EDITORIAL: Stopping sexual assault is everybody's business

Thirty-six rapes were reported to law enforcement authorities in Darlington County in 2007, with seven arrests for rape in the county for that year. Another 23 arrests were made for other sex offenses.

Those are the most recent figures available from the State Law Enforcement Division.

These violent crimes — and sexual assault is a violent crime — occurred in our county, in our communities.

Throughout the Pee Dee, 147 rapes were reported in the counties of Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro and Williamsburg in 2007, and authorities made 140 arrests for sex offenses, including 49 for forcible rape, in those counties that year.

Overall, the total number of rapes reported in Darlington and the other six counties served by the coalition in 2007 was down from 2006, but only slightly.
The Pee Dee Coalition assisted 77 victims of sexual assault in the Pee Dee region alone in 2007.

That same year, South Carolina had a total of 1,482 victims of sex offenses with 506 forcible rapes reported during the year.

Every two minutes, somewhere in the U.S., someone is sexually assaulted. One in six American women are victims of sexual assault and one in 33 men, according to statistics from the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault.

Nationwide, there were 248,300 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault in 2007.

The sad reality is these numbers represent only a fraction of the actual number of assaults that occur. According to the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control, sexual assault is more likely than any other crime to go unreported. It’s estimated that nearly two-thirds of sexual assaults are never reported.

And according to officials with the coalition, that appears to be especially true in rural areas like ours.

The trauma caused by sexual assault can last for years, lifetimes. And it can manifest itself in a variety of ways — substance abuse, violent behavior, even suicidal tendencies.
Here are some facts:

• Rape is an act of violence, a personal attack motivated by a desire for power and aggression — not by sex.

• Rape can be committed by strangers or acquaintances. In 76 percent of cases, the victim and the assailant know each other.

• About 90 percent of reported rapes occur between people of the same race.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time established to shed more light on the prevalence of sexual violence in our society. It is also a time to recognize and support victims, recommit to holding offenders accountable and to acknowledge that every individual plays a role in ending sexual violence in our community.

It is a time to focus on the power we have as individuals to transform our communities into places where respect is the norm and where choosing to sexually assault another person is never acceptable.

The Pee Dee Coalition has scheduled activities throughout the seven counties it serves to highlight the problem of sexual assault in our area and to make people aware of the services it offers victims and their families.

To learn more about the coalition and what it offers, call (843) 669-4694.

If you are a victim of sexual assault, call the crisis line at 669-4600 or 1-800-273-1820.

Sexual assault is a crime that will not disappear by itself. Stopping it is everybody’s business.