Swimmer Brock Turner Rape Case Study

“One in five women are sexually assaulted while in college” (Not Alone, 2014). In our class of twenty women that means that possibly five women have been sexually assaulted. Out of the five women that I stated could have been sexually assaulted they may have known the perpetrator and often will not report what has happened. According to the spring count of students completed by West Chester University, 9,211 of those students were females (“Headcount Enrollment”, 2014). If I go by the statistic mentioned earlier that one in five women is assaulted that would mean that 1,842 women have been sexually assaulted while enrolled at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Out of 1,842 possible assaults only four were reported last year. Two of which the victims knew prior to the assault. Rankin and Associates consulting conducted a Climate Assessment on West Chester University in September of 2010, a section of the results focused on sexual assault on students. According to the report seven people who reported a sexual assault to the university described their reactions to the universities response. Two students shared the way they felt the response was inappropriate or poor. One described that they felt the suspension for one semester was not an appropriate response to an admitted rape, that public safety lost the victims statement, judicial affairs painted the victim offender as innocent, and that the registrar protected the offender putting the victim in harm’s way and everyone

It is not clear if on-field violent behavior leads to off-field violence. It would be somewhat logical to assume that people who become accustomed to using physical intimidation and violence in sport naturally revert to those behaviors when facing conflict outside of sport. However, sport may not be the cause of violence, but rather a result of the athletes’ upbringing or natural disposition, which led them to choose a violent sport to begin with. Drug and alcohol use should also be noted, since they and not sport may be the cause of violence. Alcohol consumption and binge drinking add to the problem of

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.

“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 August 7, 1997, Nathan Brown was convicted for attempted aggravated rape. On August 7, 1997, in Louisiana the attempted rape of a women occurred in front of Nathan Browns building. A women that was walking to her apartment was attacked by a man that had jumped out from behind her and threw her on to the ground. The attacker went on top of her, “ bit the victim’s neck, ripped her dress open and took her purse” (Nathan Brown. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015.).One of the attackers shoes came off while he was attacking her. The victim was able to fight the attacker back by using the high heels she was already carrying as a weapon. The attacker ran, then got on a bike and rode away. The police came to the crime scene shortly after the crime had occurred because near by neighbors called the police after they heard a women screaming.

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.

Despite federal laws issued to combat sexual violence, each year 4,000 college women report to school officials that they've been sexually assaulted. What happens after they file those reports has stirred debate on campuses across the country, leaving parents and students fearful that colleges may not be the ivory towers of security and integrity that appear on their recruitment pamphlets.

‘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.

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

Gray, Eliza. "Campus Sexual Assault: Why Don't victims Go To Police?" Time. Time, 23 June 2014. Web. 09 May 2017

One of the most influential of these are the affirmative consent laws. These laws are defined as “the choice of some schools to require the presence of ongoing agreement, not just the absence of refusal, in sexual encounters” (Boyd). The presence of affirmative consent laws would greatly help the victims in their cases, as without confirmation that the attacked was consensual throughout the entirety of the incident, the accused would be unable to be let off without some form of punishment. Despite this, the laws are currently not enforced in the majority of campuses, leaving victims susceptible to unfair judgments that are in favor of the accused, as rape is often unreasonably viewed as being acceptable if the person had never objected, even if they had not given consent. Additionally, even if they state that they protested the actions, numerous people can also claim that they are lying. In the case of people that had been drunk, unconscious, or otherwise unable to give a logical or coherent answer when being attacked, the blame will often be put on them, despite the obvious horrendous acts of the attacker. Moreover, laws stating the severity of these crimes and how harsh the punishments should be are often overlooked, or not fully enforced, like the affirmative consent laws. In the aforementioned case of Brock Turner, his sentencing was particularly light, even for someone who received some form of sentence, as he faced a maximum of fourteen years in prison, while the prosecutors asked for at least six years (Cleary). The lack of punishments given to sexual predators will go on to further harm the attacked and give the impression that there is nothing wrong with sexual

Sexual assault and rape are serious social and public health issues in the United States and throughout the rest of the world. In particular sexual assault on college campus are prevalent at an alarming rate and leaves serious effects on the victims. This essay will focus on statistics and the prevalence and effects amongst college students, through examining a number of reasons why women fail to report sexual assault and rape. This essay will also cover sexual assault prevention and things that can be done to mitigate the risk of becoming a victim to such matter.

The topic of sexual assault has always been a tough subject to discuss because it is a heinous crime that can and has happened to men, women, young and old. It is a topic that is disturbing and heart wrenching, especially when involving children. In the past few years, our media outlets have captured the images and stories on sexual assault, focusing mainly on College Institutions and how sexual assault cases have been handled within those institutions. Sexual assault is a very important topic to discuss, since this can happen to anyone you know, man or woman, adult or child, or yourself. This paper will touch on the different types of sexual assault, stigma of sexual assault, treatment of sexual assault, and understanding the perpetrator. There will be a brief discussion of the current social issue of college campus sexual assault. Sexual assault is such a wide topic with many areas to discuss, but this paper will outline the basic understanding of sexual assault and what can be done to overcome this stigma of sexual assault and how we can help the victims/survivors.

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

Ultimately, when appropriate disciplinary actions are taken against those accused, sexual assault is taken seriously. 98% of those accused do not face jail sentences. This translates that out of every 1,000 rape accusations, only 6 rapists who are persecuted will be incarcerated. (NOVA) There is a greater chance that if those found guilty do not get jail sentence, they are likely to commit the crime again. Statistics provided by RAINN and the U.S. Department of Justice state that perpetrators of sexual violence are less likely to receive a jail sentence than robberies, assault, and battery charges. (“The Criminal Justice System: Statistics”) In June 2016, the country was outraged over the sentence given to Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner. The