535. Guerette, S. (2007). Assessing the impact of acquaintance rape: Interviews with women who are victims/survivors of sexual assault while in college. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 22(2), pp. 31-50. Harrison, L. (2008). Effect of ingroup bias and gender role violations on acquaintance rape attributions. Sex Roles, 59(9), pp.713-725. Lyon, T. (2012). “How did you feel?”: Increasing child sexual abuse witnesses’ production of evaluative information. Law and Human Behavior, 36(5), pp. 448-457. Mansor, M. (2011). A descriptive analysis on the personality of child physical abuse victims. International Journal of Business & Social Science, 2(14), pp. 229-241. Masser, B. (2010). Bad woman, bad victim? Disentangling the effects of victim stereo typicality, and benevolent sexism on acquaintance rape victim blame. Sex Roles, 62(7), pp. 494-504. Shackel, R. (2009). How child victims respond to perpetrators of sexual abuse. Psychiatry, Psychology & Law, 16(1), pp. 55-63. Zinzow, H. (2010). Abuse and parental characteristics, attributions of blame, and psychological adjustment in adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 19(1), pp. 79-98. Read More