Violence Against Women of the Bluegrass Essay

Violence Against Women of the Bluegrass

 By Elizabeth Mason

       Have you ever felt threatened or uneasy about your safety at any point in your life? Most of us can all agree that at one point or another, we have all had some fears about how safe we were in certain situations. I have felt this several times in my life, in several different places. I have experienced this feeling in my hometown of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and on The University of Kentucky’s campus. Because I am a female, I feel as if I, and other females, are more vulnerable and likely to be the victim of violence. A study from the Center for Women and Children says that one in nine Kentucky women have been forcibly raped in her lifetime. The same website also states that one in four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus. These facts are only a slim portion of the daunting statistics surrounding violence against women. Each year the crime rates and the severity of the crimes being committed against women are worsening. The crimes in the state of Kentucky versus the crimes in on The University of Kentucky’s campus. However why is this number increasing instead of decreasing? I feel that if more women and students here on campus were educated in the types of crimes and the astonishing number of crimes that were committed against women here on campus and in the state of Kentucky every year, the numbers would drop. So to do this we need more safety and crime educational programs here on campus and throughout the entire state to achieve this goal, and bring the crime rates down in general, but especially the crime rates against women.

     Domestic Violence is more present than one would think. Just the thought of the person you share everything with being violent towards you, are very disturbing and scary to think about, but so many times this is the main type of crime that women have to face day in and day out. This however, does not only mean that violence is coming from a husband. This could also be a boyfriend, father, grandfather, uncle, or any other person that the victim knows and trusts. Even though I have only mentioned male figures, women can also be accounted for in the acts of domestic violence. This being said, I am focusing on violence between intimate partners, whether they are married or just dating. Domestic violence does not just include older women, a study from a poll taken in 1995 by Children Now and Kaiser Permanente states that 40% of girls age fourteen to seventeen report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. If you notice from the age range that is mentioned in this statistic, those girls are still considered minors, therefore they are technically still children. This age range is showing girls under the legal adult age of eighteen years old, which could not only be considered domestic violence, but also child abuse. Another study from the Violence against women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. department of Justice from 1997 found that approximately twenty-eight percent of victims are raped by husbands or boyfriends, thirty-five percent by acquaintances, and five percent by other relatives. I know that statistic seems a little hard to believe, I mean how can you be “raped” by your intimate partner? The Kentucky State Police released a statement about rapes stating that “The 58.33% clearance rate for rape is high when compared with property crimes and some other offenses. One explanation for the number of rapes cleared is the fact that the victim and the offender are frequently acquainted or even related.” So even though it seems crazy to think that you could be raped by your own boyfriend or even husband, it in fact can happen, and based on the facts it does happen quite often. Diane Craven Ph.D from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Wrote an article titled “Female Victims of Violent Crimes”. Craven states that “Women are more likely to be victimized by someone they know than by a stranger.” Craven has also found that in her research with whom most women have been victimized by she found that In 1992-93 a majority of women victims (78%) indicated that the offender who victimized them was a person known to them (sometimes intimately). About 9% of female victims reported that the offender was a relative; 29%, an intimate (which includes spouse or ex-spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, and ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend); and 40%, an acquaintance. Twenty-three percent of female victims.”

     Rape is also a crime that is very serious among women. The definition of rape as stated from The Kentucky State Police is: “Rape is defined as the carnal knowledge of a person, forcibly or otherwise, against the person’s will. Only forcible rapes are included, together with assaults for the purpose of rape and attempted forcible rapes. Excluded are rapes where the victim is under the age of consent and no force is used.” Based on a chart that shows crimes in Kentucky from 1960 through 2011 the number of rapes that have been reported went from 163 in 1960 to 1,463 in 2011. By looking at the chart, the number of rapes in Kentucky increase every year, with never a decrease. A study from the FBI crime report was also taken and the results show that nine out of ten rapes are not even reported. This fact alone is startling because the number of rapes is already high so just imagine the true amount of rapes that really do happen. The Kentucky State Police released a statement that helps put the number of rapes in perspective. “Rape was committed every six hours and fifty three minutes.” This number of rapes is only the number of them that is reported, which the number of rapes every year that is not reported could be three times this number, so how many rapes really happen a day here in Kentucky? Your guess is as good as mine.

     Robberies and attempted robberies are a pretty big problem here on campus and all over the state of Kentucky for that matter. The definition of robbery is defined by The Kentucky State Police as Robbery is the felonious taking of the property of another by force or the threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear. All attempts to rob are included. Robberies are reported in two general categories: armed (any weapon or threatening object is used) and strong-arm(to include muggings and similar offenses where no weapon is used but strong-arm tactics are employed).” Whenever there has been an act of violence on campus, the university will email students with the specific details on what exactly happened. More times than not, it is a male that has attacked a female and attempted to, or successfully robbed her. I interviewed my mother who was student herself here at The University of Kentucky, and she had an interesting experience of her own. “I did have some incidents where I felt scared for my life, but especially one time in particular. When I was a sophomore, I was approached and robbed by two men one night. They would have done more in my opinion if I had not complied to their requests and gave them my back pack and purse.” Being a female this is very alarming and scary. I too have to walk alone on this campus, and could end up in the wrong place at the wrong time like my mother did. I asked her to explain in detail a little more of what exactly happened that night and in that scary encounter. She stated “I was walking home from my boyfriend Tyler’s house, which was right off of Waller Ave., at around 10 p.m. or so on a normal school night. I was cutting across campus past the Seaton center and of course it was very dark. I heard some leaves shuffling from behind me, and when I turned around, two tall white males were approaching me fast I turned around and tried to pick my pace up and pay them no mind. However before I knew it, one of the men grabbed my shoulder, scaring me to death. He then proceeded to me to hand over my backpack and purse. I was so scared that I tried to run, but the other one grabbed me by my backpack and pulled me to the ground. I then just forfeited over my belongings, as I now feared for my physical safety. Once they had my things, they ran away towards the hospital through a small parking lot.” When my mother told me this story, it was very disturbing. I had never heard this story until now, when I am a sophomore in college. This to me symbolizes the amount of trauma and the toll that being involved in an event like this can take on a person. Seeing as women are seen as “weak” and “an easy target”, the majority of one on one robberies throughout the state and here on campus are committed against women. Most men use fear as their main aspect when robbing a person. This is why I feel women are targeted more than men, simply because men know that they scare and intimidate a woman into doing what he says. The Kentucky State Police also stated that after all of the research and averaging the numbers of robberies that happen in the state of Kentucky throughout the year a “Robbery was committed every two hours and fourteen minutes”.

     Prevention of violence and crimes committed against women is simply affected by the amount of education one has on the subject and the efforts that they go in order to keep themselves safe. Here at The University of Kentucky, there are several different programs that are specifically geared toward general violence and violence against women as well. These programs are things such as the Violence and Intervention Prevention Center, also known as the VIP center for short, here on campus. The VIP center is place on campus where students can go to focus groups to talk about problems, and they also offer many different programs and lectures on how to keep yourself safe here on campus. It is also not only for women, men can also come to these events; however, they also have certain programs targeting just women here on campus. These events include self-defense courses, healthy dating courses, and other The Center for Research on Violence Against Women, which is also here on campus. The Center for Research on Violence against women here at The University of Kentucky is the most useful resource when it came to this ongoing problem. This center does a lot for not only the Universities community, but also for the whole state of Kentucky as a community. Their mission for the Center is “The Center for Research on Violence Against Women at the University of Kentucky is committed to advancing research into the legal and clinical complexities presented by intimate partner violence, rape, stalking and related experiences for women, and is dedicated to preventing violence and to enhancing the welfare and safety of those impacted by violence through research, scholarship and public service.” These two programs help educate students on ways to help prevent violence and to stay safe.

     In conclusion, violence and other criminal acts are everywhere you look. From it being in your hometown, on your college campus, or even in your own home. No matter what efforts are made to stop violence, we will never be able to one hundred percent prevent it from being present. Women in my eyes are the main targets of violence here in Kentucky and also here on The University of Kentucky’s campus. I feel that the facts are all that is needed to confirm this statement. Craven found in her research that “The race or ethnicity of the female victim is not associated with level of risk.” With this being said, race doesn’t matter, the acts of violence towards women has no boundaries, every women, no matter their social class, race, or ethnicity are immune to having an act of violence committed against them. However, one can help keep themselves safe and prevent these acts on themselves by being educated in the right areas, and by also being aware of ones surroundings. By promoting the programs such as the VIP center, The Center for Research on Violence Against Women, and The Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, we can help educate women around Kentucky, and the women here on the University of Kentucky’s campus, and help lower the overall violence rates among women here in the bluegrass.

                                                 Works Cited

Craven, Diane. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/FVVC.PDF. U.S.      Department of Justice.  1996. Web. 10 November 2012

Mason, Lora. Personal Interview. 6 Nov. 2012
Unknown Author. http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/pdf/cr3.pdf. Kentucky State Police. Web. 6 November 2012.

Unknown Author. http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/VIPCenter/. University Of Kentucky

Violence Intervention and Prevention Center. Web. 13 November 2012
Unknown author. http://www.kdva.org/. Kentucky Domestic Violence Association. Web. 9 November 2012

 Unknown author. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/kycrime.htm Kentucky Law Enforcement Agency uniform crime reports. Web. 2005. 31 October 2012
Unknown Author. http://www.uky.edu/CRVAW/index.htm. Center for the Research on Violence Against Women. Web. 12 November 2012.

Unknown Author. http://www.safercampus.org./?gclid=CLrmrLfdzLMCFZGPPAodX08Adw.Students Active for Ending Rape. Web. 13 November 2012