Quote:
Originally Posted by saltwn
Some of you may have read before that there is a person in my life who was raped at the age of five. While that crime went unreported for many years because of the fear and manipulation that took place (as it does with most victims of friends/family), let me relate this person's life after the rape.
Insecurity, life threatening obesity, bipolar disorder, paranoid schizophrenia accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations, obsessive compulsions, attempted suicide.
Those are words on paper. But I knew this person as a bright and charming playmate before the occurrence. It was like a light dimmed and went out when this thing happened. And I didn't even know about it till years later.
A lot of people started to wonder if there had been an illness that did something to this child's brain. Like when some children used to be affected by the measles or a bad ear infection and it left them permanently disabled.
With today's modern technology, there would have been better tests to determine the cause.
The suicide attempt is what brought out the psychologically aching and physically gruesome tale of the first rape at 5 and another (same perpetrator) at 8 yrs old.
Besides the psychological problems there are residual physical problems as well.
What do you think my opinion of this court decision is?
That person took the life and future of my playmate and I still blame myself that I could have loved a friend so well and not known.
I am admittedly just weary of the back breaking over consideration that's been given to -not the accused-but the tried and guilty in our country, when the victims have to be dead or robbed of a great deal of money before they are worthy enough to have equal justice under the law.
The fact these kids don't die is a testament to their spirit and willpower in the face of the most awful evil anyone can imagine.
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Not only that, but there are "other" potential impacts upon the outcome of a child's life after being molested.
I took a women's studies class in college that talked about how some molestation victims lash out in anger. The negative psychological damage is turned outwards (and I think your description is an account of what happens when it's turned inwards).
There are studies out there that show the victims of child molestation are more likely to become victimizers when they become adults.
Being victimized by molestation can turn some from a future with opportunities, to a future with a prison sentence.
In fact, there was discussion how some victims can become to be believed as not credible. Just another "bad seed" making false accusations, while the CAUSE of their bad behavior is not realized.
And while I don't say this to excuse their actions (I STRONGLY urge counseling for ANY victim of child molestation), I do say it to demonstrate that there is a very real negative impact.
I don't see how the justices could make any such claim that child rape victimization is not comparable to "death" in the extremity of the crime.