20 Minutes of Action

Imagine walking down the street or even walking on one’s college campus and all of a sudden being attacked from behind with no way to defend oneself. Twenty minutes is all it takes for the life of a young woman to be changed forever. Gone are the days when the young woman can walk outside without look constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure that there is no one looking or lurking around behind every bush in a feeble attempt to protect herself from it ever happening again. The sad truth is however that the chances of that happening to her again are very high but no one dares to tell her this because it is hard enough trying to help her get through the difficult time from this one experience. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how 20 minutes of action changed a young woman’s life at Stanford University forever and how the perpetrators parents are still trying to plead for a lighter sentence for him.

What is Sexual Assault? 

Sexual assault which is also referred to as rape is defined in several different ways but the most basic is intercourse that is by force or threat or also under any circumstance by which the victim is unable to resist their assailant because they are intoxicated or they are unconscious (Gifis 420). There are some state statutes that classify rape and sexual assault or sexual abuse however if rape is used which is the common term for sexual assault then it is being referred to as such as just sexual penetration. 

It is important to note that sexual assault and sexual abuse refer to situations where sexual acts are being engaged in or the victim is being forced to engage alone or with another person of any age whether the same sex or not and it does not have to be just penetration it can be sexual contact as well. This means touching another’s intimate body parts without their consent it can also mean a non-touching offense such as exposing oneself or exposing a child to sexually explicit magazines or videos but this particular crime depends on the state and their statutes(Gifis 421). The important thing to remember as well is that males as well as females can be raped it does not matter what sex a victim is. A perpetrator can also be male or female and all too often we automatically quick to assume that a female is not capable of committing such a horrible act but it can happen even though it is not as common. 

Different Types of Sexual Assault

There is acquaintance rape which can also be defined as sexual content was someone that the victim knew and is also intimate partner contact. There is also a statistic that three out of four cases of sexual assault are this type of assault (RAINN). Another term that is more commonly used for this is date rape one also has to be careful because this term can also be used where drugs are used such as GHB or other types of hallucinogenic items that can be placed in a person’s drink when they are out in the club or even at a party and if one happens to not be watching their drink and they leave it on the table go to the bathroom and come back in just that amount of time it is no longer safe and if it is not realized then one will drink it and is already too late (Justice). 

With the popularity of young girls preferring the company of older guys unfortunately another common type of sexual assault is that a statutory rate which occurs when an adult male has unlawful sexual intercourse with the female under the age of consent which is usually under the age of seventeen. It does not matter if the mail engages in sexual activity knowingly or not knowing the age of the female another thing to note also is that it does not matter if the young girl was consenting or not the gentleman is still guilty of this crime (Falcone 224). The sad part about this particular crime is that it does not really hurt anyone unless the young boy or girl is not giving consent it can be used against the couple if the parents do not approve of the match.

Sexual assault the Overall Crime

Rape which is what sexual assault which traditionally called has greatly involved in definition because in the beginning it was simply nothing more than forced sexual intercourse with a woman that was not one’s wife. Thank goodness that as a society we have grown and evolved to recognize that males and females can be victims and that penetration is not the only means to harm someone in a sexual manner. Most states have even grown to the point of giving  a limited right to bring charges against one’s spouse and no longer is there a requirement for the direct use of force or physical harm (Davenport 115). 

The following statistics are just those that are reported because keep in mind that sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes committed in the United States. There are several reasons for this which will be discussed.

•The probability that a woman’s will be the victim of a violent crime during her lifetime is 75%. 

• Violence is the leading cause of injuries to women ages 15 to 44. 

• Men experienced a higher victimization rates than women for all other types of violent crime except rape or sexual assault (Davenport 114).

Imagine having to live in that type of world and yet we all do it every day and never even stop to think of how dangerous they can be not only for ourselves but others and we thank our lucky stars every night and return home we turn on the news and hear of yet someone else who has been victimized and all we can say is how grateful we are that it was us. Where on earth does it stop? How do we as human beings and citizens of our communities stand up and say no more? No more walking down the street in fear, no more being afraid of a policeman the tragic thing is we can say these things and we can write them but until we as a nation one community at a time are willing to stand up and begin fighting for what we want it will all remain the same.

Effects of Sexual Assault 

The first effect that comes to mind is the one of disassociation is for that split second in time the only thing that the victim wants to be able to be away from the situation totally to distance themselves completely imagine that there any place but there. Then there are the feelings of being dirty and wanting to take a bath to wash away the hurt, and the touch, and the smell everything about what just happened. Of course it is not what victim should do because they should call the police to report the incident but unfortunately the police have the bad habit of blaming the victim rather than going after a perpetrator not to say that this has not changed because it has term very much with a lot of training in the area of victim advocacy. 

The most important thing to understand is that the victim is very ashamed about what just happened and does not want to admit that they are in fact the victim be poked and prodded and be asked a million questions about the most relaxed experience of their lives in most cases. To make matters worse they have to deal with the defense attorney who is finding and digging for any and every way possible to destroy them so that he can get his or her client off. In the midst of having to deal with all of that on the outside no one realizes the internal battle that is going on such as the fear of never being safe again, the constant worry which becomes a total obsession about everything in one’s life (Foundation).

Physical scars heal the mental scars do not they stay with the victim for a lifetime for a while person can bury the feelings deep inside themselves and blocks the memories of what happened. It may be able to live a very happy life for many years but then a very traumatic event happens such as losing a spouse or another very important person that makes it possible to live life in spite of everything that has happened in the past. Suddenly it is as if Pandora’s Box has exploded and everything that was hidden away and locked away completely forgotten about comes rushing back again so much for the scars being healed right. This is very hard for most survivors to be able to explain because the first thing that is said is “but it happened years ago it is over now” the act itself is over yes but the fear of it happening again is not. It takes a very long time to get to a place in one’s life where there is a feeling of safety and even then it is only halfway is always a thought in the back of the mind to keep saying what if (Foundation). 

Stanford Sexual Assault Case

On January 17, 2015, a Stanford student by the name of Brock Turner made a very ignorant choice by taking advantage of a young lady who was very heavily intoxicated the point of being unconscious and thought nothing of it. He was on the swim team and apparently was planning to try out for the Olympic swim team this year and he was behind a dumpster doing what he wanted to his defenseless fellow student. Two other students see him doing this and call out to ask them what on earth is doing and he gets scared and attempts to run away like a coward. It is a good thing that the students were much larger than him and able to tackle him and hold him until police arrive (Samuels). 

The case goes to court and like most logical people with the public become outraged when it is announced that he only gets six months in prison and three years’ probation. We are all like what the heck is this and what has happened to our justice system? Because he comes from money he is allowed to do whatever he pleases and unfortunately the race card comes out because we use as a society have seen it happen way too many times where the system is unfair to a young man of color it was not near as harsh as it should of been on Brock Turner at all. His parents and their pleas for leniency only make the situation worse. How on earth could they be so foolish to think that what their child did was acceptable (Samuels)? This sad part is that it only leaves the victim with no justice and a rapist to go free and do whatever they want whenever they want all over again.

Conclusion

A young woman’s life was changed forever and nothing was done by the criminal justice system except to give the young man a slap on the wrist. Is it supposed to tell her that everything in the world is going to be okay because even if he were placed in prison for the rest of their lives there is no way she would ever be able to feel truly totally restored again. Unless one has experienced this particular trauma there is no way to understand what a victim is going through. It is a very difficult battle and it never ends one simply has to find a way to accept what happened to them and become determined that they will not allow anything to hold them back in the present.

Mental scars remain for the rest the person’s life and it takes forever and a lot of psychological help to find a stable place because the truth is there is never a perfect place to reach. Medication helps but only to a certain point and it is hard to describe to family and friends because all they know how to do is make fun because they truly do not understand unless they has it experienced something similar. The important thing to remember is victims and survivors because they made it out of the experience they may not realize it yet or even believe that yet but given enough time in the proper help and they will see.

Works Cited

Davenport, Anniken U. Basic Criminal Law: the Constitution, Procedure, and Crimes. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009. Print.

Falcone, David N. Prentice Hall's Dictionary of American Criminal Justice, Criminology and Criminal Law. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. Print.

Foundation, Joyful Heart. Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape. 2016. Web. 7 July 2016.

Gifis, Steven, H. Barron's Dictionary of Legal Terms. Hauppauge, New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 2008. Print.

Justice, National Institute of. Victims and Perpetrators. 26 October 2010. Web. 7 July 2016.

RAINN. Sexual Assault. 2016. Web. 7 July 2016.

Samuels, Alexandra. "Father of student convicted of rape: Steep price for '20 minutes of action'." 6 June 2016. USA Today . Newspaper. 7 July 2016.