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  • Essay / Sexual Assault: How Colleges Can Help Victims and Prevent Assault

    Imagine walking across the stage, earning the degree, and entering the next phase of life. Logically, the next step would be university, supposed to be the happiest time of one's entire life. The university encourages self-discovery, friendship and education. However, many women do not have this experience. The happiest time of life can instantly turn into a time of trauma and grief following sexual assault. Universities may provide education to young people, but they also generate high rates of sexual assault. To make matters worse, colleges do not provide adequate assault services. If universities offered more sexual assault prevention and support programs, campus assault rates would decrease and students would be more comfortable reporting assaults. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay While some people refuse to acknowledge the problem of campus assault, thousands of women are victims of assault each year. In fact, Tara N. Richard of the University of Baltimore says 25 percent of women will be sexually assaulted during their college years. Additionally, Zachary Taylor, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, reports the following data found in a study that extracted data from thirty-two colleges: "21% of all female students have been victims of sexual assault at during their undergraduate studies and 13% were raped by the time they graduated.” The authors explain that a considerable number of women are victims of assault on campus. The percentage of women assaulted has not decreased over the years. The data shows that this is a current problem. As these innocent women enroll in college to receive an education, they instead experience trauma and heartbreak. Sexual assault continues to be a problem because most cases go unreported. Studies have shown that only 20% of women report assault, while other studies have shown that less than 5% of women report it. Assaults may go unreported for many reasons. Laura Lynn Kerner of the College of Business at Athens State University explains: "The main barriers to reporting rape to law enforcement included: 1) not wanting the others are informed of the rape, 2) fear of reprisals, 3) perception of a lack of information. evidence, 4) uncertainty about how to report, and 5) uncertainty about whether a crime was committed or whether harm was intended.” Assaults go unreported for other reasons as well. The main reason is that most women do not understand how to report an incident. A recent study by University of Texas student Zachary Taylor. expands on this point. He created a sample of one hundred private and public four-year universities. He then took the reporting instructions and analyzed them. It reports the following findings: “The average instructions for reporting sexual assault are written at a grade level of 15.4 (approximately a third-grade college reading level), and 81% of all institutions provided instructions for reporting sexual assault written at a first grade level or higher. university reading level.” Only 11% of schools provided readable instructions. This means that most women, unable to readinstructions, find themselves in situations in which they do not know how to report an attack. Being unable to read how to report an incident puts other women at even greater risk. Consider international students or students with reading and learning disabilities. What do they do in this situation? They don't even have the option to report the assault because they don't know how to do it. Women are disadvantaged from the start of this process. Women will never be able to get justice if they cannot bring their attacks to the authorities. People often claim that campus assaults remain a problem because women don't file complaints. They blame women. However, these people do not understand why women do not want to make a statement. To begin with, it is common knowledge that the perpetrator generally goes unpunished. Laura Lyn Kerner reports that “less than a third of students found responsible for sexual assault are expelled from their college” (7). Even when abusers are deported, they can still attend college elsewhere. Why go through the tiring and embarrassing legal process when the person at fault will not be convicted? Additionally, students are afraid of facing repercussions for their previous actions. To be more specific, almost eighty-seven percent of all assault cases involve underage drinking. If the victim decides to report the attack, they are punished for drinking. This is why many women decide not to report it. Typically, victims are placed in scenarios to stay safe from consequences or seek justice. It shouldn't even be a choice a person has to make. Some colleges are trying to prevent sexual assault. However, these programs tend to fall on deaf ears because they have many flaws. To begin with, these time-limited programs lack coherence. Result: they lack attendance. They particularly lack male attendance. How can we prevent sexual assault if no one shows up for prevention programs? In addition, college prevention programs generally take place over a month. Laura Kerner explains this in her essay, Sexual Assaults on College Campuses: “Programs may be time-limited, usually offered only during Sexual Assault Awareness Week/Month, usually in April.” As a result, prevention programs do not take place in the fall, the time of year when assault rates are highest. Additionally, recent studies have shown that these programs teach how to help people who are injured or attacked. They don't teach how to prevent it. Furthermore, the programs do not emphasize the importance of male responsibilities even though, in most cases, it is the man who is the author of the violence. A study of nine universities found that all prevention programs were “tailored to potential perpetrators”. Additionally, most programs teach viewers how to help. This means they teach bystanders how to intervene in assault scenarios instead of teaching women how to defend themselves. In order to reduce assault rates, colleges need to examine their current prevention programs and realize that they are not working. Instead of using the old, flawed method, perhaps they should consider women's lives more seriously and create more reliable programs. A recent study theorized a modern aggression prevention program. Lyn Kerner explains: “The.