Rape On College Campuses

Rape on college campuses is an actual problem that is not being properly acknowledged or punished. 11.2% of all students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.1 This is based on information gathered through students who actually report it. Many victims don't immediately come forward and report their assault. This could be from confusion on what happened to them, the fact that they know their assailant or they simply don't have enough courage to say something. Another problem is victims of these sexual assaults are not being helped by the college administration. Certain college administration like to brush things under the rug in order to keep their facility as prestigious as they can. Administration

College officials and Law enforcement need to work better together in order to help victims report their assault. Researchers and sociologist believe that heightened awareness and education for both men and women can reduce the instances of sexual assault at colleges and universities. One such study provided students with a number of different scenarios and asked them to decide which of the situations constituted sexual assault. Student perceptions revealed that many young people do not have an accurate definition of what constitutes sexual assault. In a large number of cases, incidents that met the legal definition of rape or sexual assault went unreported because the women involved did not perceive the incident as a sexual assault. Knowing that the instances are likely to be significantly under-reported, it is imperative to be able to identify which scenarios are actually sexual assault and discuss the factors that make the situations less

The FBI’s definition of rape only included forcible male penile penetration of a female vagina until the Obama administration changed it in 2012. A few states still have outdated requirements that make it legally impossible for some LGBT people to be raped. North Carolina does not consider anal penetration in its rape laws, and New York’s laws didn’t until 2013. In most states, the legal definition of first or second degree sexual assault involves non-consensual sexual contact and or intercourse.

The role of alcohol and lack of witnesses makes it very difficult for a prosecutor to get a conviction which causes them to not take these cases. It’s hard to get a guilty verdict in sexual assault trials. Prosecutors are typically concerned with their conviction rates and face limited time and resources. Prosecutors pursue only the strongest cases that offer the highest probability of a win. A report from the United Kingdom documents the role that alcohol plays in increasing the chance of sexual assault and rape. While this study didn’t focus specifically on college students, it pointed to the overall link between alcohol use and sexual assault. Eighty-one percent of reported sexual assaults involved alcohol and