Attorney General pushes rape prevention
Lisa Madigan: More needs to be done to educate the public about sexual assault
April 20, 2006
"We need to understand and be clear about what rape is and what it is not," she said. "Rape is a violent attack where sex is used as a weapon. ... Rape is a crime, and it's a crime that harms our entire community."
In recent high-profile cases, such as the charges brought against Duke University lacrosse players this month, "the focus starts to move immediately to the woman," Madigan said.
"Too often, the woman, the child, the person that was raped becomes victimized again," she said.
Because April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Madigan, along with local police and advocates, held the press conference to reinforce the importance of area education and prevention programs and release a "Rules to Stop Rape" handout card.
The card, which includes rules like "drunkenness is not consent" and "only yes means yes," will be distributed in the coming months to local agencies that work with sexual assault victims.
In the last year, Madigan said, her office also has hosted training sessions to teach hospital workers and volunteers how to deal with sexual assault victims, appointed the first statewide coordinator of sexual assault nurse examiners and pushed implementation of a program that will give victims up-to-date information on an offender's custody or case status.
This year, the attorney general's office doled out more than $142,000 in grants to Kane County organizations that work with sexual assault victims, including Mutual Ground in Aurora and the Kane County Child Advocacy Center.
These partnerships between local agencies, state officials and law-enforcement agencies have been crucial to increasing the number of victims who report their crimes, said East Dundee Police Chief Joe Pena, who also is president of the Illinois Chiefs of Police Association.
Advocates said few victims speak out because they fear retaliation, being blamed for the assault or reliving the rape.
"We need to empower the victims of sexual assault and give them a voice," said Jan Faulhaber, sexual assault program director at Mutual Ground.
