Preventing Abusive Relationships: Part 3

Before we look at how to avoid dangerous situations, let’s first review the facts about sexual assault and abusive relationships. It is important that you are aware of how dangerous the world is before you can avoid these dangers.

• As many as 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually abused at some point in their childhood.
• Each year, women are the victims of approximately 4.8 million intimate-partner-related physical assaults and rapes.
• Men are the victims of approximately 2.9 million intimate-partner-related physical assaults.
• Although substance abuse may cause the violence to escalate, or get worse, it is not the root cause of the issue.
• Physical and sexual abuse and violence cannot be predicted based upon someone’s gender, race, socioeconomic status, or other factors; it affects people from all areas of life.
• Being convicted of sexual assault or rape is a felony and requires prison time from 10 to 30 years.
• People convicted of felonies lose their right to vote and to buy/use firearms and have significant difficulty finding employment.
• People convicted as sex offenders lose the right to access social media, the right to choose where they live, and the right to work with or near children.
• Sex offenders are required to register with local police and report in periodically. Failure to do so results in immediate arrest and imprisonment.
• Being convicted or even being accused of a sexual assault crime can stick with you forever. Sex offenders are treated as outcasts by their communities and develop terrible reputations. Friends and family members may distance themselves from the sex offender. It is nearly impossible to change this reputation.

Statistics are provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the “Tween and Teen Dating Violence and Abuse Study” conducted by Liz Claiborne, Inc.