An Epidemic Of Sexual Assaults Across The Nation

The alarming increase in sexual assault among male and female students is a source of concern. Despite improvements in the general statistics on rape cases, the college setting remains to be the hot bed of sexual assault, especially among the female counterparts (Allen, 2007). A victim, regardless being a male or a female, never feel safe in their life as something precious was taken from them once. Statistics show that 17.6% of women are likely to be victims of rape in their entire lifetime while only 0.3% of males are estimated to be the victims of sexual assault. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS), the most critical ages men and females are likely to be engaged in sexual abuse is when they are children or adolescents (Gonzales, Schofield & Schmitt, 2006).

According to Nancy Chi Cantalupo, writer in the University Chicago Law Journal, “twenty to twenty-five percent of college women are victims of attempted or completed nonconsensual sex” (Burying Our Heads 207). In October 2014, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Old Dominion University was sexually assaulted. She reported her case to the ODU Police Department where she was treated as a suspect rather than a victim (Jane). The university police department denied this young woman of many things such as a medical examination right away, food, drinks and even did not allow her to use the bathroom (Jane). These factors caused her to suffer multiple injuries mentally, emotionally, and physically (Jane). Many cases of on campus sexual assault has come

Sexual assault is defined as any vaginal, oral, or anal penetration that is forced upon another, regardless of sex and sexual orientation, using any object or body part. The issue of sexual assault in America is primarily encouraged by rape culture. Women Against Violence Against Women is an organization that defines rape culture as a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. The acceptance of rape culture, rape myths, and the disregard for sexual consent also allow for the perpetuation of sexual assault against women on college campuses. Recent examples of sexual assault on college campuses show how prominent this issue has become and how hostile campuses have become for female students. Some examples include the University of Southern California’s “Gullet Report,” Miami University of Ohio’s “Top Ten Ways to Get Away with Rape,” and a sexual assault on the campus of Kansas University. Sexual assault is perpetuated by the acceptance of rape myths and rape culture, lack of effective sexual education, and the disregard for consent. The solution to this issue lies with defeating rape culture, increasing awareness and funding for campus sexual assault crisis centers, and enacting more prevention programs on campus.

Sexual assault has been huge problem on college campus. College female students have been targets of sexual assault acts, According to Robin Gray “Between 20% and 25% of women will experience a completed and/or attempted rape during their college career.” Sexual assault is when is a crime to knowingly cause another person to engage in an unwanted sexual act by force or threat. There are laws that protect women in all types of setting from being victims of sexual assault. The government had made some changes to the laws of sexual assault over the past decade to protect the girls and women so justice can be served. The president Obama has been enforcing a law for the young women in colleges.

This article by Brooke Boucek includes useful information about the public reporting system of universities and how the federal laws lead administrations to under-report sexual assaults. Boucek begins the article by describing the current Title IX laws for colleges and explaining other legal procedures and acts relating to sexual assault on campuses. The article then includes the perspectives of those accused of rape and how one college decision permanently affected their life; Boucek includes multiple stories and accounts and thus presents

When colleges and universities are constantly in competition with each other for students, there are certain issues that occur. Competition has turned into universities and colleges often mishandling sexual assault and rape cases. Campuses want to minimize the danger that they may pose which leads to sexual assault and rape crimes to often be veiled. With this veil in place, it counters the efforts of colleges and universities to address the issue of sexual assault and rape. In July 2016, a survey was released to 350 colleges and university presidents. The purpose of this survey was to showcase whether sexual assault and rape cases were handled correctly or mishandled. Over the last five years, “more than 40 percent of the schools had not conducted a sexual assault and/or rape investigation” (citation). It was revealed that

Many college campuses are failing to report cases of sexual assault and rape to police. Campuses don’t report these cases because they do not want their reputations ruined.

Throughout history, there has been many different types of sexual assault cases. In all of these cases, sexual assault pertains to forced, sexual actions or behavior on a person without their explicit consent. In an article conducted by the New York Times, it said, “In four years of college, more than one-fourth of undergraduate women at a large group of leading universities said they had been sexually assaulted by force or when they were incapacitated”( Perez-Pena). An abounding amount of women are being sexually assaulted during their time as a college student. One in four women in college will be sexually assaulted in college. To add to being sexually assaulted, in a recent research conducted by the National Institute of Justice, researchers discovered that, “Sexual assault is widely considered to be the most underreported violent crime  in America. Most sexual assaults on campus are committed by an acquaintance of the victim, which explains, in part, why these crimes are underreported”(Karjane ii). There are many people who are afraid to report their incident to the school or the police. In most cases, they are afraid of letting their friends or family know, so they don 't have a support system to help them. The EROC provides support systems for students by connecting them to a survivor. By doing that victims will be able to heal quicker.

In Chapter One, we learned that only 10% of cases go to trail, it is very unlikely that these rape cases are ones that go to trial as little action is taken in rape crime. When agencies report crime numbers, the data presented is most likely far off from the true number of rape crimes committed as few rapes are reported to the police. Within criminal justice are several controversial issues, one being rape on college campuses and failure of universities to accurately report rape crime. Investigation rarely happens with college rape cases with athlete

Prosecutors and police officers may be less likely to believe victims if they have no signs of physical abuse like cuts, bruises, or scrapes, or if they have known their attackers for a long time (Hilgenkamp 163). Victims often feel ashamed and humiliated for bringing their experiences forward and become frustrated and furtherly emotionally damaged (Hilgenkamp 163). Dealing with sexual assault cases differently based on the victim’s state and story is unfair to the survivor and will only further hurt someone who has already suffered through a traumatic ordeal since it causes them feel as though they are not being listened to or heard. In addition to investigations that are often biased and poorly conducted, the number of convictions made in sexual assault cases is astonishingly small. A few years ago, “The Chicago Tribune published the results of a study involving 171 campus sex complaints at six Midwestern universities. Twelve of the accused perpetrators were arrested, and only four were convicted” (Hedelman and Brown). Due to the low conviction rates, many women feel as though their allegations of having been sexually assaulted are not being taken seriously or even acknowledged (Hedelman and Brown). Unfortunately, sexual assault is a popular crime on college campuses, but when victims bring their stories forward to law enforcers, they are not taken seriously and severe punishments are rarely given to assaulters, which further harms people who have already been wrongly treated. Police and investigators have to change the ways in which they deal with sexual assault cases because investigations are unfairly biased and are usually so inaccurately conducted that most offenders

Sexual assault is everywhere, but did you know that on college campuses one of every four people have been a victim of sexual assault (Stampler 1). That is a staggering statistic of just how many people are affected by this crime. Sexual assault, while a long standing crime, has been brought into the spotlight more and more over the last twenty years. While there are several steps already in place to help lower this statistic there are additional things that can be done to help reduce the rate of sexual assaults on college campuses. By being more open with conversations about sexual assault, having support groups available, and changing policies universities can be successful in reducing the number of sexual assaults on their campuses.

Colleges have begun to share the number of sexual assault cases that occur on campus and are making efforts in order to produce a smaller number. They are trying to influence more victims to speak up about sexual assault and are creating an easier way to report these crimes on college campuses. Today, there are multiple solutions to solving the crime of sexual assault, and a substantial amount of these methods are being implemented at colleges nationwide. While sexual assault is common on numerous school campuses and is the most underreported crime in America, the government, along with colleges, are doing what they can in order to persuade more victims to report it and prevent it from

Throughout the United States there are several instances where college students are victims of sexual assault. Many big name schools like Florida State University, University of Southern California, Harvard, and Stanford have been noted in many popular sources as being not only great in academics, but also for the amount of sexual assault cases that happen on and off campus between students. Many of these universities attempt to cover up these acts for many different reasons; although, there is an Act passed by Congress that would revoke the school’s participation in federal financial aid programs by them not disclosing any criminal acts between students. This is a problem because it can cause a lot of emotional and physical damage to the

Sexual assault has been a huge issue for many years on college campuses and universities nation wide. As society has evolved, thoughts on sexual assault have also evolved, becoming more focused on the details of victim treatment than ever before. The topic of sexual assault is debatable and sparks many opinions on weather sexual assault on college campuses is becoming more frequent, or if there is just heightened awareness. Sexual assault can happen to anybody no matter the gender, race, religion, or age. Recently there have been many studies conducted on sexual violence on college campuses and universities producing ample amounts of statistics. One may argue that sexual assault rates are the same, but there are simply more studies and attention on sexual assault in the past 20 years. Gender roles have played a huge part in sexual assault on college campuses. Women and men have different expectations when it comes to roles in the relationship, men are often expected to make the first move. One may ask what causes a perpetrator to sexually harass somebody and think it is acceptable. There are various reasons as to why perpetrators do what they do, and may vary from person to person. Although sexual violence is a large problem for many colleges and universities, there is a surprising shortage of federal laws/rules and regulations regarding sexual assault. Colleges are able to develop their own personal policies and procedures for how they will prevent and deal with sexual

College-age adults are known to be high risk for sexual violence and most studies show that one in three women have experiences some type of sexual assault whether it was through physical force or harassment. These statics are known by most women on college campuses to ensure that women know and understand that this could happen to them. The issue is more than ensuring that women are aware of how protect themselves and know how to avoid these situations because it shouldn’t even be happening. When women are taught that they should know how to defend themselves we are saying that this type of behavior is normal and inevitable. We should shift from this dynamic and start teaching both men and women that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that sexually assaulting or harassing someone is NOT normal. This paper will mostly focus on incidents of rape and sexual assault on college campuses and what the outcome and reactions of these incidents were.