UpSideDownCarl said:
In the USA congress, the procedures for a victim of a sexual crime to report that crime are so daunting and so PUNITIVE towards the victim, that most people decide it is a better choice for the victim's mental wellbeing to quit their job and not report the incident than to report an elected official for sexual misconduct.
In the case with Larry Nasser there were many people along the way who protected him from these allegations and shamed the victims, even though they were young, innocent girls. The power structures in place served to protect Nasser from the accusations of his victims. Changing those responses to accusations is where things have to start.
I do not know enough of the facts to comment specifically about who had a knowledge and a duty to do something (except the parents themselves - that much is a fact that some of the children told parents)... however, I can comment on how someone in power uses power and position to stay in a commanding position... it has happened forever and has happened in my lifetime, and will likely to happen more... but I can say this - social media, once used and something gains enough listeners, it is game over, the issue isn't gunna go away, this wasn't a risk for abusers or criminal leaders back in the day, it was much easier to shut people up or limit who heard what.
In some places, such a crime (even today) is not reportable to police, but to the institution... There was a viral news article about a TEACHER who was MOLESTED by a male student in CLASS... who reported the abuse to the school administration, who did nothing, then she called police to report the crime... and got FIRED from her position as it is against school policy to report things to the police before the school administration approves it... HAHA friggin haha ironic that is a fact in our USA, a 4th world country in that respect.
Since the protocol to report abuse is some places/institutions is to NOT report it to the police (anyone remember the situation with Sadusky and Penn State Uni ?) it is easy for the person doing the informing to back out as they did their duty, they are not in a position to get further info. Why should an institution give out details of investigation which could ruin it? Yet, it is so easy for the institution to keep it in house and do nothing !!! So the coach seemed to have charmed parents or wiggled out here or there and kept it going.
Even with all the media attention about so many Catholic leaders abusing boys over DECADES in the news, there is the same cover-up re-assign shuffle tactic successfully used, even in the social media era ! Yet as we still see cases of this, we believe there is less of this now.
In the older days of the military, Commanders were the ones who would receive such a report and try to do the investigating if it happened in their footprint... Unknowingly, many male commanders would blame the victim... ask them where they went to alone, why they did that, why they got drunk, why they didn't bring a buddy, ask why they wore what they wore where they went to what... then there were here and there some total crime rings where leaders got together to make a big exploit out of the young females... promise them quick promotions and/or easy office jobs if they put up... some would make heavy drinking mandatory and when drunk enough, have there way with them, or lace the drink with enough drug to stun them... then have their way... if someone remembered and tried to report it to higher commander, they were in on the game too, and they would then put the victim up on charges of adultery or drunk and disorderly... or underage drinking... even a commander back in those days who tried to be honest and impartial had a ton of male bias of those times, unlikely to render the right judgment or to the extent it should be. In those days, people got drunk and stuff happened... people wrote it off. That is how peopple rolled back then.
Anyone remember TAILHOOK convention SCANDAL in Vegas... talk about what happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas syndrome... It took repeated media exposure and an enraged public just to get things a LITTLE changed in a better direction... in those days, there were many assaults and harassment of this nature daily, like it was a job expectation almost.
In the more modern times of military, with deployments to Iraq/Afghanistan, MANY more remote duty situations where someone could isolate another with or without drugs and do their abuse, then coerce or bribe silence. Even if someone refused, in a remote outpost, where they gunna get a proper medical eval that would hold up in court?
I support what Carl says about it being REAL TOUGH on the victim to see it through... often the assaults take place late at night, so victim is real physically tired on top of being traumatized... then victim has to keep presence of mind to preserve physical evidence... common reaction is to shower, but that destroys evidence... might take a while to get to a medical facility, especially if they are stone drunk (either forced or voluntary, doesn't matter)... then the proper exam takes hours... heck it could be 5 AM by then... if they ELECTED to involve Criminal Investigative Division (The military investigation branch of military police) then they are waiting like a dude behind the door with a baseball bat with a hundred of tough questions if he (usually a male) professional at all, or if he is an a-hole, he is traumatizing victim all over again and being downright discouraging and blaming victim or not believing...
A victim or the medical examiner might have called the on-call standby Victim Advocate and had them rush to hospital to assist and support the victim through the process, especially with the kind medical person and the tough CID dude... Might be 9 AM before it is all finished...
Think, this victim is a tough military person, but abused to a very weak point, already tired and with needless additional burdens just to get through an exam and reporting the abuse... that takes one heck of a lot of determination and morale courage to go through that just to get stuff started... think for a minute... would YOU be able to go through all that? Even if you think you would, it would be a whole different shoe for you to wear in that moment.
Then the victim has to face all the social pressures, it is difficult to keep secrets, eventually the others put together the clues and harass victim... then, the victim's abuser might be a leader in the unit, and that person might not be arrested right away. The victim, if he or she choses, (by informing only a certain type of person, like a medical examiner or victim advocate) does not have to inform a commander these days, so the commander might not know right away or ever, so he might be able to separate the abuser until police have enough to take action. Even when there is enough for military police to arrest or have a higher commander move the abuser somewhere else, then the friends of the abuser smell it and harass the victim... then the victim has to work somewhere else while police/legal play out... it isn't right what a victim has to do, but we just cannot hang or shoot who we think is an abuser like USA did in the 1800s...
All this points towards a magnification of the trauma and sometimes more trauma and more sever trauma and assault.
So, anyone who wants to think a victim should have enough in them to jump up and down on top of congress until the proper actions are taken is very mistaken. There are many reasons why someone who reports loses the will to pursue it, or just never reports it in the first place, too many to list and discuss.
The deck is stacked against the victim and is setup to give advantages to the abuser... but nowadays, the education is a LOT better, military members clearly know procedures and what is possible and habe enough info to make good choices. A population that is aware, determined, and prone to report is a bad deal for abusers, their percentage of success goes down and they do not like that... so that results in less perceived ability to get away and leads to less abuse.
Yet, we still see so many reports of abuse, maybe the reporting percentages are going up from the teens (it is all a guess how much gets reported, we do not see it all from ur position) maybe there are still more criminals around, maybe whatever... but nowadays, the chances of an abuser who keeps on abusing and continuing to get away with it are going way down, so they stop, do it less, be more selective (and still get caught later) or just don't care, do it and eventually get caught. Nowadays, enough victims will report and the odds are gunna catch up to the abuser.
Still, that doesn't help victim number 1, 2, 3, or whatever number it takes to have one report and identify the abuser. Still, that is a huge improvement over what it used to be... in relative terms. In absolute terms, still unacceptable situation. One is too many. Still, with legal requirements to get a successful prosecution result and the difficult circumstances a victim faces just to initially report the crime... even in a future situation where everyone will report... it may still take more than one report to bring abuser to justice.
