Sexual Assault

Sexual assault, otherwise known as rape can be defined as "an event that occurred without the woman's consent, involved the use of force or threat of force, and involved sexual penetration of the victim's vagina, mouth or rectum." (Kilpatrick et al. 1992, p. i). (Burns, 1). What would you want to happen to the assailant if you were raped? What if your family or friends were assaulted? Rapists usually get an easier sentence than a drug abuser. Can you believe that? Rape is wrong. It is taking the rights of an innocent person away, along with part of their lives, heart, and dignity. Rapists should have harsher punishments. Not only do they destroy their victims' lives, but they are a threat to the community, and they are part of the rise in crime rate in the United States.

Some people might object to the notion to give rapists harsher punishments because they are against the death penalty..."...Killing those we condemn does not make a safer world. By cranking the wheel of the cycle of violence we amplify it; we infect us all."( Merida Blanco, whose brother was murdered/ http://freenet-homepage.de/dpinfo/victimsfamilies.htm) My question once again to these people is: Look at your children (best friends or others that you hold dearly in your heart). How would you feel if that person was taken against their will, held at gun point and was forced to perform sexual acts on a man/woman or was forcibly and brutally raped over and over again? Would you feel anger? Would you want that person to pay for their crime? The day the trial came, if they were caught, and they received community service, two years probation, and they were made to make their neighbors aware that they are a rapist, would that be enough for you? For all the pain they may have caused you and your loved one, would that be enough? At the Fort Wayne Sexual Assault Treatment Center the shortest sentencing for a rapist in Allen County, Indiana, was six months probation (Robison, Sharon. Personal interview. 18 Nov. 2005). Is that fair? Do they deserve to walk on the street being tempted by other people? The answer quite simply is NO! Forty-eight percent of accused rapists were set free before trial and only fifty-four percent of accused rapists were sentenced to jail (Burns 1).

Did you know that in 1995, 354,670 women were the victims of a rape or sexual assault. (National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1996.) ? Or, that on average every two minutes in America, a woman is assaulted sexually? Almost all women, men, and children experience difficulty living their lives after such a trauma. Some have intimacy issues, romance issues, opposite or same sex issues. Some