Sexual assault is a crime. Under Article 130 of the New York State Penal Law, it is a sex offense to engage in sexual contact or to engage in sexual intercourse, sodomy or sexual abuse by contact without the consent of the victim or where the victim is incapable of giving consent. Criminal sex offenses are classified in degree according to the seriousness of sexual activity, the degree of force used, the age of the victim and the physical and mental capacity of the offender and victim.
Stalking is also a crime. Under Article 120 of the New York State Penal Law, a person is guilty of stalking when he/she intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person, and knows or should know that such conduct is likely to cause fear of material harm to the health, safety or property of the victim. Examples of such conduct are following, telephoning or initiating communication or contact (i.e. via email) with the victim. Dating and domestic violence is controlling, abusive, and aggressive behavior in a romantic relationship, and often involves illegal conduct on the part of the aggressor, including sex offenses, stalking and/or harassment.
A. Sexual Assault
Sexual assault is a crime of power, aggression and violence. Terms such as “date rape” and “acquaintance rape” tend to minimize the fact that the act of rape, or any sexual assault, is a serious crime.
There is never an excuse or a reason for a person to rape, assault or even touch another person’s private parts without consent. The impact on survivors of such an attack can cause severe and lasting physical, mental and emotional damage.
• Who is a perpetrator? Many people think that sexual assaults are only perpetrated by vicious strangers on dark, deserted streets. In fact, studies indicate that between 80 and 90 percent of all people who have been raped know their perpetrator(s). This is called “date rape” or “acquaintance rape.” “Date rape” is not a legally distinct or lesser category of rape. It refers to a relationship and situational context in which rape occurs on a date. Rape or any sexual offense, whether on a date or not, is the same criminal offense involving the same elements of force, exploited helplessness or underage participation. With sexual assaults where the victim knows the perpetrator, alcohol use is often involved on the part of either the victim or the perpetrator. However, a sexual assault is still a crime regardless of the intoxication of the perpetrator or the victim.
• Who is a victim?
Anyone can be a victim, regardless of gender, age, race, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, class or national origin. Though women and girls are primary targets of these crimes, men and boys are sexually victimized too, and have been found to suffer the same aftermath as women. Regardless of whether the victim was abusing alcohol and/or underage, she or he is still the victim of the sex offense. • When is there lack of consent? Under New York law, lack of consent to a sexual contact may be demonstrated in the following ways: (1) forcible compulsion including the use of physical force or threat (express or implied) which places the person in fear of physical injury to self or another; (2) incapacity to consent on the part of the victim; (3) circumstances in which the victim does not expressly or impliedly acquiesce in the actor’s conduct; or (4) circumstances in which the victim clearly expressed by words or actions that he or she did not consent to engage in such sexual act and a reasonable person would have understood such person’s words or actions as an expression of lack of consent to such conduct. A person is deemed incapable of giving consent if she/he is (a) under the age of 17, (b) mentally incapacitated (which may include incapacity due to the victim’s ingestion of alcohol or drugs), (c) physically disabled or (d) physically helpless (asleep, unconscious or for any other reason physically unable to communicate unwillingness to act, which may also include incapacity due to the victim’s ingestion of alcohol or drugs).
• Who is responsible for a sexual attack?
In the absence of consent, the attacker is always responsible for having committed the sexual assault regardless of the victim’s appearance, behavior, or conduct on previous occasions. An attacker cannot assume that the way a person dresses or acts is an invitation for sexual advances. A person may welcome some forms of sexual contact and be opposed to others. The more impaired a person is from alcohol or drugs, the less likely she/he can give consent; having sex with someone who is “passed out” or sleeping is rape. And regardless of previous sexual activity, if someone refuses sexual contact, the failure to respect that limit constitutes non-consensual sex.
• Who can prevent a sexual attack from occurring?
Every member of the CUNY community, by recognizing situations where sexual violence occurs, by acknowledging that anyone can be a victim of sexual assault, and by becoming active, positive and responsible community members who look out for other members of the CUNY community.
B. Stalking
Stalking generally refers to harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person’s home or place of business, making harassing calls, or leaving written messages or objects. Unlike other crimes, which normally consist of a single illegal act, stalking is a series of actions that, when taken individually, may be perfectly legal. For instance, sending a birthday card or flowers or standing across the street from someone’s house is not a crime. When these actions are part of a course of conduct that is intended to instill fear in a victim, however, they may be considered illegal behavior.
• Who is a stalker?
Nearly 90% of stalkers are male, and most stalkers know their victims (60% are current or former intimate partners.) Most stalkers are in their late teens to middle-aged, and stalkers may come from every socio-economic background. Stalkers are motivated by obsession and a desire for control, which stem from either a real or imagined relationship with the victim.
• Who is a victim of stalking? In stalking cases, more than half of the victims are between 18 and 29 years old and 75% of victims are female. Male victims are stalked by male and female offenders at the same rate, and tend to be stalked by strangers and acquaintances rather than intimates. According to a 2000 study, more than 13% of college women indicated that they have been stalked in one college year.
• What are the consequences of stalking? Stalking often causes pervasive, intense fear and can be extremely disruptive for the victim. In addition to presenting a continual threat of physical and/or sexual violence, the stalker can erode the victim’s sense of safety and personal control. Stalking causes victims to miss work and school. And stalking in dating and domestic violence cases is often related to more severe violence.
• Is stalking a common occurrence on college campuses? Research shows that stalking has become a common occurrence on today’s college campuses. Some of the very aspects that make campus life appealing aid the potential stalker. The campus is a closed environment where it is easy to determine a student’s schedule; it is a highly social atmosphere where stalking behavior may be confused with positive, romantic attention at first; student movement through the campus is predictable, and access to academic buildings may be quite easy. One can easily find information about a selected student through the campus directory, including the student’s address, telephone number and email address. As a result of obtaining students’ email addresses, cyber-stalking has become common, which can lead to other forms of stalking and is equally as frightening for victims.
C. Dating and Domestic Violence
Dating and Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, or injure someone.
Intimate partner includes persons legally married to one another; persons formerly married to one another; persons who have a child in common, regardless of whether such persons are married or have lived together any time; couples who live together or have lived together; or persons who are dating or who have dated in the past, including same sex couples.
Some of the forms of domestic and dating abuse include:
• Physical Abuse: Hitting, slapping, shoving, grabbing, pinching, hair-pulling, biting, etc. Physical abuse also includes denying a partner medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use.
• Sexual Abuse: Coercing or attempting to coerce any sexual contact or behavior without consent. Sexual abuse includes, but is certainly not limited to marital rape, attacks on sexual parts of the body, forcing sex after physical violence has occurred, or treating one in a sexually demeaning manner.
• Emotional Abuse: Undermining an individual’s sense of self-worth and/or self-esteem. This may include, but is not limited to, constant criticism, diminishing one’s abilities, name-calling, or damaging one’s relationship with his or her children.
• Economic Abuse: Making or attempting to make an individual financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding one’s access to money, or forbidding one’s attendance at school or employment.
• Psychological Abuse: Causing fear by intimidation; threatening physical harm to self, partner, children, or partner’s family or friends; destruction of pets and property; or forcing isolation from family, friends, or school and/or work.
Dating and Domestic violence can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, religion, or gender, and affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. Domestic violence occurs in both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships and can happen to intimate partners who are married, living together, or dating. Dating and domestic violence can be difficult to identify because violence can occur in cycles that alternate with the perpetrator’s expressed devotion and love for the partner. This is all part of the cycle of manipulation and control. |
