IT IS INTERESTING to watch both men and women come forth to claim they were abused by someone many years in the past.
It seems that the people seeking justice are behaving like wild animals who, having smelled their victim’s blood, rush to claim their pound of flesh.
I do not sanction sexual assault — not on women, not on children, and not on men. While adult males are most often accused, adult women and juveniles also commit sexual crimes.1, 2
Women are not the only victims of rape although they unquestionably are the majority of victims. 3
My problem: apparently there is no statute of limitations on sexual assaults.
I AM NOT suggesting that a victim of sexual assault — or any other attack on his or her person — should remain silent.
What I AM suggesting is that claims of sexual assault — even in its broadest terms — have a reasonable statute of limitations.
Claims of sexual abuse of an adult — 18 and older — that occurred more than 20 years ago should be looked at skeptically.
For adults, if the victim has not come forth in 20 years and suddenly, when someone else claims to be a victim, the quiet victim finds a voice . . . that makes me suspicious that the latest person to claim abuse is simply climbing on the bandwagon; especially if — and it seems only of — the alleged abuser is a “high profile” personality.
AS FOR children, my suggestied 20-year limitation would start when the child reached 18, regardless of the age then the child was molested.
I think the term “abuse” needs to be narrowly defined.
The problem today is that one person’s abuse is another’s flattery. If a man tells a women she looks nice, is that sexual abuse or flattery? If a woman comments about how a man fills out his trousers — “Are you happy to see me, or …” is that sexual abuse? Depends on the man; a man of the cloth might take umbrage at such a remark; but then again, he might not.
If a girl wins a spot on the school wrestling team and during a contest a male opponent touches her in a way that might be inappropriate during normal (non-competition) times, is that sexual abuse? It could be, depending on the duration of the contact, but probably not. The same applies to the girl who is trying to pin her opponent.
For all that, “no” means “no” whether it’s a kiss in passing or an invitation to something more serious. No matter who the aggressor — and sometimes it is a female who may want to “tease” a male (or female) acquaintance.
RECIDIVISM4
According to SMART.GOV5, there is widespread recognition today that recidivism has a direct impact on public safety and that recidivism reduction should be a key goal of the criminal justice system. This is particularly true with regard to crimes that are sexual in nature, given their impact on individual victims and the larger community (see chapter 1, "Incidence and Prevalence of Sexual Offending," in the Adult section).
Unfortunately, recidivism remains a difficult concept to measure, especially in the context of sex offenders. The surreptitious nature of sex crimes, the fact that few sexual offenses are reported to authorities, and variation in the ways researchers calculate recidivism rates all contribute to the problem.
I do not continence sexual abuse by anyone, but I think we need better ground rules to define:
- a. What IS sexual abuse and
b. An established statute of limitations to prevent the sudden “piling on” of long-silent victims that seems to designed to make headlines.
Maybe Abuser “X” did indeed violate someone’s (sexual) sensibilities, but it seems strange that Victim “A” suddenly comes forth after 20 or more years and after another person alleges abuse from Abuser “X”; I look at such revelations with a jaundiced eye.6
1. Child sexual abuse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse
2. Statistics on Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse: http://tinyurl.com/y9vzustm
3. Statistics about sexual violence: http://tinyurl.com/y85vt6wg
4. Recidivism: http://tinyurl.com/zrrmmnc
5. Smart.gov: http://tinyurl.com/zbg72ls
6. Jaundiced eye: http://grammarist.com/idiom/jaundiced-eye/
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
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