College Campus Sexual Assault

The official definition of sexual assault has been modified over the past few decades and currently differs within each jurisdiction. At common law, rape was defined as the unlawful intercourse of a woman by a man without her consent and by force (Friedland, Carpenter, Chavis, Arcabascio, 2016). Legislatures have modernized their definitions to incorporate explicit scenarios of unwanted sexual encounters, where the victim is incapacitated (Friedland et al., 2016).

The United States Department of Justice (2017) official definition of sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or conduct without the permission of the of the recipient. Sexual activities that classify as sexual assault are forcible sodomy, attempted rape, forced sexual intercourse,

college campuses. At least 20 percent of women and six percent of men nationwide are subjected to sexual assault or attempted sexual assault throughout their collegiate years (NSU: Public Safety Department, 2017). Approximately 50 percent of transgender individuals endure sexual violence. The most common type of sexual violence is committed by someone the victim knows (i.e. a date or acquaintance) and not so much by a stranger. For instance, researchers Fedina, Holmes and Backes (2016) completed a meta-analysis on campus sexual assault and found the following results suggested the following prevalence

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act obligates colleges and universities to report sexually-based crimes and proposes safety measures to protect student victims of assault and rape. The current demand for mandatory reporting within higher education originates from the fears that colleges and universities have not responded appropriately to sexual assault victimization (Mancini et al., 2016). Highly publicized sexually-based campus crimes in the United States have highlighted college and university’s mishandling of such allegations, resulting in dire consequences for the victims and the