SEXUAL ASSAULT IN CAMPUS

Sexual Assault in Campus



Sexual Assault in Campus

Literature Review

Definitions of sexual assault

The term Sexual assault is defined in number of ways. The examiner and analysts have defined sexual assault in several ways, because every country has their own different laws and regulation so the definition of sexual assault varies from one country to another. According to it is a physical attack of a sexual nature on another person of an opposite gender, or any sexual act executed without permission. The National Center for Victims of Crime states that:

“The Sexual assault takes many forms including attacks such as rape or attempted rape, as well as any unwanted sexual contact or threats. Usually a sexual assault occurs when someone touches any part of another person's body in a sexual way, even through clothes, without that person's consent.”

Sexual assault response policy

Sexual assault response policy is an official policy that exclaims sexual assault on campus. It is a school's statement to make a commit to measure and deal with the problem pertains to sexual assault. To meet the intention and the standards of the federal laws, the school policies should be easily available to students (Hudson, 2000).



Programs for sexual Assault

Multiple or longer prevention programs

Educators usually opt for short-term programs due to reason that their mobility could easily reach large audiences. It is also one of the facts that most rape prevention programs are on the short-term basis. Some researchers have found out on studying about the colleges using short programs, they have found that they are effective in changing the rape-supporting attitudes and enhancing the knowledge about rape (Hanson, 1998).

The fact involves in this case is that the success of the educational programs that include presentations and lectures, it is not realistic to suppose the outcomes as the one short program does not guarantee to prevent sexual violence in campuses (Zawacki, 2004). Therefore, the researchers are more into focus that the participants should have multiple exposures to prevention messages. Thus, longer education programs have more influence on changes in rape and rape-related attitudes (Patricia, 1993).

Campus-wide programs

As discussed above, people feel reluctant in reporting about the sexual assault, a study has conducted which exhibits the facts and figures that less than 2% of the individual actually report their sexual assaults to the police and 4% of the students have the courage to report to the campus authorities. The major reasons and barriers of not reporting the sexual assault according to women are:

•Crime was not serious to report

•Crime was not intentional

Campus wide program should include the policies that clearly defines the pathway whom to notify and what actions the university will take, they need to set procedures also the penalties that the assaulter would be paying and how the victim would be saved. In the end, best practice should have the focus on the behaviors like good relationships and consent (Ullman, 2001). Campuses and university's measure must reflect zero-tolerance policy towards sexual violence against the stakeholder of the university like faculty, staff, ...