Migration Category: NCWP Old Site

In a recent survey conducted by the Texas Council on Family Violence of Texans between the ages of 16 and 24, approximately 75 percent of respondents reported knowing someone (themselves included) who had experienced dating violence. About half of the 918 young people surveyed reported being a victim of verbal, physical, or sexual abuse. According to Salon, this rate is much higher than the national average of about one-third.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott released these statistics on Monday, committing Texas to tackling the problem of youth relationship violence with a $2 million, three-year campaign, the Houston Chronicle reports. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services has launched a public awareness campaign called Red Flags which aims to educate young Texans about warning signs and ways to help themselves or friends in potentially violent relationships. The campaign targets both women and men, abusers and victims, and behaviors ranging from embarrassing a dating partner in public to using violence or threats to telling a dating partner how to act.

Not surprisingly, dating violence was more prevalent among teens who had witnessed a parent in a violent relationship. “Red Flags” will attempt to re-teach healthier behaviors. Sheryl Cates, CEO of the Texas Council on Family Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said, “With Red Flags, we hope to teach young Texans at a critical period in their dating lives, helping them learn to distinguish healthy behaviors from dangerous onesÉ This is the time to learn how to make the best choices in relationships.”

In a recent investigative study, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported a significant increase of inappropriate conduct by military recruiters. From 2004 to 2005, incidents of recruiter misconduct increased by 50 percent, and criminal violations – including sexual harassment – increased by over 200 percent, Reuters reports.

According to the Associated Press, more than 100 women in the past year received unwanted sexual attention from a military recruiter. Eighty military recruiters have been disciplined in the past year for sexual misconduct, and some victims are coming forward to press charges. Barry Vogel, a lawyer representing a young woman who is suing the Marines, told CBS about his client’s case: “[The recruiter] said to her, outright, if you want to join the Marines, you have to have sex with meÉ She was a virgin. She was 17 years old.”

Allegations range from rape to inappropriate touching to consensual romantic relationships, but many agree that any non-professional relationship between recruiters and recruits is inappropriate. Former Marine Corps recruiter Ethan Walker told CBS: “Any recruiter that would try to claim that, ÔOh, it’s consensual,’ they are lyingÉ The recruiter has all the power in these situations.”

According to an internal investigative survey, the Citadel found that nearly 20 percent of its current female cadets reported being sexually assaulted since enrolling in the military college. Citadel President Lt. General John Rosa, a 1973 graduate of the Citadel, requested that the school conduct the survey last spring in order to improve the campus climate. According to The State, Rosa plans to create a Values and Respect program based on the results of the survey that will educate and train cadets about sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and racism. Responding to those who might be surprised that the Citadel would publicize negative information about the institution, Rosa says, “My reason is simple: In order for us to address these issues, we must discuss them openly,” the Associated Press reports.

All of the 118 women and about 530 of the 1,770 men enrolled in the school last year were asked to fill out the survey; 114 women and 487 men responded. Among the women, 27 incidents of sexual assault were found, but only 10 were reported to authorities; half of the female cadets who did not come forward about their abuse reported fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule. Twenty-five of the 27 offenders were fellow cadets, and most of the reported assaults occurred on campus. To better assess daily campus climate, the survey also asked how many women experienced sexual harassment, including inappropriate sexual stories, jokes, and remarks; 68 percent of women reported this type of behavior.

There were 23 incidents of sexual assault among the surveyed men, which suggests that about four percent of male cadets at the formerly all-male school experience sexual assault.

A Louisiana woman was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison for leaving an incendiary device outside of a clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana last December. Patricia Hughes, 25, pleaded guilty last month to leaving an ignited Molotov cocktail bomb near the entrance of the Hope Medical Group for Women. The bomb consisted of a bottle filled with gasoline, a rag, and a candle. It caused minimal damage to the clinic and did not interrupt the clinic’s services.

The maximum sentence Hughes could have received was 40 years in prison. Because of her guilty plea, she was able to reduce that sentence. Hughes’ boyfriend, Jeremy Dunahoe, 19, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced today.

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Elizabeth Dempsey, a Delaware State Police trooper, filed charges against the state on Friday, claiming that she experienced discrimination based on her gender. The charges concern the state’s actions after a 2003 domestic dispute between Dempsey and a fellow trooper. According to Dempsey’s lawsuit, Master Cpl. Brian D. Maher broke into Dempsey’s apartment and threatened a male guest who was with her, the News Journal reports. The lawsuit claims that after Dempsey reported the incident, she received a more severe punishment than Maher.

Reportedly, Maher’s actions were felony-level, but he was only charged with a misdemeanor. Dempsey’s lawsuit also claims that Maher pleaded guilty to conduct unbecoming a trooper and was demoted to corporal for one year. After Maher was arrested, Dempsey was forced to change shifts so that the two would not have to work together.

In 2005, Dempsey was charged with falsifying a report related to the incident and was fired. She appealed the decision, however, and was reinstated at a lower rank. Dempsey’s demotion was supposed to last one year – ending in January 2006. She remains, however, at the lower rank today, even though Maher’s rank has been restored.

According to the News Journal, the Delaware state police was charged earlier this year by a different female trooper claiming she experienced gender-based discrimination.

A new memo released by a South Dakota State Medical Association (SDSMA) lawyer concludes that under the changes to the state’s homicide laws in 2005, abortion providers could be charged with murder should the recently passed abortion ban take effect.

South Dakota’s homicide law was altered in 2005 to make the premeditated killing of “any unborn child” first-degree murder. However, South Dakota currently has other state laws that make providing abortions legal, despite this provision of the homicide law. If the abortion ban passed in March takes effect, then it is possible that abortion providers could be charged with first-degree murder under the homicide law, in addition to being charged under the anti-abortion law, according to the Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report.

The abortion ban, which provides an exception only to prevent the death of a pregnant woman, was originally supposed to go into effect this month, but pro-choice activists collected enough petition signatures to stay the ban and place it on the 2006 ballot as a referendum so voters can weigh in. Anti-choice activists intend to use the law and subsequent legal challenges to force the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade.

Pro-choice forces held a rally on Saturday in Mississippi to counter a week of planned protests by the anti-abortion group Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue). The rally, held in a park directly across from the Governor’s mansion, featured Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW); Nancy Kohsin-Kintigh of the Feminist Majority Foundation; and Michelle Colon, president of Jackson NOW. The Feminist Majority Foundation has been working with local activists and the Jackson clinic, providing emergency resources.

Operation Save America (OSA) is targeting the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the last remaining clinic in Mississippi, to make Mississippi “the first ‘abortion-free’ state in America.” Flip Benham, the director of OSA, has said “We will not wait for the President, Congress, or the Supreme Court to end abortion.”

The pro-choice rally was evacuated following the speaking program when police received a bomb threat. “This is what abortion providers are dealing with on a daily basis,” said Kohsin-Kintigh.

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Two Reedley College football players were arrested and several other college football players are said to have been involved in the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl at a Fresno, California apartment. Fresno City Police charged two suspects on Wednesday, Mackey Davis, 20, and Eddie Scott, 19, with one count each of molestation of a child under age 14 and oral copulation with a victim under 18. Six football players from Reedley or Fresno City College have been questioned by police, according to the Salinas Californian.

The girl had run away from a group home Friday and was found Saturday night after she fled the apartment. The LA Times reported that the evidence collected at the scene collaborated with the 11-year-old’s story.

According to the Associated Press, Davis and Scott pleaded not guilty and the bail is set for $55,000 each. Sexual conduct with a person under 14 is a felony child molestation charge under California state law.

This is another in a spate of recent cases involving college athletes and sexual violence against women.