Leah Marshall- Sexual violence prevention advisor at Fanshawe College
Sexual violence is a crime that is unfortunately perpetrated nearly everyday, to people of all genders and sexualites. 83% of sexual assaults are not reported at all. Victims often know their assailants, and fewer than half of the sexual assault cases end in a guilty verdict. One thing is clear. The justice system fails victims of sexual assault.
One survivor of sexual assault, Becca, who asked to keep her last name anonymous, says she didn’t even know that she was assaulted until months afterward.
“It never got to the justice system because of how people other than me had handled it. And even after speaking about it, nobody ever thought to maybe give me therapy or, you know, speak to me about how I felt about it was just kind of like this really taboo subject.”
She adds that the justice system and law enforcement don’t help survivors enough, with a lot of victims hearing the statement that “there’s not enough evidence.”
“That’s the big thing. There’s not enough evidence, because a lot of people don’t know they’ve been assaulted right away. And so when they do report the assault, there’s no evidence.”
She adds that plea deals are not fair to the victim, as the perpetrator knows what they did, and should get the punishment that is deserved.
“I just don’t think you should be trying to plead for anything after you’ve done something like that. For you to say, well, maybe I deserve a little less time because I’ve been a good boy. I don’t think it’s fair”
Her only request on how people can help victims of sexual assault was to believe victims.
“To be denied that the validation, that’s something horrible has happened to you and to be told that it’s your fault, or that you should you shouldn’t have done what you had done to lead up to this moment. It’s infuriating to think that’s how it goes.”
As for how the general public feels, one person interviewed said that victims may experience shame through people saying what happened to them isn’t true, or through admitting that something like that happened to you.
“I don’t think the live system does a good job of like, making these people feel safe. Because our legal system has to treat it with like, a fairness because it’s like, we don’t know whose side is who. People often lose either way when they admit to being sexually assaulted.”
Another said that justice isn’t all the healing these people need.
“You have to think of it more than just like, the strict law. How does this person feel better? How can we achieve peace for them so they can move on from this? That’s almost more important than the legal aspect of it.”
One thing is certain, both survivors of sexual assault and the public feel that the legal system is much to lenient on people who commit sexual violence.
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