A silent epidemic

The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the United States since it was proclaimed by President Obama in 2009.  The National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website describes the goal of SAAM as “to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence.”

RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network and America’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, reports that 237,868 sexual assaults occur annually in the U.S., which translates to a rape about every two
minutes.

Only 40 percent of sexual assaults are reported to police, and a whopping 97 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail.

With that kind of national landscape, I was enraged but not surprised to hear of two criminally negligent sexual assault sentences that were handed down this week.

The first was in connection with the 2012 Steubenville case. CNN reported Matt Belardine, a volunteer coach at Steubenville High School, was sentenced to 10 days in jail Tuesday after being found guilty of two misdemeanors: serving alcohol to minors and making a false statement.

Those charges typically carry six-month sentences each, but after almost two years, I suppose we should be grateful that he is being held responsible at all. Belardine was the only adult present at the party at which two of his players raped a severely intoxicated 16-year-old girl. He’s also the first adult to be charged with anything in connection to her assault.  

Even more infuriating that the paltry 240 hours he’ll spend in jail is the statement Belardine made alongside his sentencing: “It’s very unfortunate the events that transpired that night, you know, with the girl and everything.”

Yeah. With the girl and everything. We know.

The Steubenville case has become an icon of the horrifically maligned priorities in innumerable American communities where sports and crime are concerned. In addition to the sexual assault, multiple adults — coaches, school administrators — lied to authorities about the situation to protect the school’s football program. Belardine was an accomplice in a hideous crime and should spend more than
the length of a Disney Cruise behind bars.  

Outrageously, a similar theme has been echoed in Montana. Stacey Rambold, a former high school teacher who served one month for raping a 14-year-old girl, was released last Thursday. The judge is now the target of national outrage for handing down such a lenient sentence to a crime with a mandatory minimum sentence of two to 10 years.  

In the last 20 years, 4.2 million Americans have been victims of sexual assault. However, the rate is falling. According to RAINN, had the 1993 rate held steady, that number would be 9.7 million. Awareness, education and empowerment have spared 5.5 million Americans in the last two decades.

Observe what’s left of Sexual Assault Awareness Month by remaining diligently cognizant of high-risk situations and the presence of consent. A little awareness and responsibility can go a long way toward eliminating the silent epidemic of sexual violence in America.

sbkissel@indiana.edu
@QueSarahSarah_