- Sexual abuse allegations shut down football season at New Jersey school
- Seven Sayreville football players suspended amid abuse scandal at New Jersey school
- Campus nightmare: female students on the rise of sexual harassment
- Hidden Marks
A study of women students’ experiences of harassment, stalking, violence and sexual assault
- NUS research reveals one in four students suffer unwelcome sexual advances
Sexual abuse allegations shut down football season at New Jersey school
October 10, 2014, by CNN Wire
SAYREVILLE, N.J. — The crunching sound of football cleats on hallway floors became the drone of dread for freshman at a New Jersey high school. As they marched into the locker room, an ugly hazing ritual allegedly awaited them.
Upperclassmen howled as they flipped off the lights then sexually abused their younger classmates at Sayreville High School, parents and players say.
Authorities are investigating, and the school’s superintendent has canceled the successful team’s football season.
The coach and officials won’t comment on details of the abuse, but it may have gone on for a year. A Sports Illustrated article indicated that it likely did not involve intercourse.
“There were incidents of harassment, intimidation that took place on a pervasive level, in which the players knew, tolerated and in general accepted,” says Superintendent Richard Labbe....
http://myfox8.com/2014/10/10/sexual-abuse-allegations-shut-down-football-season-at-new-jersey-school/
Seven Sayreville football players suspended amid abuse scandal at New Jersey school
The announcement came an hour before a vigil was to be held in town for the victims of the alleged hazing ritual. BY Bill Price NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, October 12, 2014
The seven Sayreville football players arrested over the weekend have been suspended from school, Jonathan Busch, the lawyer for the school board said in a statement, according to The Home News Tribune.
“While we are legally restricted from speaking about individual students, it would be fair to say that any student arrested in connection with the matter involving the football program is suspended from Sayreville War Memorial High School, and we are in the process of arranging for an alternative education pending further investigation,” Busch said in the statement.
The announcement came an hour before a vigil was to be held in town for the victims of the alleged hazing ritual....
A joint statement from county prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Sayreville Police Chief John Zebrowski on Saturday said “seven juveniles have been charged with juvenile delinquency arising from the attacks upon four victims in four separate incidents at Sayreville War Memorial High School.”
The statement said “three of the juveniles were charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, conspiracy to commit aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint and hazing for engaging in an act of sexual penetration upon one of the juvenile victims.”....
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/sayreville-suspended-school-report-article-1.1971879
Campus nightmare: female students on the rise of sexual harassment
Photographed in their beds, shamed on social media – and, for some female students, that’s just the beginning. So what are British universities doing about sexual harassment and assaults?
Sally Williams The Guardian, Friday 10 October 2014
....The extent of sexual assaults on British campuses emerged four years ago when the NUS published Hidden Marks: A Study Of Women Students’ Experiences Of Harassment, Stalking, Violence And Sexual Assault. One in seven respondents had experienced some form of serious physical or sexual assault, the report stated, and more than two-thirds had experienced some kind of verbal or nonverbal harassment in or around university. (The latest NUS survey revealed that 37% of women and 12% of men who responded said they had faced unwelcome sexual advances.) Being groped, having someone put their hand up your skirt at a club and sexual comments were so ubiquitous, the NUS concluded, they were almost a fact of life.
A report last year, by the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics, stated that female students in full-time education are at higher risk of sexual violence than the general female population. A particularly hazardous time, experts believe, is freshers’ week, when newcomers are invited to a raft of social events. “They are extremely vulnerable,” says Dr Alison Phipps, director of gender studies at Sussex University and coauthor of That’s What She Said, a 2013 report on women students’ experience in higher education. “Some of them are away from home for the first time, are trying to make friends and don’t know the campus, don’t know the city.”....
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/11/campus-nightmare-female-students-rise-sexual-harassment
Hidden Marks
A study of women students’ experiences of harassment, stalking, violence and sexual assault
Foreword
Welcome to Hidden Marks, the first ever nationwide report into women students’ experience of harassment, stalking, violence and sexual assault. We decided to undertake this research because women aged 16–24 have a higher risk of experiencing domestic violence, but there appeared to be little awareness of this amongst students. We wanted to find out from women students themselves about their experiences. We wanted to understand what was happening on campus, in halls of residences, and in
students' unions, and we wanted to hear how women students felt about it.
In this report we provide a snapshot of the harassment and violence that a national sample of women students have faced whilst they have been at their current institution. The picture that we have revealed is disturbing. 14 per cent have experienced serious physical or sexual assault. 68 per cent have been subject to verbal or physical sexual harassment. Nearly one in four has experienced unwanted sexual contact.
http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/NUS_hidden_marks_report_2nd_edition_web.pdf
NUS research reveals one in four students suffer unwelcome sexual advances
Monday 15 September 2014
NUS President, Toni Pearce today called on UK universities to join NUS in its work on tackling lad culture on UK campuses. The call comes as new research reveals that one in four students (26 per cent) have suffered unwelcome sexual advances, defined as inappropriate touching and groping.
More than a third of women students (37 per cent) said they had faced unwelcome sexual advances.
In the survey of over 2,000 men and women students almost one third of respondents said they endure unwanted sexual comments about their body (12 per cent of men, 37 per cent of women).
Two thirds of respondents said they have seen students put up with unwanted sexual comments, with just under one third bearing witness to verbal harassment based on a student’s gender.
75 per cent of students are aware of online communities such as ‘Unilad’ and ‘Lad Bible’ with almost two thirds of women students (63 per cent) agreeing that these contribute to an unfair representation of women.... http://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/nus-research-reveals-one-in-four-students-suffer-unwelcome-sexual-advances/
Showing posts with label stalking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stalking. Show all posts
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Embattled Childhoods May Be the Real Trauma for Soldiers With PTSD
Embattled Childhoods May Be the Real Trauma for Soldiers With PTSD
ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2012) — New research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers challenges popular assumptions about the origins and trajectory of PTSD, providing evidence that traumatic experiences in childhood -- not combat -- may predict which soldiers develop the disorder....
"Most studies on PTSD in soldiers following service in war zones do not include measures of PTSD symptoms prior to deployment and thus suffer from a baseline problem. Only a few studies have examined pre- to post-deployment changes in PTSD symptoms, and most only use a single before-and-after measure," says Berntsen....
Rather than following some sort of "typical" pattern in which symptoms emerge soon after a particularly traumatic event and persist over time, Berntsen and colleagues found wide variation in the development of PTSD among the soldiers.
The vast majority of the soldiers (84%) were resilient, showing no PTSD symptoms at all or recovering quickly from mild symptoms.
The rest of the soldiers showed distinct and unexpected patterns of symptoms. About 4% showed evidence of "new-onset" trajectory, with symptoms starting low and showing a marked increase across the five timepoints. Their symptoms did not appear to follow any specific traumatic event.
Most notably, about 13% of the soldiers in the study actually showed temporary improvement in symptoms during deployment. These soldiers reported significant symptoms of stress prior to leaving for Afghanistan that seemed to ease in the first months of deployment only to increase again upon their return home.
What could account for this unexpected pattern of symptoms?
Compared to the resilient soldiers, the soldiers who developed PTSD were much more likely to have suffered emotional problems and traumatic events prior to deployment. Childhood experiences of violence, especially punishment severe enough to cause bruises, cuts, burns, and broken bones actually predicted the onset of PTSD in these soldiers. Those who showed symptoms of PTSD were more likely to have witnessed family violence, and to have experienced physical attacks, stalking or death threats by a spouse. They were also more likely to have past experiences that they could not, or would not, talk about. And they were less educated than the resilient soldiers....
The findings challenge the notion that exposure to combat and other war atrocities is the main cause of PTSD.
"We were surprised that stressful experiences during childhood seemed to play such a central role in discriminating the resilient versus non-resilient groups," says Berntsen. "These results should make psychologists question prevailing assumptions about PTSD and its development."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140625.htm
Peace and War Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Before, During, and After Military Deployment in Afghanistan
Dorthe Berntsen, Kim B. Johannessen, Yvonne D. Thomsen, Mette Bertelsen, Rick H. Hoyle and David C. Rubin
Abstract
In the study reported here, we examined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in 746 Danish soldiers measured on five occasions before, during, and after deployment to Afghanistan. Using latent class growth analysis, we identified six trajectories of change in PTSD symptoms. Two resilient trajectories had low levels across all five times, and a new-onset trajectory started low and showed a marked increase of PTSD symptoms. Three temporary-benefit trajectories, not previously described in the literature, showed decreases in PTSD symptoms during (or immediately after) deployment, followed by increases after return from deployment. Predeployment emotional problems and predeployment traumas, especially childhood adversities, were predictors for inclusion in the nonresilient trajectories, whereas deployment-related stress was not.
These findings challenge standard views of PTSD in two ways. First, they show that factors other than immediately preceding stressors are critical for PTSD development, with childhood adversities being central. Second, they demonstrate that the development of PTSD symptoms shows heterogeneity, which indicates the need for multiple measurements to understand PTSD and identify people in need of treatment.
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/11/02/0956797612457389
ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2012) — New research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers challenges popular assumptions about the origins and trajectory of PTSD, providing evidence that traumatic experiences in childhood -- not combat -- may predict which soldiers develop the disorder....
"Most studies on PTSD in soldiers following service in war zones do not include measures of PTSD symptoms prior to deployment and thus suffer from a baseline problem. Only a few studies have examined pre- to post-deployment changes in PTSD symptoms, and most only use a single before-and-after measure," says Berntsen....
Rather than following some sort of "typical" pattern in which symptoms emerge soon after a particularly traumatic event and persist over time, Berntsen and colleagues found wide variation in the development of PTSD among the soldiers.
The vast majority of the soldiers (84%) were resilient, showing no PTSD symptoms at all or recovering quickly from mild symptoms.
The rest of the soldiers showed distinct and unexpected patterns of symptoms. About 4% showed evidence of "new-onset" trajectory, with symptoms starting low and showing a marked increase across the five timepoints. Their symptoms did not appear to follow any specific traumatic event.
Most notably, about 13% of the soldiers in the study actually showed temporary improvement in symptoms during deployment. These soldiers reported significant symptoms of stress prior to leaving for Afghanistan that seemed to ease in the first months of deployment only to increase again upon their return home.
What could account for this unexpected pattern of symptoms?
Compared to the resilient soldiers, the soldiers who developed PTSD were much more likely to have suffered emotional problems and traumatic events prior to deployment. Childhood experiences of violence, especially punishment severe enough to cause bruises, cuts, burns, and broken bones actually predicted the onset of PTSD in these soldiers. Those who showed symptoms of PTSD were more likely to have witnessed family violence, and to have experienced physical attacks, stalking or death threats by a spouse. They were also more likely to have past experiences that they could not, or would not, talk about. And they were less educated than the resilient soldiers....
The findings challenge the notion that exposure to combat and other war atrocities is the main cause of PTSD.
"We were surprised that stressful experiences during childhood seemed to play such a central role in discriminating the resilient versus non-resilient groups," says Berntsen. "These results should make psychologists question prevailing assumptions about PTSD and its development."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140625.htm
Peace and War Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Before, During, and After Military Deployment in Afghanistan
Dorthe Berntsen, Kim B. Johannessen, Yvonne D. Thomsen, Mette Bertelsen, Rick H. Hoyle and David C. Rubin
Abstract
In the study reported here, we examined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in 746 Danish soldiers measured on five occasions before, during, and after deployment to Afghanistan. Using latent class growth analysis, we identified six trajectories of change in PTSD symptoms. Two resilient trajectories had low levels across all five times, and a new-onset trajectory started low and showed a marked increase of PTSD symptoms. Three temporary-benefit trajectories, not previously described in the literature, showed decreases in PTSD symptoms during (or immediately after) deployment, followed by increases after return from deployment. Predeployment emotional problems and predeployment traumas, especially childhood adversities, were predictors for inclusion in the nonresilient trajectories, whereas deployment-related stress was not.
These findings challenge standard views of PTSD in two ways. First, they show that factors other than immediately preceding stressors are critical for PTSD development, with childhood adversities being central. Second, they demonstrate that the development of PTSD symptoms shows heterogeneity, which indicates the need for multiple measurements to understand PTSD and identify people in need of treatment.
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/11/02/0956797612457389
Saturday, March 10, 2012
DOJ Director on Violence Against Women in the United States
DOJ Director on Violence Against Women in the United States
Rahim Kanani, Contributor 3/08/2012
In one of the most in-depth discussions to date on violence against women in the United States, and to coincide with International Women’s Day, I interviewed Susan B. Carbon, Director of the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)....
One in every four women and one in every seven men have experienced severe physical violence by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.[1] Stalkers victimize approximately 5.2 million women and 1.4 million men each year in the U.S, with domestic violence-related stalking the most common type of stalking and often the most dangerous.[2] One in ten 9th-12th grade students were physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in 2009 alone.[3] One in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetimes, and nearly 1.3 million women in the U.S. are raped every year.[4]....
Susan Carbon: Since the 1990s, we have learned a great deal more about prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. For example, research has helped us better understand how rapists target their victims and escape justice. This is particularly significant on our college campuses. College rapists may avoid the justice system by attacking acquaintances, picking women who will not be considered credible due to alcohol use or other factors, and by minimizing injuries by plying their victims with alcohol rather than using physical force.
Nineteen percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing completed or attempted sexual assault since entering college. Most of these assaults occurred when the victim was incapacitated by alcohol. Rapes involving alcohol are much more prevalent than rapes involving date-rape drugs.[9] Risk of incapacitated rape increases significantly during college.[10] In one study, over 80% of undetected college rapists reported committing rapes of women who were incapacitated because of drugs or alcohol.[11] Many college rapists create “cases” that victims are least likely to report and that prosecutors are less likely to prosecute.[12] Only 2% of victims of incapacitated rape reported the assault to law enforcement.[13]
Campuses often fail to respond to college rapists,[14] who continue to offend. Even the best- intentioned universities’ adjudication and other processes often blame the victim and fail to discipline the perpetrator.[15] In one study, 63% of rapists reported committing repeat rapes, averaging six each.[16] More than two-thirds (68%) of the repeat rapists admitted to other forms of interpersonal violence, averaging 14 violent acts. Their level of violence was nearly 10 times that of non-rapists, and nearly 3.5 times that of single-act rapists.[17] This portrait of college rapists is more consistent with the data on recidivism among sex offenders than with the still-prevalent image of a college student who, under the influence of alcohol, mistakenly crosses the line between sexual pressure and rape.[18]....
There is also a body of research indicating that the increased availability of legal services has significantly contributed to a decline in domestic violence in the United States.[35] Obtaining a protection order has been shown in multiple studies to reduce future assault and improve quality of life.[36] Even when orders were violated, there was a significant reduction in subsequent abuse.[37]....
Although we tend to think of sexual assault as a crime usually involving only two people, a 2002 study using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey revealed that sexual assaults are often witnessed by at least one person in the bystander role.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/03/08/doj-director-on-violence-against-women-in-the-united-states
Rahim Kanani, Contributor 3/08/2012
In one of the most in-depth discussions to date on violence against women in the United States, and to coincide with International Women’s Day, I interviewed Susan B. Carbon, Director of the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)....
One in every four women and one in every seven men have experienced severe physical violence by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.[1] Stalkers victimize approximately 5.2 million women and 1.4 million men each year in the U.S, with domestic violence-related stalking the most common type of stalking and often the most dangerous.[2] One in ten 9th-12th grade students were physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in 2009 alone.[3] One in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetimes, and nearly 1.3 million women in the U.S. are raped every year.[4]....
Susan Carbon: Since the 1990s, we have learned a great deal more about prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. For example, research has helped us better understand how rapists target their victims and escape justice. This is particularly significant on our college campuses. College rapists may avoid the justice system by attacking acquaintances, picking women who will not be considered credible due to alcohol use or other factors, and by minimizing injuries by plying their victims with alcohol rather than using physical force.
Nineteen percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing completed or attempted sexual assault since entering college. Most of these assaults occurred when the victim was incapacitated by alcohol. Rapes involving alcohol are much more prevalent than rapes involving date-rape drugs.[9] Risk of incapacitated rape increases significantly during college.[10] In one study, over 80% of undetected college rapists reported committing rapes of women who were incapacitated because of drugs or alcohol.[11] Many college rapists create “cases” that victims are least likely to report and that prosecutors are less likely to prosecute.[12] Only 2% of victims of incapacitated rape reported the assault to law enforcement.[13]
Campuses often fail to respond to college rapists,[14] who continue to offend. Even the best- intentioned universities’ adjudication and other processes often blame the victim and fail to discipline the perpetrator.[15] In one study, 63% of rapists reported committing repeat rapes, averaging six each.[16] More than two-thirds (68%) of the repeat rapists admitted to other forms of interpersonal violence, averaging 14 violent acts. Their level of violence was nearly 10 times that of non-rapists, and nearly 3.5 times that of single-act rapists.[17] This portrait of college rapists is more consistent with the data on recidivism among sex offenders than with the still-prevalent image of a college student who, under the influence of alcohol, mistakenly crosses the line between sexual pressure and rape.[18]....
There is also a body of research indicating that the increased availability of legal services has significantly contributed to a decline in domestic violence in the United States.[35] Obtaining a protection order has been shown in multiple studies to reduce future assault and improve quality of life.[36] Even when orders were violated, there was a significant reduction in subsequent abuse.[37]....
Although we tend to think of sexual assault as a crime usually involving only two people, a 2002 study using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey revealed that sexual assaults are often witnessed by at least one person in the bystander role.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/03/08/doj-director-on-violence-against-women-in-the-united-states
Thursday, August 4, 2011
72 charged in online child pornography ring, Violence Against Women and effects
"the bulletin board distributed the equivalent of 16,000 DVDs of child pornography, adding that the department had recovered more than 1 million images in the U.S. alone."
"In the United States, more than 20 percent of women have experienced intimate-partner violence, stalking or both. A full 17 percent have reported rape or attempted rape, according to background information in the study."
72 charged in online child pornography ring
Fifty-two have been arrested in the U.S. and abroad and 13 have pleaded guilty in the case, the result of a crackdown by the Justice and Homeland Security departments. Twenty remain at large.
By Andrew Seidman, Washington Bureau
August 3, 2011
Reporting from Washington—
The Justice Department has charged 72 suspected members of an online child pornography ring that encouraged its members to engage in sexual acts with children 12 and under and submit gruesome, violent material to build a massive private database of images and videos on the Internet.
The crackdown is the result of a joint effort by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security launched in December 2009 to target about 500 people in 13 countries on five continents for their suspected participation in "Dreamboard," a members-only online bulletin board that was created to encourage the sharing of graphic images and videos.
"The members of this criminal network shared a demented dream to create the preeminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation," Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement, "but for the children they victimized, this was nothing short of a nightmare."
According to court documents filed in Louisiana, where the ring originated, administrators for Dreamboard set up strict barriers to entry and created a sophisticated membership system that offered incentives for further contributions to the website. Individuals had to post child pornography in order to join the site. To maintain membership, individuals were required to continue to upload images of sexual abuse....
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the bulletin board distributed the equivalent of 16,000 DVDs of child pornography, adding that the department had recovered more than 1 million images in the U.S. alone.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-child-porn-20110804,0,5337258.story
Violence Against Women Can Take Lifelong Toll: Study
Research shows how rates of mental and physical illness rise, quality of life falls
By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay News)
Women who've suffered from gender-based violence are more likely to develop anxiety disorders or other mental woes, experience physical and mental disabilities, and have worse quality of life than other women, new research shows.
Gender-based violence includes rape and other forms of sexual assault, intimate-partner violence (such as spouse abuse) and stalking.
Risks for these long-term problems rose with the intensity of abuse. For example, women who'd experienced three or four types of gender-based violence had 10 times the odds of developing an anxiety disorder than women who haven't experienced such violence, the study found. The odds of a woman who'd been subjected to such violence developing a substance abuse problem were almost six times higher than for a woman who hasn't experienced gender-based violence....
Results of the study are published in the Aug. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association....
In the United States, more than 20 percent of women have experienced intimate-partner violence, stalking or both. A full 17 percent have reported rape or attempted rape, according to background information in the study.
The data for Rees' study came from a national survey done in Australia on mental health and well-being. The survey included over 4,400 women between the ages of 16 and 85 years old.
In that group, 1,218 women (27 percent) reported experiencing at least one form of gender-based violence, while 139 had been exposed to three or more forms of gender-based violence.
The average age that women were first raped was 13 years old and 12 years old for sexual assault. The average age that women were beaten by a partner or stalked was 22 years old.
The more violence a woman was exposed to, the greater her risk of developing mental illnesses, according to the study.
http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=655484
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