The reality that those who have suffered through the traumatic experience of sexual assault and/or domestic violence have come to realize is that reporting these instances is a definite way to have what is left of their dignity, destroyed. We saw it with the teacher in Montana who was sentenced to 30 days for raping a 14 year old student because the judge felt she was "older than her chronological age". We saw it with the Texas teen who was sentenced to community service at a rape crisis center after pleading guilty to raping a girl because the judge seemed feel that since she wasn't a virgin when the violation occurred that it wasn't as traumatic. We saw it again when a California woman was forced to pay alimony to her rapist husband. We must move to put a stop this trend.



