Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9305030252
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
More than half of sexual assaults take place in the victim's home and more than a third of the attackers are a relative, according to the study of 1,149 convicted sexual assault offenders in Virginia. Slightly more than half of those convicted go to prison.
"Felony sexual assaults aren't really the stranger lurking in the bushes at night," said Tammy Poulos, a senior research analyst with the state Department of Criminal Justice Services.
"Most sexual assaults occur in homes and the victims are often young children," she said. "The findings are pretty frightening. I think it's going to shake up people's view of what they view as the typical rape."
Poulos said this is the first Virginia study that examines details of felony sexual assaults. She randomly picked 1,149 cases that occurred between 1986 and 1990.
Some findings are similar to those in a national study of rape victims done by the National Victim Center in Arlington last year. Both studies found that about 20 percent of the attackers are strangers. More than a third are relatives, usually a parent, and the rest are friends or acquaintances.
The national survey found that 61 percent of the rapes involved victims younger than 18. Poulos said she found three-quarters of the sexual assault victims were under age 18 and more than half were under age 13.
"People think of it in terms of child abuse, but we need to think of it as rape," she said.
The study also found a pattern of rapists being convicted of a lesser offense. Presentence reports showed that 42 percent of those convicted of aggravated sexual battery had actually raped their victim, Poulos said.
In Virginia, rape and forcible sodomy carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Aggravated sexual battery, which is a sexual attack that does not include penetration, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
About 55 percent of those convicted of any felony sexual assault were sent to prison, Poulos said. The rest received probation or a less than a year in jail.
Prosecutors often have difficulty proving a rape, particularly when the victim is a child, said Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney John Kloch, a member of Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer's commission on sexual assault.
A conviction for aggravated sexual battery is "a fallback situation," he said. "It still has a pretty hefty penalty."
As for the sentencing, Kloch admitted that courts and the victim's families sometimes do not treat rape by a relative as seriously as an attack by a stranger.
"It shouldn't make a lot of difference, but the fact is sometimes it does," he said. "It's a phenomenon that society suffers by."
Kloch said he hoped sexual assault prosecutions would become easier under bills passed by this year's General Assembly at the urging of the commission. One says a witness cannot be barred from testifying solely because of age. Others expand the definition of certain sexual assaults, require victim impact statements for child victims and add a $100,000 maximum fine for aggravated sexual battery.
Nancy Brock, executive director of the Response rape crisis center in Norfolk, said in some ways the study is encouraging because it shows that even relatives are being convicted of sexual assault.
When she began rape counseling 18 years ago, most convictions were for rapes by a stranger, she said.
"Just in the last few years have we reached the state in our society where we understand that rape is committed by relatives and acquaintances and friends," Brock said.
\ RAPE-CASE STUDY\ WHERE ASSAULTS OCCURRED AND OFFENDER'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE VICTIM\ \ Place of offense:
Victim's residence, 53 percent.
Offender's residence, 17.2 percent
Outdoors, 9.9 percent.
Motor vehicle, 6.3 percent.
Other residence, 4.8 percent
Public building, 2.9 percent.
Private building, 2.6 percent.
Victim's place of employment, 2.1 percent.
Offender's place of employment, 1 percent.\ Offender's relationship to victim:
Relative, 35.5 percent.
Stranger, 19.9 percent.
Friend, 19.4 percent.
Acquaintance, 10.4 percent.
Mother's boyfriend, 7.2 percent.
Boyfriend or girlfriend, 3 percent.
Caretaker, 2.2 percent.
Youth leader or teacher, 1.8 percent.
by CNB