Myths About Sexual Assault: It's Never the Victim's Fault

Myths About Sexual Assault: It's Never the Victim's Fault

Victims of sexual assault often experience an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability, violation, and powerless. Many blame themselves, reliving the experience to see how they could have changed the outcome.
Rape is never the victim's fault. There are many other myths surrounding rape and sexual assault, according to the New York City Police Detective Bureau. Here are some of the most common:

Myths About Sexual Assault

Myth: Rape is a sexual crime.
False - Sexual assault is a violent assault acted out in a sexual way.

Myth: The victims "ask for it" by their dress.
False - No one "asks" to be assaulted. In addition, when most attackers decide to assault someone, how they are dressed is of little consequence.

Myth: Sex crimes are crimes of passion or desire.
False - Sex crime is a crime of violence, anger and power not passion.

Myth: Sexual offenders commit these crimes because they never have sex.
False - Many sex offenders are married and engage in normal sexual relations with their partners. The reason they sexually assault their victims is because they get gratification from intimidating, humiliating and degrading their victims.

Myth: It's easy to spot a sex offender. They are creepy and have shifty eyes.
False - Sex offenders come from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds, sex, and age. Do not let your guard down on first impressions.

Myth: Women claim rape to get even with men.
False - Although it may happen on rare occasions, false rape charges are on the least reported crimes, nationwide.

Myth: The victims secretly want to be raped.
False - Fear of ones life, or disfigurement to oneself or a loved one can immobilize anyone. Always remember, the goal is to survive the attack.
Source: New York City Detective Bureau

Protect Yourself Against Sexual Assault
It's All About Control, Degradation, and Violence

Sexual assault is any unwanted, non consensual, forced sexual contact or activity which purpose is to control and/or humiliate another person. It can include acts of touching, kissing exhibitionism, and intercourse — anal, vaginal or oral.

There are ways you can help prevent a sexual assault. According to the New York Police Detective Bureau, this includes being alert to your surroundings. Know the location, street name, surrounding buildings, in case it becomes necessary for you to call 911. Listen to your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable or in danger in any given situation, leave immediately.

Learn to be observant of people around you. What color eyes do they have? What are they wearing? Notice their teeth, tattoos, their size, hairstyle, or any other distinguishable features. All these will help you in the event it becomes necessary to contact the police.

Making Your Home Safe

Avoid sleeping with your windows open.
Have peep holes on your doors and use them. If you do not recognize who is at your door, do not open it, even with the chain on. Most chain locks can easily be kicked in.

Do not open the door to service people unless you are expecting them. Call their employer and verify their identity and the reason they need to enter your home.
If a stranger asks to use your phone, do not let the person enter. Offer to make the call for them.

Do not buzz someone into the building or hold the lobby door open unless you know the person.

Have the number to 911 programmed into your telephone.

Be mentally prepared of the possibility of being attacked and what possible actions you would take if confronted.

Install safety approved gates or bars on windows that can be reached from fire escapes on from the ground floor.

In your home or apartment, you will also want to make sure your entrance is well lit. Install security lights in areas where people can hide. Keep your doors locked and blinds pulled. Do not advertise your full name in the phone book on the mailbox. Your initials and last name are all that is needed. Invest in a paper shredder and shred any personal identifying envelopes or papers.

Helping Victims of Sexual Assault
Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Abuse

Question:
I do not know how to help a friend who has been sexually assaulted.

Answer:
Listening to your friend without judging his or her choices is the best thing you can do. Reinforce the message that your friend is not to blame for what happened. Be sensitive to new fears and behaviors associated with the assault (such as avoiding crowds or feeling unsafe in previously comfortable locations). Most importantly, give your friend time to heal and let him or her know you are there to listen whenever needed.

Victimization is Increasing:

Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Abuse and Sex Crimes

Question:

Is sexual offending on the increase or is there just more reporting?

Answer:
I do not really know. Because most sexual offenses go unreported, it is difficult to tell. There is speculation among many in the field that the implementation of new laws related to the registration and community notification of convicted sex offenders may cause an even higher rate of under reporting (remember, most victims know their assailants and many may not want to subject them to public scrutiny). However, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey, victimization is increasing. In 1996, there were 307,100 victimization's of rape and sexual assault, and in 1999, there were 383,170 victimization's (an increase of 12.5%).

History of Megan's Law:

Law Named After Megan Kanka of New Jersey

Megan's Law is a federal law passed in 1996 that authorizes local law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living, working or visiting their communities.

Megan's Law was inspired by the case of seven-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who moved across the street from the family. The Kanka family fought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. The New Jersey legislature passed Megan's Law in 1994.

In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed Megan's Law as an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children's Act. It required every state to develop some procedure for notifying the public when a sex offender is released into their community. Different states have different procedures for making the required disclosures.

The federal law was not the first on the books that addressed the issue of registering convicted sex offenders. As early as 1947, California had laws that required sex offenders to be registered. Since the passage of the federal law in May of 1996, all states have passed some form of Megan's Law.

Profile of a Pedophile

Pedophiles Can Be Anyone:
Pedophiles can be anyone -- old or young, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, non-professional or professional, and of any race. However, pedophiles often demonstrate similar characteristics, but these are merely indicators and it should not be assumed that individuals with these characteristics are pedophiles. But knowledge of these characteristics coupled with questionable behavior can be used as an alert that someone may be a pedophile.
Characteristics of a Pedophile:

Often the pedophile is male and over 30 years of age.

Single or with few friends in his age group.

If married, the relationship is more "companion" based with no sexual relations.
He is often vague about time gaps in employment which may indicate a loss in employment for questionable reasons or possible past incarceration.

Pedophiles Like Child-like Activities:
He is often fascinated with children and child activities appearing to prefer those activities to adult oriented activities.

He will often refer to children in pure or angelic terms using descriptive's like innocent, heavenly, divine, pure, and other words that describe children but seem inappropriate and exaggerated.

He has hobbies that are child-like such as collecting popular expensive toys, keeping reptiles or exotic pets, or building plane and car models.

Pedophiles Often Prefer Children Close to Puberty:
Pedophiles often have a specific age of child they target. Some prefer younger children, some older. Often his environment or a special room will be decorated in child-like decor and will appeal to the age and sex of the child he is trying to entice.

Many pedophiles often prefer children close to puberty who are sexually inexperienced, but curious about sex.

Pedophiles Work Around Children:
The pedophile will often be employed in a position that involves daily contact with children. If not employed, he will put himself in a position to do volunteer work with children, often in a supervisory capacity such as sports coaching, contact sport instruction, unsupervised tutoring or a position where he has the opportunity to spend unsupervised time with a child.

The Target Child:
The pedophile often seeks out shy, handicapped, and withdrawn children, or those who come from troubled homes or under privileged homes. He then showers them with attention, gifts, taunting them with trips to desirable places like amusement parks, zoo's, concerts, the beach and other such places.

Manipulation of the Innocent:
Pedophiles work to master their manipulative skills and often unleash them on troubled children by first becoming their friend, building the the child's self esteem. They may refer to the child as special or mature, appealing to their need to be heard and understood then entice them with adult type activities that are often sexual in content such as x-rated movies or pictures. They offer them alcohol or drugs to hamper their ability to resist activities or recall events that occurred.

Stockholm Syndrome :
It is not unusual for the child to develop feelings for the predator and desire their approval and continued acceptance. They will compromise their innate ability to decipher good and bad behavior, ultimately justifying the criminal's bad behavior out of sympathy and concern for the adults welfare. This is often compared to Stockholm Syndrome - when victims become attached emotionally to their captors.

The Single Parent:
Many times pedophiles will develop a close relationship with a single parent in order to get close to their children. Once inside the home, they have many opportunities to manipulate the children -- using guilt, fear, and love to confuse the child. If the child's parent works, it offers the pedophile the private time needed to abuse the child.

Fighting Back:
Pedophiles work hard at stalking their targets and will patiently work to develop relationships with them. It is not uncommon for them to be developing a long list of potential victims at any one time. Many of them believe that what they are doing is not wrong and that having sex with a child is actually "healthy" for the child.

Almost all pedophiles have a collection of pornography, which they protect at all costs. Many of them also collect "souvenirs" from their victims. They rarely discard either their porn or collections for any reason.

One factor that works against the pedophile is that eventually the children will grow up and recall the events that occurred. Often pedophiles are not brought to justice until such time occurs and victims are angered by being victimized and want to protect other children from the same consequences.

Laws such as Megan's Law - a federal law passed in 1996 that authorizes local law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living, working or visiting their communities, have helped expose the pedophile and allows parents to better protect their children.

Reporting Sexual Abuse:

Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Abuse
Question: What do I do, or whom do I tell, if I am sexually assaulted or my child is sexually abused?
Answer:
Ultimately, the choice of reporting the sexual assault is a choice that a victim or a victim's parent must make. Perhaps the best course of action is to call a rape crisis center to explore your options and what the implications might be for you.

Recovering From Sexual Assault: Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Abuse

Question:
If I am sexually assaulted I do not think that I could ever recover.
Answer:
Although the pain of sexual assault is profound, victims do heal. The healing process will be smoother if you seek assistance from someone, a therapist or a victim advocate, who has experience talking to sexual assault victims. Tell someone you trust what has happened; do not struggle with it alone.

Teaching Children Skills to Prevent Abduction
By Going Beyond "Don't Talk to Strangers"

"Rather than teaching children to fear strangers, which is at best, woefully inadequate, we need to use positive messages," says Dr. Broughton. "Children need to learn skills and confidence, not fear and avoidance." says Daniel Broughton, M.D., a pediatrician at Mayo Clinic .

Children should know their name, address and phone number (with area code) so, if lost, they can be reunited with their family.

Older children should know parents' work numbers.

Away from home, older children should always be with a friend, always tell an adult where they will be, and say "no" if they feel threatened or uncomfortable.
Children need to know that appropriate strangers -- store clerks or police officers -- can offer assistance if they are lost or need help.

Parents need to listen, and respect their children's feelings. Children can sense unease in inappropriate relationships. They'll likely share their concerns if parents routinely take all of their concerns in life seriously rather than downplaying or shaming them.

Children need to know that they do not need to kiss, hug, touch or sit on the lap of anyone, relative or not, if they do not wish to. This respect for their wishes translates into self-respect and the ability for children to say no to unwanted contacts without generating fear.

Parents need to supervise children who use the Internet. Although still relatively uncommon, the practice of pedophiles and child molesters approaching children on the Internet is occurring more frequently.

Parents need to keep reinforcing safety messages through middle school and high school. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, most victims of non family abductions were 12 years or older (58 percent). Most were girls (65 percent).

Parents should realize the limitations of participating in programs where children are fingerprinted or otherwise identified. These programs can frighten children and raise fears in adults without giving perspective on the real nature or risk of abduction.

Parents should keep on hand a high-quality recent photo of each child, such as a school photo. Law enforcement officials consider photos the best tool in finding missing children.

Parents should promptly report a missing child. The Amber Plan, the national program to immediately flood a region with news of an abduction, is credited with helping to recover more than 130 children since it started two years ago.

What Is Stalking?
Stalking Can Escalate into Violence

1. Woman's Issues
2. Stalking

Stalking refers to repeated harassing or threatening behavior by an individual, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).

Any unwanted contact between two people that directly or indirectly communicates a threat or places the victim in fear can be considered stalking, but the actual legal definition of stalking varies from state to state according to each state's laws.

According to the OVC's brochure "Stalking Victimization," anyone can be a stalker, just as anyone can be a stalking victim. The brochure points out:
Stalking is a crime that can touch anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location, or personal associations. Most stalkers are young to middle-aged men with above-average intelligence.

Unfortunately, there is no single psychological or behavioral profile for stalkers. Every stalker is different. This makes it virtually impossible to devise a single effective strategy that can be applied to every situation. It is vital that stalking victims immediately seek the advice of local victim specialists who can work with them to devise a safety plan for their unique situation and circumstances.

Some stalkers develop an obsession for another person with whom they have no personal relationship. When the victim does not respond as the stalker hopes, the stalker may attempt to force the victim to comply by use of threats and intimidation. When threats and intimidation fail, some stalkers turn to violence.

Stalking Can Become Violent

The most prevalent type of stalking case involves some previous personal or romantic relationship between the stalker and the victim. This includes domestic violence cases and relationships in which there is no history of violence. In these cases, stalkers try to control every aspect of their victims' lives.
The victim becomes the stalker's source of self-esteem, and the loss of the relationship becomes the stalker's greatest fear. This dynamic makes a stalker dangerous. Stalking cases that emerge from domestic violence situations, however, are the most lethal type of stalking.

The stalker may attempt to renew the relationship by sending flowers, gifts, and love letters. When the victim spurns these unwelcome advances, the stalker often turns to intimidation. Attempts at intimidation typically begin in the form of an unjustified and inappropriate intrusion into the victim's life.
The intrusions become more frequent over time. This harassing behavior often escalates to direct or indirect threats. Unfortunately, cases that reach this level of seriousness often end in violence.


The Myths About Serial Killers
Misconceptions Can Hinder Investigations

Dennis Rader

Much of the information that the public knows about serial killers has come from Hollywood movies and television programs, which have been exaggerated and dramatized for entertainment purposes, resulting in a significant amount of misinformation.

But it's not only the public that fallen prey to inaccurate information concerning serial killers. The media and even law enforcement professionals, who have limited experience with serial murder, often believe the myths generated by the fictional portrayals in movies.

According to the FBI, this can hinder investigations when there is a serial killer loose in the community. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit has published a report, "Serial Murder - Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators," which attempts to dispel some of the myths about serial killers.

According to the report, these are some of the common myths about serial killers:
Myth: Serial killers Are All Dysfunctional Loners

Most serial killers can hide in plain sight because they look just like everyone else with jobs, nice homes and families. The FBI report gives these examples:
The BTK Killer, Dennis Rader, killed 10 people in Wichita, Kansas over a 30-year period. He was married with two children, a Boy Scout leader, employed as a local government official and was the president of his church congregation.
The Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway confessed to killing 48 women over a 20-year period in the Seattle, Washington area. He was married, held the same job for 32 years, attended church regularly and read his Bible at home and at work.

Robert Yates killed 17 prostitutes in the 1990s in the Spokane, Washington area. He was married, had five children, lived in a middle-class neighborhood and was a decorated U.S. Army National Guard helicopter pilot.

Myth: Serial Killers Are All White Males
The racial make-up of known serial killers generally matches the racial diversification of the overall U.S. population, according to the report.

Charles Ng, a native of Hong Kong, China, possibly tortured and killed as many as 25 people with his partner, Robert Lake.
Derrick Todd Lee, a black man from Louisiana, killed at least six women in Baton Rouge.
Coral Eugene Watts, a black man from Michigan, known as the Sunday Morning Slasher, killed 17 people in Michigan and Texas.
Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, a Mexican national, killed nine people in Kentucky, Texas, and Illinois.
Rory Conde, a Colombian native, murdered six prostitutes in the Miami area.
Myth: Serial killers Are Only Motivated By Sex
Although some serial killers are motivated by sex, many have other motivations for their murders. Some of these include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain and attention seeking.
D.C. Area Sniper, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo killed 10 people to cover up the fact that Muhammad's eventual target was his wife.
Dr. Michael Swango was convicted of four murders in the U.S., but may have poisoned as many as 50 people in the United States and in Africa. The motivation for his murders was never determined.
Paul Reid killed at least seven people during robberies of fast-food restaurants in Tennessee. His motive for the robberies was financial gain. He killed the employees to eliminate witnesses.

Myth: All serial Murderers Travel and Operate Interstate
Actually, most serial killers operate within a "comfort zone" and definite geographic area. Very few serial killers travel between states to kill. Of those who do travel interstate to murder, most fall into these categories:
Itinerant individuals who move from place to place.
Homeless individuals who are transients.
Individuals whose employment lends itself to interstate or transnational travel, such as truck drivers or those in military service.
Because of their traveling lifestyle, these serial killers have many comfort zones.

Myth: Serial Killers Cannot Stop Killing
Sometimes circumstances will change in a serial killer's life causing them to stop killing before they are caught. The FBI report said the circumstances can include increased participation in family activities, sexual substitution, and other diversions.
Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, murdered 10 people from 1974 to 1991 and then did not kill again until he was caught in 2005. He told investigators that he engaged in auto-erotic activities to substitute for killing.
Jeffrey Gorton killed his first victim in 1986 and the second in 1991. He did not kill again until 2002 when he was caught. According to the FBI, Gorton engaged in cross-dressing and masturbation, as well as consensual sex with his wife between the murders.

Myth: All Serial Killers Are Insane or Evil Geniuses
In spite of fictionalized serial killers in the movies who outsmart law enforcement and avoid capture and conviction, the truth is that most serial killers test from borderline to above average intelligence.
Another myth is that serial killer have a debilitating mental condition and as a group they do suffer from a variety of personality disorders, but very few are found legally insane when they go to trial.
The serial killer as an "evil genius" is mostly a Hollywood invention, the report said.

Myth: Serial Killers Want to Get Caught
The law enforcement, academic and mental health experts who developed the FBI serial killer report said that as serial killers gain experience with killing, they gain confidence with each offense. They develop a feeling that they will never be identified and never be caught.
But killing someone and disposing of their body is not an easy task. As they gain confidence in the process, they can begin to take shortcuts or make mistakes. These mistakes can lead to them being identified by law enforcement.
It's not that they want to get caught, the study said, it's that they feel that they cannot get caught.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation Behavioral Analysis Unit. "Serial Murder — Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators. July 2008.

Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
Critical Incident Response Group
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Editor
Robert J. Morton
Supervisory Special Agent
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Co-Editor
Mark A. Hilts
Unit Chief
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Contributors

Leonard G. Johns
Unit Chief
Behavioral Analysis Unit-3
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Timothy G. Keel
Major Case Specialist
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Steven F. Malkiewicz
Supervisory Special Agent
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation
James J. McNamara
Supervisory Special Agent
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Kirk R. Mellecker
Major Case Specialist (Retired)
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mary Ellen O’Toole
Supervisory Special Agent
Behavioral Analysis Unit-2
Federal Bureau of Investigation