University Daily Kansan/Wednesday, Aug, 19, 1987
13
Lawrence programs help victims of rape
By KATHLEEN FADDIS
Special to the Kansan
No woman wants to think about the possibility of being raped.
But women need to know that if it does happen, help is available from many sources in Lawrence.
"It is important that they talk to somebody and find out what their options are," said Laura Kay, the acting director of Rape Victims Support Service.
Except for the director, Rape Victim Support Service is staffed entirely by volunteers.
The program started as a grass-roots effort in 1972 by a group of women who had been victims of rape on the KU campus.
Kay said the volunteers spoke to community and campus groups. They want to make people aware of the problem and dispel the myths about rape, including the one that a victim asks to be raped.
Kay said the group's most important function was "educating the public that may sit on a jury in a rape case."
Volunteers also provide crisis counseling for the victims and the caretakers.
"Volunteers let people know their feelings are normal," she said. "They help them alleviate the guilt they often feel and give them options."
Volunteers also act as a gobetween with the victim and the court system. They can be with the victim through every step in the process, from the hospital examination to the trial.
As soon as the police are called to the scene of a rape, the officer asks immediately if the victim would like someone with them, said Sgt. Don Dalquestal of the Lawrence police department. If requested by the victim, the officer will make the call to the support service volunteer. She will stay with the victim as long as she is needed.
Dalquest said officers were trained to be sensitive to the needs of victims. He said the volunteers were trained to do that often made the officer's job easier.
Most rapes are committed by someone the victim knows, and one out of 10 rapes are unreported, Kay said.
Many of the calls to the support
Police dislike domestic abuse calls
Rv KRISTEN HAYS
Domestic disturbances are often the most dangerous calls police officers_receive, a Lawrence police said.
Staff writer
The officer, Norm Stewart, said he disliked domestic abuse calls because he could never be sure whether the situation would be calm or violent when he got to the scene.
"When we first get there, we're supposed to be mediators, but I've gotten some pretty bad injuries from domestic disturbances.
"Sometimes when I (hand)cuff the husband and start to put him in the car, the wife will try to free him, and when she's biting and scratching me, I can't really do anything about it.
"Then sometimes when we get there, a woman will answer the door all bruised and banged up, and tell us she just fell. It's frustrating, but we can't force her to make a statement and press charges."
Lawrence police spokesman Sgt. Don Dalquest said, "In dealing with domestic violence, we don't know what the story is before we get there, and whether it will be violent or not.
"Officers step into a situation where a marriage counselor or psychiatrist is needed, because they (the officers) are dealing with people who are still hot. Often the violence is turned from the spouse to us.
"I remember a call I went on once where we were holding the husband down, trying to cuff him, and the wife came out of the dark, ran past us, and stabbed him in the back with a butcher knife.
In that particular case, Dalquest said, the husband's wounds weren't severe and the wife went toail with him.
"We could easily have shot her because we didn't know whether she was going for the husband or us."
However, according to Kansas Bureau of Investigation statistics, in 1986, 17.3 percent of the total murders in Kansas were a result of domestic disturbances. That percentage has dropped from the 28.9 percent figure in 1985.
service are from victims who have been raped by a date or an acquaintance and most likely have not reported it to the police. Kay said often the rape occurred in the past, as long as 20 years ago.
Dalquest said Lawrence police officers were trained about the local services provided for battered women and how to act as a mediator.
In order to resolve a domestic dispute, Dalquest said, one of the spouses must leave the premises.
Many victims try to forge but fine it's not possible, Kay said. The experience comes back in nightmares or experience that triggers the emotions.
"Usually it's the guy, because women normally have their clothes and children keeping them there. If we can't get the man to leave, we'll take the woman to a shelter," he said.
"I don't think they will ever forget about it, but they will learn how to deal with it," she said.
A rape has occurred if a woman is forced to have sex without her consent, or if she is unable to consent because of drug or alcohol intoxication.
"They usually feel humiliated and embarrassed and very dirty," she said. "Guilt is one of the biggest emotions."
They feel they did something to deserve it, and other people will blame them, she said.
"The guilty feelings are even stronger in an acquaintance rape," she said. Because she knows the man, or went out on a date with him, she feels even more strongly she could have done something to prevent it and she
A date or acquaintance rape is also the hardest case to prove in court. In court, whether consent was given or not, the defendant's fight against the defendant's, she said.
is afraid no one will believe her
Kay usually recommended the rape be reported, even though it may not end in a conviction.
"I think for a lot of people it has a positive effect," she said. "I think a lot of times it takes them a long time to realize they were a victim." she said.
Turning guilt feelings into more appropriate feelings of anger toward the rapist is a healthy and necessary emotional healing process, she said.
Kay said she was impressed with the sensitivity of both the police department and the district attorney's office in Lawrence.
In an attempt to reach more crime victims, District Attorney Jim Flory recently expanded his office's services to crime victims. A victim-witness coordinator, Judy Osborn, was hired in July. She will act as the main contact person with their office for all victims. She may help obtain state money that will help pay medical and counseling bills for victims of violent crimes.
Flory said Osborn would be recruiting volunteers who would act as the victim's advocate with the criminal justice system.
He said his office would not overlap with the existing support services that are already available to victims of rape and domestic violence.
Another program that will help a rape victim is Headquarters. It is located in a pink and blue two-story frame house at 1419 Massachusetts St. The program has a 24-hour counseling, available by phone and in person, as well as emergency housing.
Headquarters director Marcia Epstein said they would work with anyone who comes in and asks for help.
Counselors and volunteers at both the Rape Victim Support Service and Headquarters are not licensed therapists. Both programs will refer a client to other programs like Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, 336 Missouri St., and the Psychology Clinic in Fraser Hall, if intensive therapy is needed.
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