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<H2><FONT COLOR="#0000FF">Sexuality, Violence and Psychological After-Effects</FONT></H2>

<H5><FONT COLOR="#0000FF">A Longitudinal Study of Cases of Sexual Assault
which were Reported to the Police</FONT></H5>

<P>by <B>Michael C. Baurmann</B></P>

<P><BR>

<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER>

<P>What follows is the entire English-language summary of a study done
in Germany under the auspices of the Bundeskriminalamt, the equivalent
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. This summary
appears on pages 523-33 of <B><I>Sexualit&auml;t, Gewalt und psychische
Folgen: Eine L&auml;ngschnittuntersuchung bei Opfern sexueller Gewalt un
sexuellen Norm-verletzungen anhand von angezeigten Sexualkontakten</I></B>
(Wiesbaden, Bundeskriminalamt Forschungsreihe Nr. 15, 1983). </P>

<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER>

<UL>
<LI><A NAME="toc_i"></A><A NAME="toc_i"></A><A NAME="toc_i"></A><A NAME="toc_i"></A><A NAME="toc_i"></A><A NAME="toc_i"></A><A HREF="#ss_i" name="toc_i">I.
Preliminary remarks</A><BR>
</LI>

<LI><A NAME="toc_ii"></A><A NAME="toc_ii"></A><A NAME="toc_ii"></A><A NAME="toc_ii"></A><A NAME="toc_ii"></A><A NAME="toc_ii"></A><A HREF="#ss_ii" name="toc_ii">II.
Purpose of the longitudinal study</A><BR>
</LI>

<LI><A NAME="toc_iii"></A><A NAME="toc_iii"></A><A NAME="toc_iii"></A><A NAME="toc_iii"></A><A NAME="toc_iii"></A><A NAME="toc_iii"></A><A HREF="#ss_iii" name="toc_iii">III.
Methods of the study</A><BR>
</LI>

<LI><A NAME="toc_iv"></A><A NAME="toc_iv"></A><A NAME="toc_iv"></A><A NAME="toc_iv"></A><A NAME="toc_iv"></A><A NAME="toc_iv"></A><A HREF="#ss_iv" name="toc_iv">IV.
Results and discussion</A><BR>
</LI>

<LI><A NAME="toc_v"></A><A NAME="toc_v"></A><A NAME="toc_v"></A><A NAME="toc_v"></A><A NAME="toc_v"></A><A NAME="toc_v"></A><A HREF="#ss_v" name="toc_v">V.
Consequences</A><BR>
</LI>

<UL>
<P><A NAME="toc_1"></A><A NAME="toc_1"></A><A NAME="toc_1"></A><A NAME="toc_1"></A><A NAME="toc_1"></A><A NAME="toc_1"></A><A HREF="#ss_1" name="toc_1">1.
Differentiation<BR>
<A NAME="toc_2"></A><A NAME="toc_2"></A><A NAME="toc_2"></A><A NAME="toc_2"></A><A NAME="toc_2"></A><A NAME="toc_2"></A></A><A HREF="#ss_2" name="toc_2">2.
De-dramatization and elucidation<BR>
<A NAME="toc_3"></A><A NAME="toc_3"></A><A NAME="toc_3"></A><A NAME="toc_3"></A><A NAME="toc_3"></A><A NAME="toc_3"></A></A><A HREF="#ss_3" name="toc_3">3.
Informing target groups<BR>
<A NAME="toc_4"></A><A NAME="toc_4"></A><A NAME="toc_4"></A><A NAME="toc_4"></A><A NAME="toc_4"></A><A NAME="toc_4"></A></A><A HREF="#ss_4" name="toc_4">4.
Coordination</A><BR>
</P>
</UL>
</UL>

<H3>J.<U> Summary</U></H3>

<P>I. <A NAME="ss_i"></A><A NAME="ss_i"></A><A NAME="ss_i"></A><A NAME="ss_i"></A><A NAME="ss_i"></A><A NAME="ss_i"></A><B><U><A HREF="#toc_i" name="ss_i">Preliminary
remarks</A></U></B><BR>
</P>

<P>Sexual behavior deviant from societal norms is usually discussed with
mild, unconscious apprehension (page 47). Furthermore, only apparently
rational arguments invariably appear in the debate (page 52). For decades,
criminal lawyers have repeatedly deplored the irrationality of such discussions.
A differentiated picture of the sexual offender, his crime and the victim
is often lacking. Among other things, this has to do with the fact that
sexuality -- despite the so-called Sexual Revolution -- is still largely
taboo. There remains an awkwardness in speaking about sexuality and, therefore,
problems related to sexuality are not presented objectively.<BR>
</P>

<P>The diffuse opinions and attitudes, the prejudices, the lack of information
concerning deviant sexuality (page 51), either totally or partially affect
our day-to-day lives:<BR>
</P>

<UL>
<LI>when, within the framework of an incorrectly understood sexual education,
children at home and at school become frightened, </LI>

<LI>when sexual crimes are publicly reported in a dramatizing manner (page
479), </LI>

<LI>when sexual norms are discussed ethically and politically (page 54),
</LI>

<LI>when people who deviate to a greater or lesser extent from the norms
are subjected to psychological or medical treatment, </LI>

<LI>when sexual victims experience lack of sympathy from their environment
(page 501).<BR>
</LI>
</UL>

<P>What the victim's situation actually looks like and where the real dangers
for the sexual victim lie were the subject of an empirical, comprehensive
longitudinal study in the Federal Republic of Germany.<BR>
</P>

<P>II. <A NAME="ss_ii"></A><A NAME="ss_ii"></A><A NAME="ss_ii"></A><A NAME="ss_ii"></A><A NAME="ss_ii"></A><A NAME="ss_ii"></A><B><U><A HREF="#toc_ii" name="ss_ii">Purpose
of the longitudinal study</A></U></B> </P>

<P>The main questions posed in this survey were (pages 54, 84 and 137):<BR>
</P>

<OL>
<LI>In which societal groups is the danger of becoming a sexual victim
most pronounced?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>What kind of sexual offenses are actually reported to the police? What
role does use of force or violence play?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Is there a single type of sexual offense or are there different typical
constellations?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>What led up to the actual sexual activity? What did the suspect do?
How did the victim act? Where did the sexual contact take place?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>How does the victim view the reported sexual contact years after the
charge was made?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>What was the situation like for the victim? How did the environment
react? How did the representatives of the authorities act?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>How many of the victims feel violated or injured? In which cases does
psychological injury occur?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>In the opinion of the victim what causes psychological injury, if it
occurs? Is the so-called primary injury triggered by the criminal act itself,
or so-called secondary injury, which occurs on the victim later, as a result
of the negative influences of the environment and the representatives of
the authorities?<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Is it possible to determine a typology of victims or of perpetrators
or is there rather a typology of interactions between the two persons?<BR>
</LI>
</OL>

<P>III. <A NAME="ss_iii"></A><A NAME="ss_iii"></A><A NAME="ss_iii"></A><A NAME="ss_iii"></A><A NAME="ss_iii"></A><A NAME="ss_iii"></A><B><U><A HREF="#toc_iii" name="ss_iii">Methods
of the study</A></U></B> (pages 87, 127 and 205) </P>

<P>The victimological analysis was based on a 4-year questionnaire study
(1969 - 1972) of virtually all sexual victims known to the police in the
German state of Lower Saxony (<I>n</I> = 8058). In this study (page 127)
victims were persons who either had declared themselves as victims or had
been declared by others as being a victim. Both were considered here to
be declared victims&quot;. The age of female victims was up to 20 years;
male victims up to 14 years. Nearly all of the declared sexual victims
were subjected to a questionnaire consisting of 29 items. The assertions
of the 8,058 declared sexual victims contained in the comprehensive investigation
were evaluated victimologically. As the distribution of the reported indecent
assaults in the State of Lower Saxony does not differ significantly from
the corresponding distribution in the Federal Republic of Germany, the
results of this longitudinal study characterize the situation in West Germany.<BR>
</P>

<P>In a second phase conducted in 1979 and 1980, 112 sexual victims randomly
selected from the total were asked to participate in a follow-up study
performed six to ten years after the offense had been reported to the police
(page 127). The follow-up study consisted to a large extent of a standardized
in-depth interview which integrated reliable psychodiagnostic tests and
victimological items.<BR>
</P>

<P>Depending on the age of the subject four psychodiagnostic inventories
were used:<BR>
</P>

<OL>
<LI>a biographical inventory (&quot;MBI&quot; or &quot;BIV&quot;, depending
on the age of the subject) to measure outstanding behavior patterns,<BR>
</LI>

<LI>a personality inventory (&quot;FPI&quot;), which is a German version
of the combination of MMPI, MPI, EPI and 16PF,<BR>
</LI>

<LI>a scale measuring anxiety (&quot;AFS - MA&quot;), which is based on
the American CMAS and TASC, and<BR>
</LI>

<LI>a special inventory measuring neuroticism and extroversion (&quot;EPI&quot;
or, depending on age, &quot;HANES&quot;).<BR>
</LI>
</OL>

<P>The interviews normally lasted from two to four hours and were face-
to-face talks between the victim and a male or female psychologist in the
home of the victim.<BR>
</P>

<P>In addition, in a third part of the project, 131 files of cases of indecent
assault which had been tried in court were studied for comparison (page
132). In this victimologically oriented document analysis, only those files
were selected which contained a thorough psychological report on the credibility
of the victim's testimony. These sexual assaults had occurred during a
period comparable to that of the comprehensive study. The purpose of this
third phase was to compare cases of sexual contacts merely reported to
the police with condemned cases. This is in contrast to almost all previous
studies, which had dealt with condemned sexual contacts (p 109). </P>

<P>IV. <A NAME="ss_iv"></A><A NAME="ss_iv"></A><A NAME="ss_iv"></A><A NAME="ss_iv"></A><A NAME="ss_iv"></A><A NAME="ss_iv"></A><B><U><A HREF="#toc_iv" name="ss_iv">Results
and discussion</A></U></B> (page 215) </P>

<P>Sexual victims are, in 80% to 90% of the cases, girls and women (page
215). The age group varies according to the nature of the offense (page
227). In sexual assault on children nearly two-thirds were between 7 and
13 years of age. In the area of forcible rape, primarily young women between
the ages of 14 and 20 were endangered. The age range of women who encounter
an exhibitionist was more widespread, but the incidence was higher in the
younger age groups.<BR>
</P>

<P>Of the suspects and perpetrators 99.6% were men, primarily between the
ages of 25 and 35 (page 234). The still widespread opinion that the majority
of indecent assailants are older or aged men is incorrect. The age difference
between victim and suspect was, on the average, 25 years; in cases of violent
sexual assault, however, only 7 years. Sexual victims are therefore mainly
young women and girls threatened by men who are &quot;in the best years
of their lives&quot; (page 237).<BR>
</P>

<P>The most important groups of sexual offenses registered in this study
were (page 218):<BR>
</P>

<UL>
<LI>Exhibitionism<BR>
(&sect; 183 German Penal Code) ......................... 23.9%<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Sexual assault on children (child molesting)<BR>
(&sect; 176 German Penal Code) ......................... 35.5<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Forcible rape (&sect; 177 German Penal Code) and<BR>
Sexual assault under duress<BR>
(&sect; 178 German Penal Code) ......................... 22.2<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Other ............................................................<U>18.4<BR>
</U>Total .......................................................... 100.0%<BR>
</LI>
</UL>

<P>Under &quot;other&quot; in this study were sexual assault of foster
children or wards (&sect; 174 German Penal Code), sexual intercourse between
relatives (&sect; 173 German Penal Code) with a total of ~8%. If injuries
of victims of incest are diagnosed, one has to face the fact that victims
of incest often live in broken homes and that there are many causes in
such families to injure the child. In such cases the sexual contact is
another symptom of a disturbed family but not the only cause for the injury.
An extremely small group was that of reported seduction (&sect; 182 German
Penal Code); per year only about ten to fifteen offenders are charged in
the Federal Republic of Germany under this paragraph.<BR>
</P>

<P>Homosexual contacts played no important statistical or criminological
role in this study. On the one hand, they composed only 10-15% of the cases,
and on the other, the sexual contacts were described by the victims themselves
as &quot;harmless&quot;, almost exclusively without the use of violence
by the suspect (page 287), and as a result, none of the male victims questioned
felt themselves to have been injured. In addition no injury could be determined
in these cases with the help of test procedures.<BR>
</P>

<P>The exhibitionists were men unknown to the women and children in 93.0%
of these cases. In the other kinds of reported sexual contacts, however,
the sexual perpetrator was either known previously or even related to the
victim (70.3% of these cases) (page 249). This means that warnings against
unknown sexual assailants is preventively ineffective and, as far as sexual
education and up-bringing is concerned, highly dubious, as a feeling of
being threatened by strange men is conveyed, while for example, rape was
usually performed by an acquaintance in the close social environment. With
increasing acquaintanceship between victim and perpetrator, there was an
increase in the intensity of the sexual contact (CC = O.53), and often
in the psychosocial injury to the sexual victim.<BR>
</P>

<P>If the incident was reported to the police at all (the estimated dark
figure is 1:10; page 90), then it was the cases of violent sexual assault
and exhibitionism that were more quickly reported by the victim or relatives
(page 287). Among the victims of rape, this declaration is usually an expression
of indignation, fear, anger and affliction on the part of the victim. With
exhibitionism, in contrast, it is more the indignation of the relatives
of the victim about the deviant sexual behavior of a strange man. As the
accused is a stranger, there is less scruple about reporting him.<BR>
</P>

<P>The situation is quite different in cases of child molesting (&sect;
176 of the German Penal Code). In many of those cases the sexual contacts
are not given much importance by the children, and sometimes they do not
even tell anyone so that the delict becomes known accidentally. Even in
serious delicts in this area, parents are often reluctant to report the
incident as the accused is often an acquaintance. In both cases it is possible
that -- for different reasons -- secondary injury to the victim may easily
occur. <I>I.e.,</I> the child incurs additional injury from the behavior
of persons in the environment or injury even first results from this behavior
(page 461).<BR>
</P>

<P>Studying the literature it was very interesting to note that very few
attempts have been made to set up a definition for the term &quot;injury&quot;,
which could be operationalized for diagnostic purposes (page 163). Therefore
injuries caused by sexual offenses were defined for this study as follows
(page 201):<BR>
</P>

<P>Injury as a result of a sexual contact is a reactive, sexual, social,
psychological and/or physical disturbance which the injured person is subjected
to by a guilty party. This disturbance can be either subjectively recognized
by the injured person, him-/ or herself, or it can be diagnosed by specific
scientific methods. The disturbance can be caused directly by the event
itself, or indirectly.<BR>
</P>

<P>The measurement of injury was operationalized in an index of injury
(page 409) ranging from 0 (no injury) to 100 (maximum injury). Half of
this index was supposed to be determined by symptoms reported actively
by the victim when questioned whether s/he had noticed, at any time afterwards,
any physical, social, psychological, or sexual problems which were caused
by the sexual offense. 25% of the index contained the answers to a check-list
of possible injuries, drawn from the literature, and another 25% the extreme
results (SN &lt; 4 or &gt; 6) in the above-listed psychological tests.<BR>
</P>

<P>This method of operationalizing the measurement of injury emphasizes
the subjective judgment of the victim, as we think that the victim knows
best whether s/he was hurt or not. This method is in contradiction to that
of a few authors who have reported on injuries without having asked the
victims themselves about the symptoms and their causes.<BR>
</P>

<P>In the present study about half of the victims of indecent assault (48.2%)
showed no injury at all, about 18% a lower index and about 34% a higher
or very high index of injury. On an average the index of injury was 8.7.
In cases of forcible rape it went up to 22.3. The highest index explored
in this survey was 50.0 (page 459).<BR>
</P>

<P>Evaluation of the constructed index of injury revealed that self-reported
injuries had the highest degree of validity. In contrast, common psychological
tests used for other purposes did not provide much information. That means
for the future that victimoIogists have to construct special inventories
to objectively measure the grade of injury from which the victims suffer.
For the years to come we then might be able to compare the victim assessment
of injury in different groups of victimizations (criminal and non-criminal)
with each other.<BR>
</P>

<P>Of the reported sexual contacts, half of the sexual victims claimed
the sexual act itself to be the main cause of their injury, one-third the
behavior of the suspect and one-tenth each the behavior of relatives/friends
or the police (page 461). This indicates that the police are less often
responsible for psychological injuries of sexual victims than some have
assumed up to now, but even these few cases should encourage reflection
and improvement of police work. In the tried cases, the sexual victims
could not be diagnostically followed-up. It can be assumed however that
the distribution of primary and secondary victimization would be different
if tried cases had been studied exclusively. In tried cases it can be expected
that relatively more victims are secondarily injured by the behavior of
family members or representatives of the authorities.<BR>
</P>

<P>In addition to the main causality for the injury, the victims were also
asked to judge all conversations they had had about their experience with
other people (page 438).<BR>
</P>

<P>Talks with friends, the boyfriend, siblings, teachers, psychologists,
the victim's own lawyer, specialists and the interviewers of this study
were generally experienced as pleasant and helpful. Talks with school acquaintances
and parents on the other hand, were generally rated as neutral. Closer
analysis showed that some of the parents had behaved in an injurious, others
in an helpful manner. In such situations, the parents assume an important
role, as they are particularly close to the sexual victim emotionally,
as they are the conveyors of moral values and as they spend the most time
with their children. Therefore, they contributed highly to whether or not
the child or young woman was able to work through the incident with or
without long-term injury.<BR>
</P>

<P>Conversations with medical doctors and officials of the Department of
Juvenile Welfare, the police and the courts, as well as the attorney of
the accused, were experienced as mildly to very injurious.<BR>
</P>

<P>It must be taken into consideration here that in a large proportion
of the reported sexual contacts, there was no court proceeding. The situation
of the victim in court and the effects of the proceedings on the victim
require an additional analysis.<BR>
</P>

<P>Specialists in the field of police work are becoming increasingly aware
of this problem. This can be attributed to groups which have specialized
in victim assistance and publicized these negative circumstances (page
505).<BR>
</P>

<P>In Germany, some of these organizations are the women's movement with
its Rape Crisis Centers, Houses for Battered Women, Hotlines for Children
in Trouble, and to some extent the so-called &quot;White Ring&quot;.<BR>
</P>

<P>The following characteristics of injured victims as opposed to the group
of non-injured victims were determined. These variables correlated significantly
with the degree of injury (page 418):<BR>
</P>

<UL>
<LI>The injured victims were all female (page 430).<BR>
</LI>

<LI>The injured victims were significantly older than the non-injured (p<O 01; CC = 0.34)    (page 227).<br>
</LI>

<LI>Because the injured victims on the average were older they tended to
have had more sexual information (p = 0.045) (page 454) and more sexual
experience before the offense (p&lt;0.05) (page 448).<BR>
</LI>

<LI>The injured victims had not started dating at an earlier age than the
non-injured (page 448).<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Injured victims often had been brought up with relatively strict regulations
concerning going out in the evening (p = 0.035) (page 448).<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Injury was associated with violent or threatening behavior of the assailants
(p = 0.0003; CC = 0.47) (page 422) and defensive behavior or attitude of
the victims (p = 0.0016) (page 420).<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Most of the sexual contacts which resulted in injury to the victims
were of an intensive nature, such as sexual intercourse (p = 0.001; CC
= 0.43) (page 436).<BR>
</LI>

<LI>Most of the injured victims went directly to the police to declare
their victimization (p = 0.028). They often reported the offense themselves
and had more conversations about the attack (p = 0.004) than non-injured
persons (page 446).<BR>
</LI>
</UL>

<P>To recapitulate, only half of the declared victims (51.8%) of indecent
assault suffered from injuries or even severe trauma. The other 48.2% had
no problems in connection with the experience. In most of these cases the
sexual offense was relatively superficial and harmless and/or the &quot;victim&quot;
consented to the offense (page 459).<BR>
</P>

<P>Many experts in the field of prevention have assumed that sexual victims
without primary injuries are rare. It certainly appears that this opinion
must be re-evaluated. Adults who have the opinion that any sexual behavior
is traumatic for children and young people have to face the fact that in
many cases the young person becomes a victim only because grown-ups expect
him or her to become a victim. On the basis of this expectation they act
in such a way that the child really is victimized. This behavior then has
a labeling function. It leads to the labeling of a victim (page 501).<BR>
</P>

<P>This kind of secondary victimization can easily occur after exhibitionist
and other non-violent sexual contacts if the child comes from a family
with particularly strict sexual attitudes, or a family in which fear is
created about &quot;immoral assaults&quot;, or a family which, out of helplessness
and fear, dramatizes the victimization. As another source of secondary
victimization, members of prosecuting authorities, like policemen and policewomen
can unfortunately not be excluded (page 461).<BR>
</P>

<P>In this study it was not possible to determine a typology of victims
of indecent assault, nor was it possible to determine a typology of the
sexual offender in general (page 406).<BR>
</P>

<P>In the field of indecent assault it seems to be necessary to differentiate
on the offender's side between violent assailants and nonviolent offenders.
In all probability violent sex assailants have more in common with other
groups of violent perpetrators. In addition it could not be proved that
a criminal career of the perpetrator begins with exposing the genitals
and leads to forcible rape. This result should have much influence on preventive
interventions. Up to now, many parents and educators in general have expressed
fear that an exhibitionist or fondler is a potential violent rapist or
even murderer. The contrary is true. In situations of exhibitionism and
superficial fondling, similar to doctor games, the perpetrator's behavior
almost never becomes violent (page 299).<BR>
</P>

<P>As most of the offenses of indecent assault (no matter whether they
are violent or non-violent) are first of all interactions between two or
more persons, the situation should be analyzed as a unit. We expected to
find a typology of victimizing interactions or situations rather than a
typology focused on the isolated participants. To find an answer to this
question we calculated a cluster analysis with 47 variables for each case
(page 386). Here it was found that the reported indecent assaults could
be classified into three groups (page 406):<BR>
</P>

<P><B><U>Group I</U> (57.1%)</B> The numerically largest group included
the exhibitionist and comparatively harmless erotic sexual contacts with
younger victims. All the male victims were found here. In this group injury
was very rare.<BR>
</P>

<P><B><U>Group 2</U> (11.6%)</B> This group included sexual contacts of
a more intensive nature. The suspects were mostly known or related to the
victim; the victim's family situation could be considered as disturbed.
A part of the (only female) victims of this cluster showed no injury at
all. Another part had an injury index which fell within the average range
for the entire investigation.<BR>
</P>

<P><B><U>Group 3</U> (31.3%)</B> In this group were sexual assaults under
duress, rape and sexual contacts with highly emotional defensive behavior
or attitude of the victim. The (exclusively) female victims were older,
and the suspects younger than average and the assaults were reported immediately
to the police. Victims in this cluster had the highest indices of injury.<BR>
</P>

<P>The typology of interactions and cases discovered differs very much
from the typology suggested by the German Penal Code (page 407). It also
is in contradiction to the commonly held ideas about indecent assault,
especially as the two large groupings of cases (the first and third) have
nearly nothing to do with each other.<BR>
</P>

<P>Any preventive, legislative, prosecuting, or victim-supporting activities
should be influenced by these findings (page 467). All of the opinions
and well known bits of advice are misleading and can injure victims secondarily
or even make victims out of persons who would not have become a victim
by dramatizing situations which are not really dangerous (page 479).<BR>
</P>

<P>On the other hand, mixing non-violent and violent situations without
any differentiation may result in bagatellizing the really dangerous cases
of brutal sexual attacks. In this respect it is necessary to state that
there is in our society a widespread general attitude of tolerance toward
violent sexual behavior There are many opinions, attitudes, and social
norms which support sexual aggressive behavior. Brutal sexual victimization,
however, mostly happens in the neighborhood, within the circle of friends
or even in the family page 249).<BR>
</P>

<P>V. <A NAME="ss_v"></A><A NAME="ss_v"></A><A NAME="ss_v"></A><A NAME="ss_v"></A><A NAME="ss_v"></A><A NAME="ss_v"></A><B><U><A HREF="#toc_v" name="ss_v">Consequences</A></U></B>
(page 467) </P>

<P>For the future it is urgent to pay more attention to the situation of
the exclusively female victims from group three and some of those in group
two (see above). Political, preventive and social measures to improve their
situation are discovered to be absolutely necessary (page 501).<BR>
</P>

<P>With respect to prejudicial attitudes towards the assailant, his deed
and the sexual victim, it should be stated that there is no homogenous
type of indecent assault. Rather there are three clearly different constellations
of deviant sexual interactions. Until recently conventional opinion has
confused infringements of sexual norms and violent assaults in the sexual
sphere. However, other studies have revealed that there are very ambivalent
attitudes regarding sexual violence: While there is a formal ban on sexual
violence, it is, at the same time, tacitly tolerated. Sexual violence,
like other types of violent behavior, is very common and belongs, criminologically,
more to the group of violent crimes than to the group of sexual assaults.
The ambivalent attitudes of the general population toward sexual violence
may pose problems when measures are undertaken (page 473). It is difficult
to outlaw sexual violence effectively if at the same time violent behavior
is tolerated in the society at large. These problems fall basically in
the fields of sociology and politics and can only be effectively solved
if tackled as a whole. The results of this survey suggest that the situation
of the victims of violent and indecent assaults should be improved by applying
suitable short- and medium-term measures.<BR>
</P>

<OL>
<LI><A NAME="ss_1"></A><A NAME="ss_1"></A><A NAME="ss_1"></A><A NAME="ss_1"></A><A NAME="ss_1"></A><A NAME="ss_1"></A><B><A HREF="#toc_1" name="ss_1">Differentiation</A></B><BR>
</LI>

<P>To change the public attitude, the three main phenomena of deviant sexual
behavior should be clearly differentiated from one another. These are:<BR>
</P>

<P>- Exposure of the genitals,<BR>
</P>

<P>- Relatively superficial, non-violent erotic and sexual practices, and<BR>
</P>

<P>- Sexual violence and duress.<BR>
</P>

<LI><A NAME="ss_2"></A><A NAME="ss_2"></A><A NAME="ss_2"></A><A NAME="ss_2"></A><A NAME="ss_2"></A><A NAME="ss_2"></A><B><A HREF="toc_2" name="ss_2">De-dramatization
and elucidation</A></B><BR>
</LI>

<P>Objective and unbiased information about the phenomenology of indecent
assaults and their after-effects would reduce dramatization in case groups
(1) and (2) and elucidate the violent character of the other assaults in
group (3). Especially for the protection of potential victims it is necessary
to differentiate between disagreeable or undesirable sexual molestation
or menacing and brutal sexual attacks. In addition it should be made clear
that generally speaking nearly no criminal career starts with exposure
of the genitals and leads up to forcible rape and murder. The present survey
reveals that -- contrary to the German Penal Code -- the situation of forcible
rape has much in common with other violent offenses and that recidivism
of any violent assailant can be expected more often in offenses like forcible
rape and sexual duress than in exhibitionism and fondling. If non-violent
child molesters and exhibitionists relapse, the probability is high that
they will resort to their previous form of deviant behavior. It is improbable
that a relapsed exhibitionist will display violent sexual behavior. These
results should have a strong influence on prevention programs, prosecuting
strategies and victim assistance programs. The police can work more effectively
and should cooperate on a more friendly basis with the victim if these
results are taken into consideration in day-to-day work.<BR>
</P>

<LI><A NAME="ss_3"></A><A NAME="ss_3"></A><A NAME="ss_3"></A><A NAME="ss_3"></A><A NAME="ss_3"></A><A NAME="ss_3"></A><A HREF="#toc_3" name="ss_3" <b>Informing
target groups</A> (page 508)<BR>
</LI>

<P>The objective description of the phenomenology of punishable sexual
contacts, their causes and consequences should influence the following
areas:<BR>
</P>

<P>(a) The in-service training of officials responsible for victims should
be improved.<BR>
</P>

<P>(b) When asked, specially qualified police officials should inform groups
of teachers and educators.<BR>
</P>

<P>(c) Parents and professional educators should be fully informed and
given opportunities for further training in the field of sexual education.
The problems of sexual deviation should be integrated into modern sexual
education.<BR>
</P>

<P>(d) The results of the present survey should be widely publicized so
as to influence public opinion.<BR>
</P>

<P>(e) Corresponding laws in the Penal Code should be subjected to unbiased
evaluation.<BR>
</P>

<LI><A NAME="ss_4"></A><A NAME="ss_4"></A><A NAME="ss_4"></A><A NAME="ss_4"></A><A NAME="ss_4"></A><A NAME="ss_4"></A><B><A HREF="#toc_4" name="ss_4">Coordination</A></B><BR>
</LI>
</OL>

<P>The different institutions which professionally deal with the problems
of sexual victims should cooperate more effectively. In the Federal Republic
of Germany many officials responsible for victims still do not know that
there are many organizations in most German cities which partially or fully
deal with crisis intervention. There are for instance capable institutions
for psychotherapy; there is a widespread organization, called &quot;pro
familia&quot; which gives advice in cases of sexual problems (especially
birth control); there are rape crisis centers in larger cities with their
telephone hotlines (&quot;Notrufe f&uuml;r vergewaltigte Frauen&quot;)
and houses for battered women (&quot;Frauenh&auml;user&quot;); there are
hotlines for children and youth (&quot;Sorgentelefon&quot;). In nearly
every town there is a day and night hotline for acute problems (&quot;Telefonseelsorge&quot;).
During the last few years a private organization, the &quot;White Ring&quot;,
has developed and specialized in granting financial aid to victims of criminality.
In addition to that there is a special federal law which guarantees financial
aid to victims of violent offenses.<BR>
</P>

<P>However, the victim in need and the experts in the field are usually
not aware of the existence of appropriate institutions for the different
problems. There is not enough cooperation and exchange of information.
We still need to learn a lot from the various American victim assistance
programs.<BR>
</P>

<P>If victim assistance programs are initiated, care should be taken not
to treat the victim as a sick person. Labeling the victim as mentally ill
is another form of structural victimization The aim of victim assistance
programs should be the reintegration of the victim into her or his social
environment, which is just as necessary as the social reintegration of
the offender. This reintegration should lead to regaining or strengthening
the victim's self-confidence. For the purpose of effectiveness victim assistance
programs must be linked with an information service aimed at informing
the public about how structural victimization causes individual victimization.<BR>
</P>

<P>In the Federal Republic of Germany there is still a strong need for
developing and organizing training programs for professionals and volunteers
as well as strengthening the organization of assistance programs for victims.
The current problems in this field in the Federal Republic are as follows:<BR>
</P>

<P>(a) The phenomenon of sexual violence should be subjected to further
empirical analysis. We would welcome a psychological and sociological analysis
of structural victimization and a victimological analysis of the situation
surrounding sexual violence, i.e., how the situation develops, between
offender and victim, shortly before the offense occurs.<BR>
</P>

<P>(b) The public must be informed about the problems and background of
sexual violence.<BR>
</P>

<P>(c) Police officials who deal with sexual victims must establish contact
with women working in victim assistance programs in order to obtain feed-back
concerning their work and promote an exchange of ideas.<BR>
</P>

<P>(d) There is a strong need to develop in-service training programs for
the officials named under (c).<BR>
</P>

<P>(e) Cooperation between the different responsible institutions and Advisory
Boards should be improved in the interest of the victims.<BR>
</P>

<P>(f) Victims who are in crisis should be provided with solid information
about several institutions they can trust.<BR>
</P>

<P>(g) The present survey should be extended to study the effects of court
procedures upon the victims.<BR>
</P>

<P>(h) While discussing the laws dealing with sexual offenses, the objective
and scientific ways of argumentation should be clearly separated from emotional
and/or moral opinions.</P>

<P><BR>

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