Actress Mariska Hargitay plays Detective/Sergeant/Lieutenant Olivia Margaret Benson on the hit television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, created by Dick Wolf. The Special Victims Unit is the name of a specialized department within the police force in which the detectives investigate mainly sex crimes, but in some instances victims of non-sex crimes who are in need of professional help. This may include the elderly, young children, and/or the disabled. The Special Victims Unit does not investigate any homicides, burglaries, or child pornography cases. The episodes of this show are often based on real life crimes that have been awarded big media attention. However, some are completely fictional.
Olivia Margaret Benson was the offspring of a rape by Joseph Hollister, who later committed
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suicide. Her mother, Serena Benson, was unable to cope with the rape and subsequently suffered from depression and alcoholism. This caused Olivia to have a rough childhood in which she was physically and emotionally abused by her mother for years.
Serena was the main reason why Olivia decided to join the New York City Police Department. She became obsessed with these sexual assault cases and felt it was her due diligence to put the perpetrators behind bars and/or given the maximum sentences for their crimes committed. She wanted to get justice for the victims and their families. This created an approach avoidance conflict because she was drawn to as well as drawn away from the rapist. She felt obligated to help the victims of sex crimes mainly because, obviously, she wasn’t able to help her mother and she knows what type of impact sexual assault can do to a person. Erik Erikson’s theory stresses the importance of parent-child relationships and the impact in which it has on mental development. One of the stages within Erik Erikson’s theories is intimacy vs. isolation. This means that adolescents tend to develop loving and intimate relationships with other people. This caused Olivia to develop an internal conflict. Olivia had to grow up with the idea that she was a strain upon her mother due to the fact that Serena could never verge
upon her rape and due to Olivia’s presence, was constantly reminded of it. Olivia has always felt guilty for what happened to her mother. She believes that she is the reason in which her mother started to abuse alcohol. During the year 2000, her mother died from injuries sustained from a fall down the subway stairs while she was drunk. This left Olivia deeply saddened. Due to her mother's death, I would say Olivia felt abandoned in a sense. Although they had a rocky relationship, Olivia did care deeply for her mother and has no other known outside family relatives. Benson also has a half brother named Simon Marsden, who she hadn’t known about until she ran her DNA feloniously through the kinship database.
It sounds reasonable because Olivia is reported to be a sexual offender, and a child pornographer. Olivia is also known for uploading several sexually explicit pictures of children. When he was arrested in 2000, he was allegedly carrying a picture of Jonbenet Ramsey. The second suspect was John Mark Karr. Many people believe it was him because when Jonbenet was murdered he was able to tell people everything about Jonbenet, he could tell you what type of clothes she was wearing to the type of bracelet she had on.
Ashley Davis is a 14 year-old, brown-skinned, African-American, masculine presenting female. Ashley’s mother reports that patient is defiant, especially toward her and other authority figures. Mother reports that Ashley’s behavior disrupts the family, her ability to achieve in school and has landed her in legal trouble. Mother reports that the Ashley began to exhibit sexually promiscuous behavior starting as early as 9 years old. Her reason for referral and placement on the unit was due to Ashley’s mother, finding her and her twin brother naked together in a sexualized position, all while trying to record this interaction. When the mother questioned both Ashley and her brother, it seemed as though the Ashley was the aggressor.
In one particular episode, Benson went undercover to find a rapist inside of a women’s prison facility. The male correction officer who was raping these women, ended up groping, physically, and verbally abusing her, as well as trying to force her to give him oral sex. If it wasn’t for Detective Odafin Tutuola, played by Ice-T, who was also undercover in the facility, she would have been raped, and maybe even more. This caused Benson to develop a terrible case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She started to have panic attacks, trouble sleeping, as well as nightmares. She eventually received counseling for this and it has helped tremendously. In counseling, Olivia is not only able to discuss the trauma that she undergo within the women's facility, but is also able to express her feelings about her past abuse, as well as express her anger towards her father for raping her mother. She now knows not only how to avoid a rape situation but how to teach it to other individuals. I’ve noticed that whenever Benson is put in an uncomfortable situation, she turns into a different person, someone who is much more assertive as well as aggressive. I believe that's also a sign of another defense mechanism, (a mental process initiated to avoid conscious conflict or anxiety). Benson
“In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit….” This short monologue is the opening for Dick Wolf’s fictional television show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. This show follows the detectives of the Sixteenth Precinct in Manhattan, New York City through their lives and the cases they work day after day. In this unit, it is Detective Olivia Benson who has inspired me with her dedication and strength to her job and the real life connections that have been created from this character.
Susan Griffin’s Rape: The All-American Crime touches on many issues within American society. She begins by recounting how she was taught to be afraid of strange men from such a young age that she had not yet learned what it was she was so afraid of, and then goes into her experience with harassment, an experience shared by every woman at some point in her life. Griffin recounts the belief that all rapists are insane and the proof that they are just normal men and dispels the myth that rape is normal activity that is prohibited by society. However, she goes on to clarify that our culture views rape: “as an illegal, but still understandable, form of behavior” (Griffin 514). It seems that the wrongness of rape is determined by the situation in
Some people think it is impossible for someone to become productive if they had an abusive or neglected childhood. There are many people that recovered from an abusive childhood. One person that you will read about later on in my essay is, Oprah Winfrey. She used to be sexually abused when in her childhood. Look at her now, she is one of the highest paid women. Not only that, she is an African American woman. People believed women were not capable of being better than a man and/or working harder than a man. Especially African American women, we were the lowest of the lows. Oprah proved many people wrong.
Rape until 2012 was defined as “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” It was severely lacking was only updated by the Federal Bureau of Instigation in 2012. It left out an entire section of rape that can be committed which is man being the rape victim. This lead to misclassification of rape of males for years. So even the statistics used till 2014 were underwhelming and inaccurate when it was related to male rape or sexual assault. Rape in the United States is now defined by the Department of Justice as “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” Male Rape or men being the sexual assault victims are rarely ever the subject of a dialogue when Sexual Assault is the topic being discussed because rape is generally seen as a heterosexual highly sexed male attack on vulnerable, attractively dressed female victim. Most rapists have alternative outlets for sexual gratification, many take little notice of their victim 's physical attributes, and some may experience sexual dysfunction during the assault.
Cauffman, E., Grisso, T., & Sickmund, M. Future of Children. (2009) Understanding the Female Offender, 18, 5. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from www.futureofchildren.org
Bianca Mendoza was a teen that was trafficked. She first met the man whose name is Ariel Guizar on social media, they got in touch and she soon ran away to him thinking that they were gonna have a relationship. But, he started abusing her and sooner forced her to prostitute. He wouldn't let her leave and told her he would shoot anyone that tried to pick her up. During the second year she was prostituting for over 20 guys a day. After a total of 2 years she escaped and Ariel Guizar was arrested.
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
Misunderstandings, false accusations and inappropriate conduct commonly result in sexual assault charges for people in Philadelphia, and throughout Pennsylvania. Like many how find themselves in this situation, you may not understand the charges you are facing. At Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg & Gifford, P.C., people often ask us what it means to be charged with sexual assault. As such, we will discuss what constitutes sexual assault in the state of Pennsylvania, and the consequences you could face if convicted of this offense.
Rape and sexual violence is a very serious problem that affects millions of people each year. Rape is someone taking advantage of another person sexually. Sexual assault can be verbal, physical, visual, or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention. ("Sexual Assault.") Rape is one of the most underreported crimes. In 2002, only thirty-nine percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law officials. ("Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet.") Victims sometimes do not report that they have raped because of shame or feeling that it was their fault. It is never the victim's fault. "Victim blaming" is holding the victim of a crime to be in a whole or in partly responsible for what had happened to them. Most victims believe this. ("Myths and Facts about Sexual Violence.")
In contemporary North America, if one were to ask almost any member of society what were the most heinous crimes a human being could commit, almost assuredly rape would be listed amongst every top five. Maybe it would even be competing for the number one spot. It is highly unlikely, absurd even, to think that any reasonable being would not find rape (or the broader term of sexual assault used in Canada) to be an abhorrent act becoming of no real human being. However, knowing this: that is, that the vast majority of citizens in North American society are in agreement on the nature of such a crime, it is all the more puzzling that many continue to harbour a mindset that gives them the tendency to blame the victim to an extent in such cases – especially in incidents where the perpetrator is male and the victim female.
Knowing a person or a situation from a story someone else told does not portray a clear insight into what actually is happening. In order to understand someone it is important to go directly to the source and strive to seek out a personal relationship. This past year has been incredibly eye opening for me personally on a topic most find to be uncomfortable. Through my senior year in high school I have gained a new perspective on what sexual assault truly is and how it can affect a persons physical and mental health. These victims go through so much it is no wonder they contract into a shell after the incident. Being a part of social action and my drill team I have been able to fully comprehend the essence of what it takes to be a sexual assault