Overcoming myths in the pursuit of justice for sexual assault victims

(The victim’s name has been changed.)

Jennifer wept when the jury came back with the verdict.

Not tears of joy. Her molester had been acquitted.

She had been able to sit in the courtroom and describe the molestation that had occurred beginning at the age of nine.

Jennifer had done it as factually as possible, not letting the emotions overwhelm her as her molester sat in view in the courtroom.

It took nine months to work through the case.

She had lived with the damage and pain inflicted on her for years, never telling anyone and using alcohol to cope with the trauma. She kept the secret, only sharing it with her husband right before they were married.

“I told my uncle I didn’t want the kids to go there.”

The trauma remained hidden even as her attacker remained on the periphery of her life through family and friends in Jasper. Then, one day, she learned her nieces were invited to a party that he would be at. Now, a mother of two, she had to do something.

“I told my uncle I didn’t want the kids to go there,” she said.

He asked why she felt so strongly about them not going.

In her answer to him, she found a path to reporting the crimes committed against her. She decided to seek justice to ensure he couldn’t harm anyone else.

She contacted police, who took information over the phone and said she needed to come in for an interview–to be recorded.

“That probably was the hardest part,” she explained. “I knew there were cameras, and there was a recording. It just sucked.”

The recording’s permanence made Jennifer question what she was doing. She’d never had an interaction with law enforcement. It was intimidating. “This is a lot. What did I get myself into,” she remembers thinking.

She knew that taking this step meant what happened to her would become public. “I knew that it was going to go forward in a legal process,” she said. “I was scared. I was still embarrassed by what had happened.”

“But, there was also a sense of pride,” she added. “Like, you know, we are going to get through this and it’s going to be okay.”

Fortunately, the recorded interview meant she only had to tell her story once before it went through the prosecutorial side to determine if charges would be filed.

Moving forward with a case like this is difficult. Though a conviction can be sought on the victim’s statement alone, the battle ahead for the victim can be overwhelmingly difficult. Facing an attacker, going public, family and friends learning about this horrible moment in your life. They have to agree to take on that battle.

Jennifer waded into it, but those steps weren’t alone.

“Your whole family goes through this with you,” she said, for good or bad.

The arrest warrant was filed. He faced four counts of molestation. The case went to trial, where it malingered for months. There were delays and reschedulings due to procedural issues and what she felt was the opposing attorney’s ploy to wear her down.

She remembered several times during the trial receiving last-minute calls that court had been delayed. “This happened like five or six times,” she said. “It was miserable. I would get my game face on; muster up my strength…and then the let down. Is this ever going to stop? Are we ever going to get to a point where we get a verdict or I actually get to tell my side of the story?”

They anticipated plea agreement offers, but Jennifer was adamant.

“No,” she told them. “This is not a negotiation. This is what happened. This is the truth, and it needs to be told regardless of the outcome.”

When she got her time on the stand, she told her story. It was an emotionless account. This was about the facts, the truth.

“I wasn’t going to look at him,” she said. “I was just going to tell what happened to me.”

In the end, the truth wasn’t enough. The jury wanted physical evidence.

“It had been between 14 and 17 years ago, and there was no evidence,” she said. “They said they believed me but they didn’t have enough evidence to convict him.”

Then, the emotions came.

“I was very embarrassed that the verdict was not guilty,” she said. “And ashamed that I went through all of this and it didn’t go the way I wanted.”

The myths perpetuated by entertainment culture are evident throughout Jennifer’s story. Juries comprise people from all walks of life, but popular media tropes are apparent across the spectrum.

Three of these myths, in particular, impact the outcomes of trials similar to those in Jennifer’s case.

The average age of disclosure of a childhood sexual assault is 52. Department of Justice

Myth 1: Sexual assault victims disclose the incident immediately.

According to the Department of Justice, the average age of disclosure of a childhood sexual assault is 52.

Dubois County Prosecuting Attorney Beth Schroeder said the majority of sexual assault cases brought to investigators have happened in the past. “The amount of delay varies–days to weeks to years,” she said. “But typically, a sexual assault is not immediately reported after it happens.”

In Jennifer’s case, she didn’t realize what had been done to her was wrong until she was in her teens.

“It took me probably until I was like 15 or 16 to be like, ‘This was wrong,'” she said. “You know, like he should have never done that.”

Schroeder affirmed what Jennifer experienced.

“I think a lot of times, they don’t even recognize that what was done to them was wrong,” Schroeder said about cases involving young children.

She pointed to programs that help inform students about inappropriate relationships and inappropriate physical contact as a way these crimes sometimes come to light.

“They hear this education piece at school and they’re like, ‘Oh, that happened to me,'” Schroeder explained. “And they tell somebody, ‘That thing that you talked about at the presentation today, that happened to me.'”

However, for prosecuting attorneys, a jury’s preconceptions of how reporting occurs will differ from what actually usually happens in these cases, which can weaken the case.

“I think jurors are often troubled by the fact that a victim doesn’t disclose right away,” she said.

But the reality is, through a variety of factors–lack of understanding, shame, and not wanting to relive the trauma–most victims don’t immediately report these crimes.

Less than 4% of sexual assault cases have physical evidence.

Myth 2: Prosecutors will have evidence other than testimony in sexual assault cases.

Less than four percent of childhood sexual assault cases have physical evidence, said Southwest Indiana Child Advocacy Center Coalition (SWICACC) Director Tammy Lampert.

Her office assists in investigations by conducting forensic interviews with children. Through the Center on 5th in Jasper, SWICACC provides a safe environment for specially trained interviewers to determine the authenticity of disclosures brought forward.

These interviews are recorded, and the victim’s statement is often all a prosecutor has to go forward with.

“Most of the time, on cases like this, prosecutors will make sure they emphasize with juries that there’s not going to be a lot of physical evidence,” Schroeder said.

They will ask potential jurors if they can convict on a victim’s statement alone.

“You’ll have jurors that all say, ‘Yes, I can do that,'” she said. “But then when it comes down to it, they can’t do it.”

Investigators try to corroborate a victim’s report with physical evidence. They will speak to the individuals implicated in the disclosure and any potential witnesses if they exist. They will also attempt to gain access to the location where the incidents occurred.

But this can be difficult when dealing with children who live in a world where the house is yellow, and it was close to the library rather than exact street numbers. “Also, kids don’t know the dates,” Schroeder added.

They just know it occurred five times when they lived in the yellow house.

If they do have the location, the time that has likely passed will impact whether there is any evidence.

“We’ll get a search warrant to photograph the home, the room where the child said it occurred,” Schroeder explained. “If the child said that the man ejaculated on the carpet, we’ll check the carpet and make sure there’s nothing there, but if it happened five, six, seven years ago, we’re probably not going to have anything.”

Jennifer went in with her word alone. She didn’t even have a diary to give to investigators.

“Had I had a diary, I would have been too scared to write anything,” Jennifer said. “But if I would have done that, he would have thrown it away or burned it.”

Through her experiences, Jennifer has met with other victims who share a story of their molesters using intimidation to control them and their ability to bring their crimes to light.

“There’s no normal response for any person in regards to trauma or abuse because every person is different.” Southwestern Indiana Child Advocacy Center Coalition Director Tammy Lampert

Myth 3: Sexual assault victims display extreme emotional reactions when relaying the incident, whether it is to law enforcement or while testifying at trial.

“We call it ‘normal is normal,’” said Lampert.

When her team interviews victims, they don’t have expectations of their demeanor as they recount what occurred.

“There’s no normal response for any person in regards to trauma or abuse because every person is different,” she said.

By the time Jennifer came forward, she had already been able to go through therapy. She also has a supportive husband and a strong faith community, which helped her endure the lengthy trial. She was able to talk about the crimes committed against her with little emotion.

While she had time to process her traumatic experience and violation, other victims may be closer to the trauma and their attackers.

In most cases, victims know their attackers and, at one point, likely loved or trusted them. 8 out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim, according to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. And of the sexual abuse cases involving children, 93 percent involve someone the child knows.

This can impact how a victim handles their trauma, and each person is unique in how that manifests as they come forward with their story.

These myths have to be overcome for juries to be able to be more objective in their decision-making.

“It’s frustrating to me, because I feel like it takes a lot of courage for the victim to come forward and make this disclosure to begin with,” Schoeder said. “They have to go to court. They have to be cross examined by the defense attorney about what happened. They have to relive this over and over again. And then ultimately, if the jury doesn’t convict, it feels like they’ve done all of this for no reason.”

Victims get victimized over and over again.

“I don’t know a clearer way to solve that other than hopefully educating juries, educating people who might be on a jury in the future about these myths,” Schroeder said.

“You are perfect, and you are worthy. Just because something awful happened, that does not take away your innocence.” Jennifer

Jennifer doesn’t have any regrets coming forward and going through the trial. Since then, she has been able to help other people come forward and bring their stories of sexual assault and molestation to light.

“It happens more than people want to talk about,” she said.

Since 2021, SWICACC has taken part in disclosing 154 sexual abuse cases involving children in Dubois County–21 so far in 2024. Though they also help investigate abuse and neglect, the majority of the cases they work on involve sexual abuse of some kind.

In 2023, Crisis Connection received 173 support calls related to sexual violence. While they service seven counties, most calls came from Dubois County, and those were calls either made by victims or on a victim’s behalf. 

The trauma is all around us. 

The way to healing and justice is difficult.

Jennifer offers a message to her younger self and anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault.

“You are perfect, and you are worthy. Just because something awful happened, that does not take away your innocence.”

If you or someone you know needs to report a sexual assault, please contact local law enforcement or call 911 or Crisis Connection at ?1-800-245-4580.