High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer, The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault

articles
- High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer
- Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents
- The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault, fewer than 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police.


High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer
Fri Mar 16, 2012 By Anna Schecter and Kate Snow Rock Center

The day after a Rock Center report on the sexual abuse of high school foreign exchange students aired, the State Department’s Inspector General issued a scathing report that challenged spokesperson Toria Nuland’s assertion to NBC News that the Department has taken the necessary steps to protect students.

The IG report said an exchange organization had for years been placing high school students in the home of a convicted murderer. The Department did not terminate the organization from the program until a year after this information was discovered, the report said....

Some organizations that placed students in the homes of convicted felons continued for extended periods to operate as “designated sponsors,” according to the report. Those "designated sponsors" are regulated by the State Department.

The report cited 118 allegations of sexual abuse or harassment of high school exchange students in 2010 and 2011....

The most recent IG report found only 39 of 92 organizations had been reviewed.

Furthermore, the IG found 15 of the organizations did not comply with regulations. They failed to complete criminal background checks on families, resulting in teens being placed in homes of sex offenders and other felons. Instead of shutting down or suspending the organizations as required by law, most received only a letter of reprimand. http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/16/10722997-high-school-foreign-exchange-students-repeatedly-placed-with-convicted-murderer


Culture Shock: ‘He touched places that he shouldn’t have’
Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, a Rock Center investigation has found. The State Department regulates more than 80 organizations that place foreign teens in American homes where they study at American high schools. The study abroad experience, a rite of passage and diplomatic gesture, became a nightmarish experience for some teens. NBC News’ Kate Snow reports http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rock-center/46741718




The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault
By JANE E. BRODY December 12, 2011

Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped. Yet few told anyone about it at the time, or reported it to the police. I have clear memories of three such episodes from my childhood, one of which involved a man who owned a store in my neighborhood....

I had trouble sleeping, and I avoided the block where the store was. Yet, fearing that the assault was somehow my fault, I said nothing to my parents.

Experts on sexual assault and rape report that even today, despite improvements in early sex education and widespread publicity about sexual assaults, the overwhelming majority of both felony and misdemeanor cases never come to public or legal attention.

It is all too easy to see why. More often than not, women who bring charges of sexual assault are victims twice over, treated by the legal system and sometimes by the news media as lying until proved truthful.

“There is no other crime I can think of where the victim is more victimized,” said Rebecca Campbell, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University who for 20 years has been studying what happens legally and medically to women who are raped. “The victim is always on trial. Rape is treated very differently than other felonies.”

So, too, are the victims of lesser sexual assaults. In 1991, when Anita Hill, a lawyer and academic, told Congress that the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her repeatedly when she worked for him, Ms. Hill was vilified as a character assassin and liar acting on behalf of abortion-rights advocates....

Victims must be better supported with better forensics, investigations and prosecutions, Dr. Campbell said. “This is a public safety issue. Most rapists are serial rapists, and they must be held accountable.”

In one study, published in 1987 in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 126 admitted rapists had committed 907 rapes involving 882 different victims.

Rapists are not the only serial sexual offenders. Witness the all-too-frequent revelations of sexual abuse of children involving multiple victims and persisting for decades even when others in positions of authority knew it was going on....

Last year, according to the Department of Justice, 188,280 Americans were victims of sexual violence.

Among female victims, nearly three-quarters are assaulted by men they know — friends, acquaintances or intimate partners, according to federal statistics.

But fewer than 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police. Underreporting is more common among male victims and women raped by acquaintances or domestic partners. Only one-quarter of rapes are committed by strangers.

The result of underreporting and poor prosecution: 15 of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail, according to the network....

The consequences (of rape) can include pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease; feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and low self-esteem; self-blame and depression; substance abuse and eating disorders; fears of intimacy; numbness; post-traumatic stress disorder (nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety attacks, difficulty functioning); borderline personality disorder; unexplained physical problems; and even suicide. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/health/the-twice-victimized-of-sexual-assault.html