WOMEN ~ VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SOCIETYS PREJUDICES

All of these and other similar myths, whilst being nonsensical, are still believed by many people in society including the victims themselves.    This creates an environment in which the victims often blame themselves and/or are blamed by others for the attack.

3.        CONSEQUENCES OF MYTHS – BARRIERS TO REPORTING

3.1        Unreported Sexual Assaults

The primary consequence of the myths surrounding sexual assault is the imposition of barriers that deter or prevent victims from reporting the crime and seeking help.   In many cases, victims who do not report the attack/s remain isolated and without the help they need to overcome the trauma of the attack, leaving the perpetrator free to continue or repeat his attacks uninhibited.   Only 15-33% of all sexual assaults are reported to police demonstrating that the system is still failing to meet the needs of victims, who are confronted with the almost insurmountable barriers presented by their psychological trauma, cultural myths and criminal justice system.

3.2        Personal Barriers

The majority of sexual assaults are committed by men known to the victim with most being in an intimate relationship with the offender.   Many victims are also ongoing victims of domestic violence with over 50% being repeat victims of sexual assault.   Consequently, many victims suffer high levels of fear, low self esteem, shame and embarrassment.   Many trivialize the attacks as a defensive mechanism to cope with their plight, or keep quiet to protect children or family members.   Many victims experience fears of reprisal from the perpetrator seeing isolated silence as their safest option.   These fears and psychological barriers prevent many victims from seeking help and reporting the attack/s to police.

3.3        Criminal Justice Barriers and the Perception of Police.

Many victims simply do not report sexual assaults because they hold fears or mistrust of a judgmental and adversarial criminal justice system.   Their fears are certainly not ill founded, with research showing that police responses to sexual assaults are consistently insensitive, unsupportive and inadequate.   One of the consequences of this poor performance is exceedingly low prosecution and conviction rates for offenders.   In comparison, prosecution and conviction rates for non-sexual criminal offences is more than three times that of sexual assaults.

4.        THE VICTIMS NEEDS

4.1        Rape Trauma (or Crisis) Syndrome.

The trauma experienced by sexual assault victims in the short term post attack period is referred to as Rape Trauma Syndrome, and during this time victims have a number of core needs.

4.2        Psychological and Social Needs

Victim’s are likely to experience a range of trauma, including feelings of helplessness, suicide, depression, mood swings, self blame, self hate, low self esteem, sleeplessness, flashbacks, nightmares, anger, phobic reactions, fear of being alone and loss of concentration.   All contribute toward feelings of vulnerability that can be considerably exacerbated by ill thought comments or actions by people after the attack.   The most important needs of the victim immediately post-attack are to be believed, supported, not judged and to feel safe.   All of these needs can be met very easily with empathetic and supportive words spoken at the appropriate time.

4.3        Medical Needs

Victims of sexual assault may have a number of immediate and short term medical needs relating to physical injuries including the testing and treatment for communicable diseases and possible pregnancy.   Police also have a need to gather forensic evidence of the crime which involves a very invasive medical examination.   Medical and evidence gathering needs are not separate from the victims psychological and social needs.   Any medical examination or treatment is highly invasive and can heighten the trauma caused by the sexual assault.   Therefore to meet the victim’s needs, medical examiners and police must both communicate and engage the victim in the process to ensure she understands and is in control of the decision making.   Empowerment in the early stages is crucial to a positive recovery for the victim.

4.2        Long Term Needs – Post Trauma Syndrome (PTSD)

One of the greatest failings of our current approach to victims of sexual assault is the lack of long term support and care.   It is during this period that victims are likely to regress and experience Post Traumatic Stress which can extend for years.   The symptoms displayed are often extensions of those suffered in the short term which become more entrenched with the victim as time passes.   Crucial to her recovery in this period is the support and understanding of family and friends.   Frequently, however, they react as victims themselves with; feelings of inadequacy and failure in protecting the victim.   It is therefore important to establish education and support systems for the spouse and families to enable them to support the victim and aid each other to recovery.

5.        THE POLICE RESPONSE.

5.1        Negative Influence of Police Culture.

The traditional focus of police to ‘catch crooks’, gather evidence and return to ‘the beat’ fails to both recognize and respond to the victims needs.   Research suggests that such an approach is still adopted by many police officers even today.   Such an approach not only neglects the victim but substantially inhibits their ability to bring the offender to justice.   Police are generally the first to respond to reports of sexual assault and receive ‘first disclosure’ from the victim after the attack.   They also routinely attend incidents of domestic violence involving victims who may have suffered sexual assault/s and may be too reluctant or frightened to disclose sex crimes to police.

Common complaints made of police responding to sexual assaults are:

• not believing the victim
• ignorance of trauma responses
• making judgmental and insensitive comments
• lack of discretion and respect of privacy
• treating the victim like an offender
• not explaining or keeping the victim informed of events

It is widely recognized that police need to substantially improve their handling of sexual assault matters to address these failings.

5.2        The Police Response to Reports of Sexual Assault.

Fortunately, some progress has been made in the police management of sexual assaults.   Most Australian Police Services now have dedicated units that were established in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to investigate sexual assaults.   The sex crime units are predominantly staffed by plain clothed female officers who undergo specialist training on investigating and responding to reports of sexual assault.   The original concept was to provide victims with a single contact support officer who would help them through the entire investigation and prosecution process.

The increasing modern demands and structure of police services now see such units (like many others) increasingly under pressure through understaffing, overtime and budget restrictions, which has hampered their service delivery to victims.   The officers of such specialist units however, in most cases, do not provide the initial response to the victim.   That still remains the responsibility of the uniformed officer, and it is this area that requires considerable improvement.

Whilst some police promotional and specialist courses do provide victimology education on sex crime, the majority of police education focuses on the investigation and evidence gathering aspects of sex crime.   Many uniform branch officers may not undergo victim focused training and remain ignorant of the victim’s needs and trauma symptoms.

6.        PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT

To address current deficiencies within police services simple but effective changes could be implemented in four keys areas.

6.1        Education & Training

All operational police officers should be required to undertake periodical training focused on victims of crime.   The aims of such training should be to promote the needs of the victim as being the primary focus of all police officers.   Courses should be externally provided (non-police) and include interaction with actual victims in a constructive learning environment. 

6.2        Improved Services

The concept of specialist Sexual Assault Units has been proven, however, many police forces centrally locate these single units in capital centres.   Greater support and access could be provided with specialist units at the local level.   Victims are not all located in the capital CBD, and a far more effective, supportive and accessible service would be provided if units were based in all regional headquarter stations, consistent with other specialist crime scene units.

6.3        Performance Benchmarks

Performance benchmarks should be established for police officers who provide the first response to reports of sexual assault.   Their response to the needs of the victim should be evaluated by Sexual Assault Unit officers at a later time with the victim in an open and transparent way.   Any negative feedback or failure to meet benchmark standards should be addressed with re-education and further performance monitoring.

6.4        Recruitment & Promotion.

Continued recruitment of female officers should be actively pursued.   This should be supported with affirmative action in supporting the promotion of female officers to senior positions within police services.   This will ultimately aid the dislocation of the ‘myth believers’ and break the ‘Boys Club’ mentality still largely seated in many if not all police services.

8.        CONCLUSION

Victims of sexual assault are not only victims of their crime, but also victims of society’s prejudices.   They face considerable barriers in not only reporting the crime that has been inflicted on them, but also in having their trauma understood and accepted by society and the criminal justice system.   Police, as leaders in the community and a key component of the criminal justice system, have the greatest responsibility to both protect and respond to the needs of sexual assault victims.   Positive changes in both the attitudes and practices of all police services must be made to prevent further neglect of sexual assault victims. Continuance on the present path is a failure to abide by the core police ethos underpinning the operation of all police services:

‘Salus populi supremis rex – The safety of the people is the highest law.’

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