Dear Future President,

According to the US Department of Justice, "Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient." In recent years, rape and other sexual assault cases have been increasingly prominent in our nation’s problems. “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Criminal Victimization Survey, in 2012, there were 346,830 reported rapes or sexual assaults of persons 12 years or older.” We need to stop the spread of the idea that it is okay to physically touch someone without their consent. The effects of such an attack on a person can cause PTSD, depression, disassociation, shock, self blame and guilt or believing that they allowed themselves to be attacked, and an increased sense of vulnerability and fear.

Now some people believe that rape is brought on by the victims themselves who had “tempted” their attackers with the clothes they wore or the way they acted. There have been so many incidents that have involved people not dressed up in sexualized clothing or people that have not been acting sexually at all. This points us the the fact that sexual assault is never the victim's fault. However, in our country that we live in that is not a universally believed thought. For instance, “In 2006 alone, 300,000 college women (5.2%) were raped.” However, “Among college women, about 12% of rapes were reported to law enforcement” with the other 88% not being reported to law enforcement. This behavior reinforces the attackers of sexual assault victims, who then think that it is okay for them to continue their behavior.

A solution to this problem is to start bringing more awareness to the problem of sexual assault so that the victims won’t feel as targeted when they step out and tell someone that they had been assaulted. This allows them to once again feel a sense of security and allows law enforcement to lock away a criminal. Sadly, this is not the case of what has been happening in our great country. One famous case of sexual assault involves a Mr. Brock Turner, a Stanford star swimmer who was charged as guilty of felony sexual assault on three accounts. After serving only three months in prison, while being sentenced to a six month charge, Turner was let out as the judge in court believed that any longer would “have a severe impact on him”. The only way to stop these types of injustices is to keep bring awareness to the victims of these terrible tragedies and that way the people high up who decide everything can’t ignore our opinions any longer.

Sincerely,

Rebekah D.