Sexual Assault Has Been The People V. Turner

Since the 1980s, a shift in thinking about college and university campuses has occurred in the United States. No longer is the “ivory tower” of academe perceived as a place of retreat for scholarly inquiry. Nor is college perceived as a time of growth where students “find themselves” and their place in the world. Rather, when talk turns to life on college campuses, that talk is often about crime, especially violence. (sloane)

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

Brock Turner's wealth, image, and color of skin have gifted him years back on a jail sentence likely to exceed 5 if perpetrated by a man not born into the privilege he had been born into. He is just one example of an unjust society that allows men to rape, he is just one man in a world of judges, reporters, and fathers that lead to these tragedies.

University of Tennessee Knoxville was recently involved in a lawsuit for enabling athletes to sexually assault women by silencing the victims and failing to provide disciplinary actions or even investigation onto the accused. While this is a recent case, this is not the first time this sort of behavior involving a school has been brought into light. One in four women will be sexually assaulted by the end of their undergraduate career (Posluszny). Sexual assault happens throughout society no matter what the gender or age, seeming to be in increasing epidemic over the last few years. While the idea of sexual assault is largely met with public hostility in theory, actions often contradict this. This contradiction lies heavily in a culture that is unwelcoming to the victims and often leads to the perpetrators being tolerated. The existence of rape culture in western society occurs due to the preservation of violent media, patriarchal standards, and the state of the criminal justice system. This culture cannot be improved until we confront each of these problems to their roots.

While there is no documented first case of sexual assault at Boston University, it is clear that it was becoming a national problem by the 1970’s. As early as 1957 Eugene Kanin produced a study prompted by male aggression on university campus’s. In the study Kanin analyzed cases of one hundred and sixty two girls that felt they had been sexually abused on campus. Scholarly literature presented sexual assault on college campus’s by 1957 (Kamentz). In the 1960’s the violent crime rate skyrocketed across America. Women were the main recipients of the misconduct. It is likely that out of the thousands of students and women that attended BU at this time there were incidences of sexual assault. This became apparent nationally in 1972 when the government was called upon to change the law enforcement community (Sacco).

“I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.” These were the words of a victim of sexual assault at Stanford University in January of 2015, often remembered as the Brock Turner case. Turner, a member of the Stanford swimming team, was found guilty by the jury after being accused of sexually assaulting another Stanford student (whose identity has remained confidential) and ended up with a short sentence of six months (Victor). The sexual assault victim in the turner case is not alone. 1 in every 5 women and 1 in every 12 men are sexually assaulted during their college careers (NSVRC). In other words, between 20 and 25 percent of college women and 4 percent of college men report having been sexually

On April 16th 2007 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a student with psychological problems began a two hour killing spree that left 33 dead (Reader). The massacre that occurred at this school is now the worst recorded incident in the history of the United States and eclipses the University of Texas massacre of 1966. In the wake of tragedies like these, students, teachers and administrators propose more measures to make us feel safe on campus. But why weren't these measures in place before? School administrators and police have a responsibility to protect their students and faculty on campus, and these instances clearly shown a lack of fulfilling that responsibility. And yet several campus' refuse to allow law-abiding and

On January 17th, 2015, Brock Turner, a 20-year-old Stanford freshman, sexually assaulted a 23-year-old unconscious women behind a dumpster located near a house party. The victim, who decided to not state her name and will therefore be referred to as Emily Doe, admitted in a letter she read aloud in court that that night she drank too much, too fast. However, this isn’t an excuse ‘nor a way to justify Brock’s actions. Someone who is drunk and unconscious should not be taken advantage of, they are still a person who should be respected no matter the circumstances.

Also in Oklahoma former cop Daniel Holtzclaw was charged with raping and sexually victimizing 8 women in a low-income neighborhood (Chicago Tribune Newspaper). He was also convicted of forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery and second degree rape. Now he is known as the serial rapist/cop. He was sentenced to 236 years in prison, including a 30-year sentence on each of four of the first degree charges he faced. It took a jury 45 hours over a period of 4 days to deliberate this case. He also was convicted harsher because he was, well supposed to be a well-known and respected police officer. When police are supposed to be the protector and heroes of the streets instead of being the suspect. This case gained worldwide attention

On June 23rd, 2013, students from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, met up at a local bar called The Tin Roof. The man, a promising football starter from the school named Brandon Vandenburg, and the victim, a woman who knew him from school, were drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Vandenburg had given her three to four drinks that night, and after the fourth one, a blue drink called a “California Long Island Iced Tea”, she remembered nothing. The next morning, she woke up in his dorm room with no recollection of the night before. Video evidence from the accused and their friends indicated that the four men had sexually assaulted the victim, using both a weapon (a water bottle) and their hands.

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

Every day students across the country wake up and go to school seeking an education. They learn basic skills and knowledge from classes such as English, math, biology, physics, photography and so many other classes that prepare students for adulthood. However, what is most alarming is that students have to cope with violence that is now occurring in schools. In the past, school violence involved bullying and mistreatment, but in recent decades weapons are now a part of the violence students encounter. Violence is a way for youth to gain authority over their peers. Additionally, violence in schools has promoted a national debate on gun control, bullying and plagued the overall learning experience in school environments. Not only do people need

Over the last two and half decades, campus crime as a social issue has come to the forefront of public attention and is regularly reported in both print and electronic media. Specific and general legislation has also been passed in order to prevent campus crime from occurring as well as to educate those who are either in danger of victimization or have the ability to prevent victimization and assure that justice is done. However, campus crime is not a new issue in regard to its occurrence, only in that it has finally attracted both public and media attention. Furthermore, Sloan III and Fisher (2011) suggest that this movement to recognize and prevent the occurrence of crime on college and university campuses (known throughout this book as the dark side of the ivory tower) did not pop up overnight. Instead, they argue that through a long and arduous process, four different activist groups were able to socially construct the problem as a proper and pertinent social issue, and influence legislation designed to curb campus crime, and hold those responsible, accountable for their action or inaction.

Sexual assault and rape are on-going issues plaguing college campuses all across the nation. In part, I believe this is due to a lack of education on what sexual assault actually is. All too often, victims are leaving these situations feeling confused about something that they will forever deem "a weird night". It often isn't until much later that they realize what happened to them was a violation of their body and of their rights.

School violence, in recent history, seems to have taken the United States by storm. Be it a shooting, such as the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, the inappropriate relationships between teacher and student, such as Stephanie Figueroa whom initiated one such relationship with her 11-year-old karate student, or the multiple fights we see on social media that take place in schools. With each passing week, we see a new story that falls in one of these categories. Today, we look at the types of, causes of and how to prevent violence in what should be a safe place and second home for our youth.