Dear Next President,

Rape is something that has been frequently increasing, which is why I believe there should be more awareness on it. The best way to bring awareness, is for schools to start teaching people the severity of rape and how to prevent it from happening. I also think that rapists should be incarcerated for a lot longer instead of just a few months or no jail time at all.

If schools were addressing sexual assault as a really big deal and a bad thing to do, then maybe it could possibly prevent rape from happening later in the future. In this 2016 RAINN article “Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics,” on average, there are 288,820 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States. So, I think schools should start with explaining what rape is and how it could make the victims feel about themselves. Also, it’s important for people to know how many lives sexual assault ruins. Health classes should teach more about this subject, and health classes should generally be longer. High schools should really address this issue and present it with emotion or survival stories to show how horrifying rape actually is.

Rape really becomes a bigger issue when someone rich or famous sexually assaults another person. No one should be able to get away with a crime like this, whether or not they have money or a reputation. The 2016 Medlineplus website on “Rape (sexual assault) - overview,” points out that most estimates say that 80% to 90% of rapes are not reported to police. Current trends project that 1 in 3 American women will be sexually assaulted at some point during their life. This really proves that rape happens all the time, although not many people may hear about it. Brock Turner was a college USA swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman, and is only serving a 6 month sentence. In the statement he made to the judge, he did not accept any responsibilities for his actions. Yet, he was still given an incredibly short sentence.

According to the 2016 RAINN article that I read on “Victims of Sexual Violence,” every two minutes an American is sexually assaulted. If you think about it, it is only talking about America, but think about all the other countries put together. It is sickening to know that no one has done anything different to try to stop this from happening. In many cases of rape, the victims get asked what they were wearing that day/night. I feel like that is very wrong to do, because all that the rapists’ attorneys try to do, is make it seem like the victim was asking for it. I don’t think it should matter what the victim was wearing, because all people should be able to know how to restrain themselves.

Another article I read was on the 2016 Huffington Post on the “Brock Turner Case” by Mia Goldstein, states that out of every 1000 rapes:

344 are reported to the police


63 reports lead to an arrest


13 cases are seen by prosecutors


7 cases will lead to a felony conviction


6 rapists will be incarcerated

These facts made me think that the biggest issue with sexual violence, is that, more rapists need to be incarcerated. Because no matter the situation, if the rapists knew what they were doing, then the punishment should be unavoidable.

So, Future President, I hope that you can take this issue into your own hands and attempt to put more awareness on rape and sexual assaults. I also hope you could make sure rapists get a deservable amount of jail time. If you decide to do that, I believe that there will be less rape and more preventions of rape. I appreciate everything that you do for our country, thank you.

Sincerely,

Karina

Grade 10

Mendota Heights, Minnesota.