Rape, Campus Rape, Alcohol, and Sexual Predators

NPR had a mind-boggling look at new research on rape, generally; and campus-rape, specifically during last Thursday morning's broadcast of All Things Considered.   As I've said many times, the bete noir of the Bad Lawyer when he practiced law was the representation of rape victims, expecially children or adults who were raped as children. 

The new research establishes from surveys of college males the extent to which young men knowingly and routinely sexually assault and feel not only that they have not done anything wrong but in fact actually boast about the behavior.  A couple of factors jump out, these college "men" take advantage of freshmen girls in particular, apparently because, the more naive the better; and. the unsurprising role alcohol plays as a tactical weapon in these assaults.

An associated news report, also on NPR looked at the extent to which colleges fail woefully to address the crime in their response.  Instead of looking at sexual assault as a crime to be dealt with as a crime, academics who deal with these acts frequently re-victimize the girls by looking for "teachable moments."  Often perpetrators receive suspensions when action, if any is taken.  Not surprisingly victims often transfer away from the school or stop going to college at all, to avoid having to be on the same campus when the rapiest returns.  Pretty depressing.

I actually had precisely this scenario on behalf of a young local woman.  Unfortunately, "Theresa" was attending a college out of state and our efforts to find her a legal advocate near the college where this occurred was unsuccessful.  I'm still angry about what happened to Theresa who abandoned financial assistance to get away from this school that did not stand up for her--and which we were unable to sue in local courts.