Crucible Rape Research Paper

As research unveils that women, regardless of age and race, have a high risk of experiencing sexual assault, the U.S. Government has responded with differing attempts at definition of sexual assault and legislature that protects victims. Over the years, these laws and policies have transitioned into providing more concrete definitions of sexual assault and rape, who is at risk, and where do victims go for help. For example, the Uniform Crime Report (2004) defines forcible rape as “[t]he carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” A further definition of carnal knowledge is provided and incidents where it would be considered forcible rape. More recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2009) released a Frequently
Most institutions have a police force or campus safety office integrated into campus life. These safety programs are employed to protect students against crime and victimization and provide support. Most are located on-campus, and are a visible presence. In 1992, a federal law named the Campus Sexual Assault Victim’s Bill of Rights was put into place to provide standard policies for colleges to implement and give victims basic rights. In 1998, this law was revised and renamed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. Known as the Clery Act, this law enforces each collegiate institution in the United States to report three current years of crime data from their campus, provide a public crime log, issue timely warnings and have an emergency response system in place, compile fire safety information, and have a policy regarding missing students. Since its inception, the Clery Act has gathered data from across the country on crime frequencies reported at 2 and 4 year, public and private institutions. In addition to requiring that each institution report their own crime data, Clery also provides three current years of crime data for each institution on their website. Clery boasts that their policy has affected many different federal and state
By stipulating the specifics of what is considered the “college campus”, crimes are only reported for the campus itself and not the surrounding neighborhood. In addition, if students experience crime off-campus and from a non-student they are not obligated or legally required to report it. But, if they do experience crime or sexual assault on-campus or from a student, and they disclose this information to someone, that person is legally required to report the crime. Under the Clery Act, specific people at college campuses are trained and informed of their position to legally report any sexual assault they hear of, and to provide support for the victim. These are called Campus Security Authorities (CSAs) and include anyone who has direct contact with students such as: dean of students, housing and residential life personnel, student code or discipline, greek affairs, athletics, physicians in health center, counselors/victim advocates, and other safety staff. CSAs specifically do not include faculty members that are only responsible for students in the classroom, and support staff (Stafford 2011). While CSAs are usually first-responders or the first contact that students make regarding a sexual assault, it seems counterintuitive that faculty and support staff are not included as CSAs. Being involved on-campus and having direct connections with students, faculty and