9/6

Today’s discussion focused on sources from part two of Missoula, which led to topics of police protocol, the definition of rape, PTSD, tonic immobility, and laws centered on sexual assault. Some of the sources presented shocking facts that angered me and really opened my eyes to what happens to a victim while being raped.

Looking at police protocols, we found a lot of questions asked during the initial questioning of the victim and suspect are based on judgment calls. Due to this, a lot of officers fail to ask specific, highly important questions, such as identifying the subject. Questions that tend to be asked are typically more along the lines of “well you were drunk, so are you really sure that’s what happened?” Rather than asking appropriate questions to comfort the victim and details on what the assailant looks like, a lot of officer interrogations turn into judging, non-trusting questioning.

From there, we went into discussing what the definition of rape is. Krakauer gives a standard definition filled with legal jargon and words like “penetration”, but no definition gives the important parts of rape. No definition tells how traumatic it is, how much it hurts, how the assailant wants power, how it can mess a person up for the rest of their life.  No definition tells that 1 out of every 3 women who gets raped ends up having PTSD. Because even though PTSD is typically associated with soldiers, bad crash victims, and serious incident survivors, PTSD also affects rape victims.

Many people ask, “why didn’t you scream”, “why didn’t you wake up whoever was in the room”, “why didn’t you fight back?” Little do these people know, rape victims experience tonic immobility, or the inability to fight back, scream, or do anything? The victim becomes paralyzed and cannot physically move. This condition is associated with PTSD and is prevalent in many rape victims (about 41%).

When it comes to the laws surrounding rape, there is typically a lot of jargon; however, interestingly enough, there is no law that deals with a rape victim being asleep and the lack of consent. If someone gives consent, and then passes out or falls asleep, some believe their consent is not technically withdrawn, while others believe consent is taken away at this point. This becomes a difficult point, as consent was once given, but if one is asleep and not in control of their actions, consent should no longer be considered.

When police are trained, they are taught that duty trumps doubt; however, as seen from police judgment during questioning, this is not always considered. Police are supposed to treat each victim with respect and do their duty, even when they doubt the situation. When you look at police responses to rape, it is not taken seriously. If someone is accused of murder, that person is treated as a suspect, taken in, and taken seriously. If someone is accused of rape, they are not taken seriously and sometimes even comforted by officers. This is seen multiple times throughout Missoula, and is definitely a serious problem.

Laws and the seriousness police officers handle rape cases with are something that need to be seriously looked at and changed. The current situation and handling is an issue that is plaguing the United States, a rape suspect should be taken as seriously as a murder suspect. Laws need to be created to define consent more than they do now. This issue needs A LOT of work!