1. What are the most important steps that should be taken to prevent rape and decrease its prevalence in our society?
Harsher sentences and easier convictions. Clearer legal definition of what rape is (i.e. not always the stranger in the dark alley), etc.
2. What are the most important steps that should be taken to improve treatment for rape victims?
Quit blaming the victim. I know several women who have been raped who attempted to prosecute their rapists. Not a single one was convicted. I know other women who were raped, but wouldn't prosecute because it the prevailing attitude in this state (Indiana) is of blaming the victim (dressed too slutty, wrong place/wrong time, you were drinking, etc.).
Two had children by the rapists. One of men pays child support to the tune of $25/mo (yes, $25, not a typo - he put everything in his wife's name and works only part time so he doesn't have to pay more in child support) and the state changed the child's last name to that of the rapist because he pays child support despite the fact that he has seen the child 3 times in 11 years and regularly makes disparaging remarks about the fact that the child was born deaf. The other was drugged and raped at a party. That rapist managed to get a court order to have an abortion blocked. The child was given up for adoption at birth. The woman lost her job when she got put on bed rest for the last 2 months of the pregnancy and then had complications with delivery and couldn't work for another two months. She would have lost her car and apartment had the adoptive parents not stepped in and paid her bills. Several years later, she is married and trying to have a child with her husband. She may not be able to.
Make treatment more readily available and government funded. Many rape victims don't have health insurance or if they do, rape/complications of rape/pregnancy/childbirth are not necessarily covered. Don't make it mandatory for medical personnel to report rape (for adults, kids are a whole different ball game).
3. How about the justice system? What needs improvement there, and how do we make those improvements?
Make prosecutors unable to blame the victim.
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Date: 13/6/11 13:00 (UTC)Harsher sentences and easier convictions. Clearer legal definition of what rape is (i.e. not always the stranger in the dark alley), etc.
2. What are the most important steps that should be taken to improve treatment for rape victims?
Quit blaming the victim. I know several women who have been raped who attempted to prosecute their rapists. Not a single one was convicted. I know other women who were raped, but wouldn't prosecute because it the prevailing attitude in this state (Indiana) is of blaming the victim (dressed too slutty, wrong place/wrong time, you were drinking, etc.).
Two had children by the rapists. One of men pays child support to the tune of $25/mo (yes, $25, not a typo - he put everything in his wife's name and works only part time so he doesn't have to pay more in child support) and the state changed the child's last name to that of the rapist because he pays child support despite the fact that he has seen the child 3 times in 11 years and regularly makes disparaging remarks about the fact that the child was born deaf. The other was drugged and raped at a party. That rapist managed to get a court order to have an abortion blocked. The child was given up for adoption at birth. The woman lost her job when she got put on bed rest for the last 2 months of the pregnancy and then had complications with delivery and couldn't work for another two months. She would have lost her car and apartment had the adoptive parents not stepped in and paid her bills. Several years later, she is married and trying to have a child with her husband. She may not be able to.
Make treatment more readily available and government funded. Many rape victims don't have health insurance or if they do, rape/complications of rape/pregnancy/childbirth are not necessarily covered. Don't make it mandatory for medical personnel to report rape (for adults, kids are a whole different ball game).
3. How about the justice system? What needs improvement there, and how do we make those improvements?
Make prosecutors unable to blame the victim.