Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sexual Assault / Rape Arizona


Sexual Assault/Rape in Arizona

1.      Arizona  Population: 5,998,271

Incidents of Forcible Rape: 1,631

 

2.      Statutes of Limitation For Arizona: Time Limit for Prosecution

-          No time limit for the prosecution of an offense under 13-1423 which is  listed as Violent Sexual Assault

-          For class 2 through 6 felonies, it must be within seven years after the actual discovery by the state or political subdivision having jurisdiction of the offense or discovery by the state or the political subdivision that should have occurred with the exercise of reasonable diligence whichever first occurs.

-          For a misdemeanor it should be within one year after actual discovery by the state or political subdivision having jurisdiction of the offense or discovery by the state or the political subdivision that should have occurred with the exercise of reasonable diligence whoever occurs first

 

3.      Arizona State Law Regarding Rape

-          Rape is defined as a person committing sexual conduct or oral sexual conduct with someone who is under eighteen years of age.

-          The only exception to the statutory rape law is that the victim is between 15-17 and the accused is under 19 or is still in high school and is no more than 24 months older.

 


A former Arizona State University Student who was raped in her dorm room in 2004 by one of the school’s football players will collect $850,000, and the Arizona university system will establish a woman’s safety czar for all three major campuses. The settlement ends a civil lawsuit in 2006 by the former student in court records against Arizona State, the Arizona Board of Regents, then-head football coach Dirk Hoetter, and Darnel Henderson, who allegedly raped her. Henderson was in trouble within days of arriving on campus grabbing and touching women in dorm, exposing himself to female staff etc. When confronted on his misconduct he said he wanted women to fear him and that it was important they know their place.

 

5.      Media


The movie Speak is based of the popular young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that tells the story of Melinda Sordino’s rape, recovery, and confession. After being raped at a party she is tormented by her peers, and keeps the story of her rape to herself until she is able to voice her experience through art expression

 

Another book discussing rape Polygamy’s Rape of Rachel Strong. It is about a woman’s rape by her polygamist stepfather who was forty-five who made claims that he was only living through his religion. She was forced into marriage with him and soon became subject to degrading and dehumanizing sexual acts, until she decided that damnation could be nothing worse than that and decided to leave. Interestingly enough the Utah Attorney Genera declined to prosecute her case, but would not give her a reason why. In present day he now states that Utah now declines to prosecute the crime of bigamy between consenting adults, but will prosecute those against children. He also explained to polygamists that he would not prosecute a religious tenet.

I personally feel that these are both very accurate descriptions of rape. For instance in the first example the young girl is scared to talk about her rape experience. Many victims keep their sexual assault to themselves, and quite frequently it is found that lots of victims suppress those memories and they end up resurfacing at a later date. In the second media example, the polygamist camps in Utah have been in and out of the news for the past couple years most specifically, cases like Rachel’s are the reason most people feel like these radical lifestyles are inappropriate, especially since there are countless situations similar to hers and with victims of a younger age. I think lots of people are on the fence about those cases because they blame the victim for entering into that situation knowing the stigma surrounding.

 

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