Any young woman heading to college is unfortunately aware of the constant sexual assault threat that is posed to her. Rape is unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will of a person who is incapable of valid consent. In the recent years more cases of student athletes committing rape while in college have surfaced. As more news of these cases are brought to light the more nation wide upset they are causing. Sexual assault has always been an issue and even though there are social and technological advances being made every day in order to help victims there is a current epidemic of rape on US college campuses because of administration’s reluctance to help and the tendency
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Throughout time, women on college campuses have been victims of the epidemic of rape. But in the past, a woman’s words were not always enough. In Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice, Corey D Hernandez discloses that in The United States, approximately forty years ago, juries could be instructed to consider evidence of a woman’s “unchaste character” or lack of virginity a reason for her to lose credibility when involved in a rape case. Also, the failure to fight back in a threatening situation was not uncommonly treated as consent. Rape Culture is a term that was developed by feminists in the United States in the 1970's. It was created to show ways in which society had blamed the victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence. As presented in the documentary The Hunting Ground , in 1987 the first study of rape on college campuses done by Mary P. Koss discovered that 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted while attending colleges. These numbers have been countlessly repeated in many studies since then. The Hunting Ground attributed to this study by unveiling that more than 16% of college women are sexually assaulted. Series of protests against the mishandling of sexual assault cases have occurred including Columbia student Emma …show more content…
FindLaw.com states that in California a sexual assault conviction carries a possible sentence of 24, 36, or 48 months in prison, as well as a possible $10,000 fine. As well as New York’s law sets the absolute minimum sentence for sexual assault at one to two years and the absolute maximum penalty at seven years. Even though there are state and federal laws against sexuall assault, countless student athletes constantly find themselves slipping through the cracks. A victim wrote in a letter addressed to her assailant, “And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times.” Brock Turner, a Stanford swimmer assaulted a woman while attending a party with her sister. He assaulted her behind a dumpster and did not stop until two student bikers saw the scene. He attempted to run but the two swedish graduate students tackled him. The case went to trial but the unnamed victim was constantly made a fool because of how she was intoxicated. The judge sentenced him to only 6 months in jail but was released after 3 months due to good behavior.(Jeff Truesdell) Another example of athlete privilege is the Jameis Winston case. A star football player for Florida State University that sexually assaulted a woman one night and she immediately
Throughout time, women on college campuses have been victims of the epidemic of rape. But in the past, a woman’s words were not always enough. In Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice, Corey D Hernandez discloses that in The United States, approximately forty years ago, juries could be instructed to consider evidence of a woman’s “unchaste character” or lack of virginity a reason for her to lose credibility when involved in a rape case. Also, the failure to fight back in a threatening situation was not uncommonly treated as consent. Rape Culture is a term that was developed by feminists in the United States in the 1970's. It was created to show ways in which society had blamed the victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence. As presented in the documentary The Hunting Ground , in 1987 the first study of rape on college campuses done by Mary P. Koss discovered that 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted while attending colleges. These numbers have been countlessly repeated in many studies since then. The Hunting Ground attributed to this study by unveiling that more than 16% of college women are sexually assaulted. Series of protests against the mishandling of sexual assault cases have occurred including Columbia student Emma …show more content…
FindLaw.com states that in California a sexual assault conviction carries a possible sentence of 24, 36, or 48 months in prison, as well as a possible $10,000 fine. As well as New York’s law sets the absolute minimum sentence for sexual assault at one to two years and the absolute maximum penalty at seven years. Even though there are state and federal laws against sexuall assault, countless student athletes constantly find themselves slipping through the cracks. A victim wrote in a letter addressed to her assailant, “And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times.” Brock Turner, a Stanford swimmer assaulted a woman while attending a party with her sister. He assaulted her behind a dumpster and did not stop until two student bikers saw the scene. He attempted to run but the two swedish graduate students tackled him. The case went to trial but the unnamed victim was constantly made a fool because of how she was intoxicated. The judge sentenced him to only 6 months in jail but was released after 3 months due to good behavior.(Jeff Truesdell) Another example of athlete privilege is the Jameis Winston case. A star football player for Florida State University that sexually assaulted a woman one night and she immediately