Web Video Suggestion: "Best of Russell Strand: Sexual Offender Behavior"

(image borrowed from roadMedia here)

A college friend of mine suggested I watch this video of Russell Strand. Russell Strand is a:
CID Federal Special Agent with an excess of 38 year's law enforcement, investigative, and consultation experience. Mr. Strand has specialized expertise, experience and training in the area of domestic violence intervention, critical incident peer support, and sexual assault, trafficking in persons and child abuse investigations. He has established, developed, produced, and conducted the U.S. Army Sexual Assault Investigations, Domestic Violence Intervention Training, Sexual Assault Investigations and Child Abuse Prevention and Investigation Techniques courses and supervised the development of the Critical Incident Peer Support course. Mr. Strand has also assisted in the development and implementation of Department of Defense (DOD) training standards, programs of instruction, and lesson plans for Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (SARC), victim advocates, chaplains, criminal investigators, first responders, commanders, and health professionals. He is a member of the Defense Family Advocacy Command Assistance Team and Department of the Army Fatality Review Board. He is also recognized as a national/DoD subject matter expert and consultant in the area of spouse and child abuse, critical incident peer support and sexual violence. (RSP webpage)
 
My friend told me that her husband who excelled in school, was respected in church and volunteered his services at the rape crisis center would come home and rape her at night. She had no one to tell, and when she finally did tell, she wasn't believed. She said by listening to Russell Strand she was able to get support that she needed.

I liked this video and found several statistics very interesting including:
- 95% of males in the U.S. are NOT sex offenders. 5% are.
- 1871 women over the age of 18 are forcibly raped every day.
- 683,000 women over the age of 18 are forcibly raped every year
- 97,000 men over the age of 18 are forcibly raped every year.
- Of 100 rapes: 5-20 are reported to police, 0.4-5.4 are prosecuted, 0.2-5.2 result in conviction, 0.2-2.2 result in incarceration

For me I fall in to the category of forcibly raped at 18, reported to police (twice) and the prosecutor declined my case. Russell Strand points out that a rapist MUST be convicted to be put on the sex offender registry. My rapist, along with many others, is not on the registry even though I came forward. He also points out that the conservative estimate is that every rapist has over 100 victims. So for every rapist that is not prosecuted, not convicted and is free there is a potential for hundreds more victims. I often wonder who else was raped by the same man I was.

My favorite quote is when he asks the audience if you were raped "Would you report it? Who would you report it to?" This question is a hard one to even think about let alone answer. And even though I've gone through it once, it would be incredibly difficult for me to ask for help again.

Russell Strand explains that part of the problem with prosecuting these crimes is how they are approached. He says that police investigations look at how credible the victim is, when that is NOT the way they approach any other crime. Sex offenders tend to pick the most vulnerable and least credible victims for that reason. If a rapist is questioned the offenders usually turn it back on the victim, blaming them.

He says when it comes to rapists, investigators are good at catching "the dumb ones" but that "it's the ones that never get caught we have to worry about." These ones groom and manipulate everyone. They don't show you their inner personas. Only the victims see this. They show you what they want you to see. Their professional or public side. That is why so many rapists get away with their actions because when victims come forward the people close to the accused say that they never could have done that. But how could you know if all they show you is one side of themselves?

Mr. Strand looks at rape as a mental health issue. And I agree to an extent. It is a choice that is made based off a really sick misconception (in my opinion). He also says that there is no such thing as a sexual offender profile or persona. And this is again because of what a person shows you publicly is not who their inner self is. You can't judge a person from their outward looks and public behavior.

I liked this video and I still think there is much need for training on the subject. Unfortunately because the prosecutor felt that my credibility did not outweigh that of the public persona of my rapist he is free to cause trauma to others. The system needs to change and it starts by believing victims and helping them heal.

Did you watch the video? What are your thoughts? How do these statistics make you feel? What do you want to change? How can you help?