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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Helping the abused

Opinion illo

Our University is finally updating its approach to sexual assault, but our state is stuck in the dark ages.

Despite one-third of Americans having experienced some type of intimate partner violence in their lifetimes, the Indiana criminal justice system remains criminally unprepared for this type of case.

Last week, a Brown County woman finally escaped her abusive husband, who forced her to sign a “sex slave” contract and brainwashed her into believing she was “his property and slave.” Several opportunities to stop the abuse were missed, according to court records cited in the Indianapolis Star.

Once, responding to the battered woman’s screams, neighbors called the landlord to get their noisy neighbors to shut up.

In another case, the police were called, but the officers failed to separate the terrified woman from her abuser when taking statements. It wasn’t until the police were called again that her abuser was finally taken into custody.

The third time isn’t particularly charming when a person’s life and safety is at risk.

The Indiana Law Enforcement Academy requires eight hours of domestic violence and sexual assault training for anyone interested in becoming an Indiana police officer.

These officers must have missed that day. Their negligence cost this poor woman weeks of misery and abuse.

Domestic violence often looks different from other types of violence.

It can take years for abused partners to admit they have been abused and even longer to seek help. By then, it might be too late.

And it’s not just a civilian problem. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department lost one of its own to intimate partner violence earlier this year.

Our court system has a similarly terrible record. In May, an Indianapolis man who drugged and raped his wife for three years was sentenced to absolutely no prison time, despite prosecutors demanding 40 years. He said he drugged her because “she was snippy.”

If that weren’t appalling enough, Judge Kurt Eisgruber, who is running for re-election in November, asked the victim to forgive her rapist “because he’s obviously struggled with this.”

Eisgruber failed to provide a reason as to why the convicted rapist received no jail time.

It should be noted that marital rape has only been a crime in the United States since 1993, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.

Indiana courts and police have to do better.

Rookies shouldn’t be the only police officers subject to domestic violence and sexual assault training. Everyone on the force should be required to attend regular seminars about the best ways to help victims of intimate partner violence.

The ILEA is already in a partnership with the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Find ways to make this partnership stronger, and ask these organizations what recommendations they have to make the force better-equipped to handle these cases.

Judges should also be expected to understand the psychology behind intimate partner violence so they can make informed decisions about the cases they hear. Eisgruber should be voted out of office.

The Indiana Daily Student Editorial Board shouldn’t understand intimate partner violence better than the Indiana criminal justice system.

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