Sexual Assault Argument Analysis

SAN FRANCISCO>> In light of Brock Turner’s, release from prison on Sept. 2 there has been a nationwide discussion on sexual assault on college campuses.

There are different notions that the society has towards both Brock Turner and the victim, but whether good or bad, this case has sparked many new perspectives and conversations about situations such as this. The article proposes that this is only the first step to developing a culture that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form and a judicial system that deals appropriately with cases that involve sexual assault.

Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer, was sentenced to only six months of jail time, only serving three for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The case drew national attention after the victim’s impact went viral. Outraged by his lack of remorse for his actions and the justice system’s treatment of sexual assault survivors caused a media uproar. According to CBC news and several other media sources, status and race played a huge role in this rape case.

‘Sexual Violence is more than just a crime against individuals. It threatens our families; it threatens our communities. Ultimately, it threatens the entire country’ (qtd. in Burleigh pg. 2). In the article, “Confronting Campus Rape” written by Nina Burleigh; a writer, journalist, and professor at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, describes what students are doing to force universities to take a stronger stand against campus sexual assault. Moreover Burleigh describes what the government is doing to make a difference on the issue. This includes laws that have created consequences for the assaulter and laws that protect the victim. According to Burleigh, a young woman called Laura Dunn was sexually assaulted on campus. Dunn was a student of UW. On April 4th, 2014, Dunn lost her virginity to two UW athletes. That night, Dunn was attending a party at the university. Dunn was enjoying the party and lost count of her alcohol intake. Dunn remembers being led out by two older teammates, who she knew. Dunn was very intoxicated, enough to stumble on her way back to what she thought would be another campus party, as one of the athletes helped her walk. The athletes led Dunn to one of their apartments where she found herself on a bed with both of them on top of her. Dunn was so intoxicated that she couldn’t help but to drift in and out of conscious leaving her unable to stop the two men. Dunn began to feel sick and was led to the bathroom by one of the athletes, where he penetrated her from behind while she was throwing up. That was a date Dunn would never forget. Dunn like many other women at the UW have been sexually abused by other students. Although Dun’s incident is shocking, it is not uncommon for women to be sexually assaulted on campus. A woman at the  university of Wisconsin is more prone to being sexually assaulted than any other woman in the country because of alcohol intoxication; this is a problem that must be resolved.

Campus sexual assault is universal because the justice system does not treat sexual assault as seriously as they should. In the article “Outrage over 6-month sentence for Brock Turner in Stanford rape case”, the author explains, “Widespread outrage has erupted over a California judge's decision to give a former

Alcohol impairs a person’s judgement and can increase aggressive behaviors (it does most of the time). Alcohol related crime/violence rates are rising very quickly throughout the country. There are two million incarcerated men and women in the United States, and 37% of those people admit to drinking before being arrested. When it comes to rape and sexual assault, 90% of cases involve the drinking of alcohol. Almost 30% of inmates reported being under the influence of alcohol or drugs when committing murder. Almost 3 million violent crimes happen a year in which alcohol is involved. In addition, 95% of all violent crimes reported at American colleges involve alcohol. It has been proven that binge drinking or prolonged drinking can lead to acts that are more violent and that can put other people around the drinker in serious danger. Substance abuse plays a huge role in these violent crimes. The more a person drinks the less they can control their actions and how violent they become.

Male student athletes make up 3.3% of the population but are responsible for 19% of sexual assaults and 35% of domestic violence.  One in three college sexual assaults are committed by an athlete or athletes.  From 1995 to 1998 there were an average of one hundred sexual assault charges against athletes a year.  In 1995, 8.5% of the general population charged with a crime were sexual assault, 36.8% of crimes involving athletes were sexual assault.  The general population conviction rate is 80%, athlete conviction rate is 38%.(NCAVA)  Since not all rapes are reported we can assume that these numbers are much higher.  Most athlete rapes are acquaintance rapes.  Many of the women blame themselves and do not report the crime.  These are very scary statistics.  Proving that there is a problem and steps need to be taken to change these statistics.

Sexual assault encompasses the criminal act of rape; however it seems as if many relative cases spawn from various alcohol encounters. In Emily Yoffe’s article “College Women Stop Getting Drunk,” she links both victim and perpetrator to alcohol. How can this cause be changed?

Rachel is faced with the effects of a sexual assault attack, lack of trust by formal supports, and an insufficient support system. The most time-sensitive issue of the three is the effects of a sexual assault attack; however, they all affect one another. Because of the university police’s resistance to effectively assist Rachel, the conclusion can be made that Rachel may not accept any type of university assistance.

Alcohol and sexual assaults have a strong association. Around the ages of 18 to 24, 97,000 students have reported a sexual assault that was related to alcohol. At least half of the sexual assaults cases reported on campus occurred after the alcohol was consumed by the perpetrator, victim, or both (pubs.....)Consuming alcohol can increase aggressive behavior and inability to determine someone's sexual interest ("Alcohol use increases the risk of sexual assault"). Likewise, people who have consumed alcohol can have difficulties to resist an assault.

Since “alcohol appears to enhance interest in sex,” (Hart & Ksir, 2015, p. 221) young people drink and could engage in sexual risky behavior such as having unprotected sex or casual sex with multiple partners. A consequence of unprotected sex could be an unwanted pregnancy or a sexual transmitted disease. Many studies have found that drinking alcohol at the time of the offense have been reported on more than one-third of all rapes and sexual assaults (Hart & Ksir, 2015). Alcohol impairs the thoughts and places the young adult drinking illegally at risk of sexual assault. The alcohol use increases the chance for sexual assault including rape.

The problem: Sexual assault has become one of the forefront issues of our day. There has been an increasing rate of sexual assaults in our society and specifically on college campuses.

Drinking can lead to sexual assault. We are all human and we do drink but you should not take part of intercourse or any sexual actions with another if that person is not able to give consent. One way we can prevent rape from happening is being with friends. You should arrive, stay, and leave together. Another problem with rape is not understanding no. Once you hear no, you should stop. Even if the person wanted to take part in sex five minutes ago, no means no. We as humans change our minds and it will become a crime if you continue to force someone into sex. People try so hard to have sex and when told no, they try to change the person’s mind or sometimes even force it up

There is a definite correlation between alcohol and sexual assault. A sexual assault can be defined as a sexual act occurring without verbal consent, or when force is used in a sexual encounter against the other person's will. Of all the men who admit to committing sexual assault, 55% report being under the influence of alcohol at the time, with 26% of the men being drunk (Stanford University, 1999). Of all the women who report being sexually assaulted, 53% of them report being under the influence of alcohol, with 21% of these women being drunk (Stanford University, 1999). These facts suggest that alcohol is a major factor in sexual assaults. Crimes such as these could be greatly reduced if

On January 18, 2015 Brock Allen Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious twenty-two year old female student. In the article Here Is The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read Aloud To Her Attacker written by Katie J.M. Baker she writes about the incident where two graduate students who were out riding bikes spotted the freshman (Turner) and the victim (Jane Doe) interacting in what at first seemed consensual sexual encounter until they got closer and saw that she was motionless and that Turner was aggressively thrusting into her. They then yelled at Turner to get him off of her to which Turner reacted with getting up and rapidly running away. Fourteen months after the incident (March 2016) California jury found the former Stanford student guilty of three counts sexual assault, which included: Assault with Intent to Commit Rape of an Intoxicated/Unconscious person [Penal Code section 220(a)], Penetration of an Intoxicated