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I would like to highlight a series of posts over at Racialicious that talk about statutory rape. The posts were written in response to the following PSA.

Debunking myths about statutory rape, race and class: Part one
Part two
Part three

The posts talk a lot about race and class stereotypes that are often linked to statutory rape and used as an excuse by many to ignore pretend that this problem is isolated only to certain groups of people. The author does a great job of debunking these myths.

Now, back to the race and class part of this one. One or two comments I read were in this vein – that this kind of behavior was not okay, but understandable because these people were either low class, ghetto, or their culture permits it. I am projecting that these labels fit different groups of people – “low class” stands in for poor white; “ghetto” stands in for poor black; and discussions of culture normally stands in for Latino men.

These readings also demonstrate the link between sexism and racism. Not only are sexual predators steretyped racially, but the author describes her own experiences and those of her friends as teens/pre-teens and how violence against them was normalized based on their race.

New York Times – by Martin Fackler
Rice Offers Regret After Marine Is Accused of Rape on Okinawa

WFAA- ABC Dallas/Fort Worth
Highland Village City Council OKs sex offender ordinance

Waco Tribune – by Emily Ingram
POLICE NEWS: Waco man charged in second sexual assault of a child case

Austin American-Statesman
Home invasion leads to sexual assault of teen

The Beaumont Enterprise – by Dee Dixon
JEFFERSON AWARDS: Everyday work often overlooked as source of community heroes

The Hillsboro Reporter
Former School Employee Indicted

My Fox- Houston
Police Searching for SW Houston Sexual Assault Suspect

Waco Tribune
POLICE REPORT: Arrest made in sexual assault

NBC 5- Dallas/Fort Worth
Rape Victim: Attacker Followed Her Home From Gas Station

Lufkin Daily News – by Jessica Savage
Detectives expand movie theater rape investigation

Nora Niedzielski-Eichner, a board member of Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) and a graduate student at Stanford University, responded to the inflammatory op-ed from earlier this week, What campus rape crisis? Click on the headline to read the article in its original context, which includes links to various resources. On a sidenote, check out SAFER’s blog for more information about rape on college campuses.

Wrong on rape
A student activist reacts to an Op-Ed claiming that there is no campus rape crisis.
By Nora Niedzielski-Eichner

I was appalled this Sunday to see the headline “What campus rape crisis?” pop up on my newsfeed, especially when I realized it came from a major news source. I am grateful to The Times for the opportunity to respond to Heather MacDonald’s rehash of author Katie Roiphe’s discredited attacks on studies of rape on college campuses, although I question why such an outdated and deliberately misleading piece was published in the first place.

To refute MacDonald’s claims, I could dwell on her right-wing think tank credentials and the ideological biases that come with such funding sources. I could cite peer-reviewed academic sources, anecdotal student survivor sources or Department of Justice statistics, [pdf] all of which demonstrate that sexual assault is a common occurrence on college campuses. I could link to dozens of articles from the last month alone detailing students raped by friends, Resident assistants and ex-boyfriends. But MacDonald clearly does not care about such evidence, and my real concern is not with her. Instead, I want to reach out to the survivors, students, parents, administrators and lawmakers who might have read her opinion and been misled by her distortions and circular logic, and I want to discuss what is really happening on college campuses, from the perspective of those who graduated recently or are there now. Read more

Fort Bend Herald
Man gets 36 years in child sex assault case

KXAN- NBC Austin
Police: Sexual Assault Suspect Used Candy To Lure Girls

Athens Review – by Angela Weatherford
Man booked for sexual assault

My Fox- Houston
Conroe ISD Teacher Resigns Amidst Child Assault Allegations

WFAA- ABC Dallas/Fort Worth – by Macie Jepson
Loophole allows some sex offenders to remain unregistered

That’s because the 1997 law behind sexual predator databases exempts anyone convicted of a sex crime who’s served time and been released from supervision before September 1, 1997.

Dallas County district attorney Craig Watkins explains why.

“It’s difficult for a new law to be retroactive. In fact, it’s unconstitutional. Because of the constitution you can’t require those individual to register as sex offenders,” he said.

The following op-ed ran in the L.A. Times and is an adaptation of a much longer article that Ms. MacDonald wrote for the City Journal. It has, understandably, been the target of intense outrage from sexual violence survivors, allies and advocates. Unabashed victim blaming is rampant throughout the article, but I highlighted a few particularly heinous assertions.

If you want to write a letter to the editor admonishing the L.A. Times for perpetuating harmful rape myths and stereotypes about female sexuality, write to letters@latimes.com.

What campus rape crisis?
Promiscuity and hype have created a phony epidemic at colleges.

By Heather MacDonald

It’s a lonely job, working the phones at a college rape crisis center. Day after day, you wait for the casualties to show up from the alleged campus rape epidemic — but no one calls. Could this mean that the crisis is overblown? No. It means, according to campus sexual-assault organizations, that the abuse of coeds is worse than anyone had ever imagined. It means that consultants and counselors need more funding to persuade student rape victims to break the silence of their suffering.

It is a central claim of these organizations that between a fifth and a quarter of all college women will be raped or will be the targets of attempted rape by the end of their college years. Harvard’s Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response uses the 20% to 25% statistic. Websites at New York University, Syracuse University, Penn State and the University of Virginia, among many other places, use the figures as well.

And who will be the assailants of these women? Not terrifying strangers who will grab them in dark alleys, but the guys sitting next to them in class or at the cafeteria.

If the one-in-four statistic is correct, campus rape represents a crime wave of unprecedented proportions. No felony, much less one as serious as rape, has a victimization rate remotely approaching 20% or 25%, even over many years. The 2006 violent crime rate in Detroit, one of the most violent cities in the U.S., was 2,400 murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults per 100,000 inhabitants — a rate of 2.4%.

Such a crime wave — in which millions of young women would graduate having suffered the most terrifying assault, short of murder, that a woman can experience — would require nothing less than a state of emergency. Admissions policies, which if the numbers are true are allowing in tens of thousands of vicious criminals, would require a complete revision, perhaps banning male students entirely. The nation’s nearly 10 million female undergraduates would need to take the most stringent safety precautions.

None of this crisis response occurs, of course — because the crisis doesn’t exist. Read more

Yesterday Sex Crimes posted several amicus briefs in favor of the petitioner in Kennedy v. Louisiana that argue against capital punishment for child sexual assault. Two more briefs were posted Thursday. The outcome of this case will have huge impact here in Texas now that Jessica’s Law has made offenders who twice commit the crime of “super aggravated” sexual assault of a child eligible for the death penalty.

An amicus brief is a document filed with the court by a third party who is not afifliated with the case, but who will be affected by the court’s decision. Kennedy v. Louisiana is the Supreme Court case examining the constitutionality of executing people for the crime of child rape.

The UTD Mercury – by Lauren Buell
Koestner recounts date rape, recovery to raise awareness

KIII- Corpus Christi
Registry would contain up-to-date information on offenders

Killeen Daily Herald
KPD investigating sexual assault on infant

Jacksonville Daily Progress – by Kelly Young
Police seek repeat offender following threat allegation

Waco Tribune – by Emily Ingram
POLICE NEWS: Man charged with sexual assault of child

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) has just published a report about major depressive episodes in the past year among adults aged 18 or older. Both the full report and highlights of Treatment for Past-Year Depression among Adults are available.

The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) has published tips to help keep people safe from cyber-stalking. This information is relevant for general victim assistance and, in particular, for victims of stalking and domestic violence.

An article about cyber-bullying and its impact on victims has been published on Officer.com.

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