No More: Title IX and Sexual Assault on College Campuses

Sexual assault is defined by the department of justice as: any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape. Women aged 18-24, in college, are three times greater at risk than the average woman any age. (RAINN). The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has 246 ongoing investigations into how 195 colleges and universities handled sexual assault under Title IX. (Huffington Post). Many ask, Why on college campuses? Why have these statistics been rising? For a rapist or an assaulter, college is

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).

Rape is one of the most widespread and ubiquitous violent crimes facing America, making laws regarding rape and the judicial processing of rape increasingly important. The judicial process itself deters both rape reports and rape convictions. Not only does the judicial processing or rape cases itself deter reports and convictions, but it also has a negative impact on the moral and mental well being of the victims who decide to pursue their cases.

Approximately 20 to 25 percent of women are sexually assaulted within the duration of their college careers; this rate is also three times higher than

According to The United States Department of Justice, Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities such as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape. (Department of Justice) 90 percent of the victims of sexual assault are women and 10 percent are men, and nearly 99 percent of offenders in single-victim assaults are men (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2010). Sexual Assault can happen to anyone, not just women. Sexual Assault these days are a big trouble and it is not being addressed in good order, and it is especially a big problem at the University of Kentucky campus. Although, many people think sexual assault on campus is not a huge issue, it really is and it is not properly spoken of. Even though people have different opinions on sexual assault, sexual assault is a big issue on campus and alcohol is largely to blame.

Another problem directly linking and contributing to the problem of the number of reported cases , is the small amount of cases that successfully prosecute the accused. In a recent report, statistics show that only 10 per cent of 7000 sexual and indecent assaults reported to the police resulted in the accused being found guilty. In another statistic, Shadow attorney-general Chris Hartcher says, “only 1 percent of offenders get a jail sentence and it puts victims off coming forward to report rape.” Through the statistics, victims can only see the law as it promoted, the unjust and the little security of a successful conviction, giving them more of a reason to not report their cases. With the little percentage of a conviction, the law shows that the situation is as it is, due to the many unattended flaws. Flaws such as the undefined meaning of consent and the laws blindness towards the experience victims have encountered. With the combination of all these factors, it is only natural that a victim does not feel the need to report their case as nothing but a more disturbing experience will be its outcome.

Many teens enter college expecting a different atmosphere from what they had in high school, but in reality they may have more to worry about than they originally thought. Although the number of cases of sexual assault on college campuses has decreased since 1993 it is still a relevant topic. 5% of women, every year, on college campuses experience rape or attempted rape as reported by One in Four, a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of rape. 11% of women who experience rape actually report it to the police; most sworn campus law enforcement officials

Many college students, both men and women, experience some form of sexual assault while living on the campus due to the lack of safety taught and provided to the students. Therefore, colleges nationwide should provide the necessities that help students reduce their chances of being a victim of sexual assault or aid them with assistance if assaulted.

It is estimated that 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 16 men will be sexually assaulted while in college. (Krebs, Lindquist., Warner, Fisher & Martin, 2007; Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). In the Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study conducted in 2007 for The National Institute for Justice, Researchers found that of the 5,446 women surveyed, 19% had been victims of attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college. In the same study, researchers found that of the 1,375 men surveyed, 6.1% had been victims of attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college. (Krebs, Lindquist., Warner, Fisher, & Martin, 2007) In the National College Women Sexual Victimization Study (NCWSV), conducted during the fall of 1996, researchers found that of the 4,446 women surveyed, 2.8% had experienced either completed rape or attempted rape, with a victimization rate of 27.7 rapes per 1,000 female students. (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000).

On January 22, 2014, President Barack Obama signed the Presidential Memorandum, forming the ‘White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.’ This task force was established to help decrease sexual assaults in college campuses and create awareness of this little talked about topic. Many college students don’t believe sexual assault is an issue until it happens to them or someone they’re close with. Sexual assault affects the victims by making them feel helpless and causing serious negative effects on their emotional health. Many of these incidents don’t get reported due to students feeling unsafe or feeling like it isn’t that big of a deal. Even those that are reported, sometimes aren’t taken seriously by the school’s administrators. College should be a fun learning experience, where safety shouldn’t be a concern.

I choose this topic because sexual assault is one of the most offensive crimes committed in our society. Not only is it a threat to the community, but it has a physically and psychologically effect on the victim in many ways. For the last couple of decades, sexual assault, rape, and child molestation has become the focal point of public concerns today. According to a 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year (Statistics, March 2010). The Department of Justice states that, “rape crimes have risen nearly three times as fast as the total crime rate”, although other studies have shown statistics that are in

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

Sexual harassment can range anywhere from unwanted sexual advances and behaviors (verbal and physical) to sexual intercourse without consent. Rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual violence are all types of sexual harassment. The issue of sexual harassment on college campuses is very much downplayed in contemporary society. Many victims are afraid to speak out about their experiences; the few that do so often do not receive the results they seek, but rather gain judgement and comments from the public. Sexual harassment can cause PTSD and severe physical, emotional, social, and psychological damages which prevents students from fully experiencing their college and adult life. Even though the number of rape cases has gone down significantly

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, sexual assault is defined as a “sexual act committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent” (2015). This includes groping, rape, attempted rape or assault, and much more (Reuters, 2016; U.S. Department of Justice, 2015). This is a pretty standard definition of rape and with the United States being the first world country would be expected to have a low sexual Assault rate. However, this is not the case. It’s ranked third in the world. This goes show that sexual violence is prevalent and an issue in the United States; especially for women. According to research, women have a high risk of sexual assault and rape as well as, only 20 victims of sexual assault will actually

This literature review provides a brief overview of six scholarly articles and other facts about sexual assault .This review will first define sexual assault as it is defined in these articles. It will analyze the strengths and limitations of the definition used and will discuss the occurrence of sexual assault in the general population.This review will also illustrate the protective factors, barriers to recovery , impact of development and the specific sexual assault population that are absent in these articles. Sexual assault is a societal issue that impacts men and women at every age in their life, it’s much more highly reported among college aged women. The majority of women who are victims of rape are