Sexual assault survivors face obstacles to accountability and justice that no other crime victim does. They are more likely to be disbelieved, their experience minimized, their safety and well-being placed secondary to the rights and needs of the person who harmed them.
That experience is the same whether it’s an adult victim, or a child or teen survivor of sexual assault.
Of the 5,000 survivors and their family members who seek assistance at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center each year, almost half are under 18.
We provided 2,400 clients with legal advocacy in 2022. Advocates must prepare survivors or parents of children who have been abused for what’s ahead: they tell them about the excruciatingly long time to disposition, and the likelihood that charges, if filed, will not mirror their actual experience.
Advocates also tell survivors that regardless of outcome, it does not mean their experience did not happen. For a survivor, validation of their experience and support are critically important to their long-term recovery.
When Washington legislators passed HB 1320, the landmark civil protection order law, they included a notable finding: “Sexual assault is the most heinous crime against another person short of murder. Sexual assault inflicts humiliation, degradation, and terror on victims. The perpetrator’s age, gender, or relationship does not define the seriousness.”1
In the last several years, there have been several much-needed reforms to ensure that victims’ voices are heard and protections are available to victims of sexual assault. But we have noticed a troubling trend when survivors engage in the criminal-justice process, in particular when the person who caused harm is a juvenile.
In the quest to ensure equity in the treatment of youth involved in the justice system, we must use care so as not to minimize behaviors that cause significant physical and emotional harm to others. We do offenders no favors; in fact, it’s an invitation to escalate the behavior the next time.
We recognize the need to address racial disproportionality that has occurred in our systems. In fact, we stand with advocates in calling for action to ensure youth of color are no longer over-represented in the juvenile justice system. But positive steps forward on this front cannot come at the expense of healing and safety for victims of sexual assault, who themselves are disproportionately young people of color and from other marginalized communities.
And it’s vital that victims see that their experience mattered when they engage in our legal system. Sexual assault survivors often experience severe mental and physical health impacts that cost on average $122,000 over a lifetime.2 They attempt suicide at a rate 10 times higher than those who have not been sexually assaulted.3 The consequences of dismissing their distress can be life or death.
It has been long understood that sexual assault is vastly under-reported, and a very small number of victims make their way through the entire criminal-justice process. For many who do, the crime of conviction frequently bears little resemblance to what occurred; for example, an initial charge of a Rape 2 may result in a sentence for Assault 4.
What message do we send young people when rape charges are routinely reduced to offenses that don’t resemble the sex offense and carry such little legal consequence?
It is for these reasons that we must use care when making changes to the way we address juvenile justice.
In seeking change, we should strive for balance, allow for flexibility and individual evaluation of cases, and utilize all available tools. That includes ensuring through our policies and appropriations that people who commit sexual assaults — especially juveniles — receive effective, evidence-based treatment and supports in order to change their abusive behavior.
That does not mean eliminating accountability for harming another person. Sexual assault victims frequently experience shame, guilt, and a sense they are to blame for harm done to them. As noted by the legislature, the impact and trauma are no less for the victim if the person who caused harm is a juvenile. Accountability is a vital component to long-term emotional healing for survivors. Yet very few victims actually experience accountability, whether through the legal system or through well-meaning but ineffective restorative justice programs.
For most sexual assault victims, the criminal-justice system is one of the few sources of protection and accountability available. We have gained some ground in recognizing the impact of sexual assault and the importance of the survivor’s agency in the process. In our pursuit of ridding inequities from our criminal-justice system, let’s not lose sight of the fact that victims of sexual assault already face a deck that has been stacked against them for as long as systems of oppression have existed. That same oppressive system is responsible for the escalated rates of sexual assault experienced by the most marginalized people — disproportionately women and girls of color — in our community.
Pursuing a more just and equitable world for young people means all young people should live free of violence and should be able to count on a legal system that sees and hears their voice. That includes victims of sexual assault.
1 https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=
7.105.900.
2 https://www.nsvrc.org/resource/lifetime-
economic-burden-rape-among-us-adults.
3 https://www.nsvrc.org/blogs/what-puts-
survivors-increased-risk-suicide-and-how-help.
