Arguments Against Date Rape
Date Rape Drugs: Detriment to Society
West Georgia College
Professor Shepard
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the growing phenomenon known as “date rape drugging”. The victims in these scenarios are being doped up beyond ability to defend themselves and being raped by an offender. This growing trend is sweeping the nation and is unfortunately difficult to prevent. The intentions of this paper are to give an overview of the history, frequency of occurrence, identify the types of substances being used, clarify the dangers, display the detection rates and specify the legal issues that are currently correlated with this crime.
The scenario of individuals being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and being sexually assaulted …show more content…
is not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. Alcohol has been a mainstay in this market and has been inhibiting individuals for several years. However, law enforcement agents have been impacted significantly by this issue increasingly since the mid 1990’s. Individuals (typically female) are usually engaging initially in voluntary social behavior such as enjoying alcoholic beverages with friends and then loses awareness of what is taking place. Hours later, the victim awakes confused and unaware of what took place. Often there are signs of sexually assualt such as disarranged clothing, presence of semen,or vaginal or anal soreness. Also many times the female feels after effects of the drugs such as dizziness, trouble standing, confusion or nausea. There is no certain way of measuring how frequently or infrequently this scenario takes place behind closed doors. Unfortunately in these scenarios the victim is literally unaware of what happen so most of the time there is no report or if there is the suspect is difficult to obtain because there is no clear evidence from the victim. There are three major types of substances or “date rape drugs” that are currently swirling amongst society. Alcohol, Benzodiazepines, and GHB are the most common types of drugs used. Alcohol is the most frequent and readily available sedative used on the market seeing as it is legal. The perpetrators typically will use a willing participant that wants to indulge in alcoholic beverages and encourages them to drink to unconsciousness. Once in a state of no return, the assailant engages behind closed doors or sometimes in front of others in sexual intercourse or sodomy. Sex with the unconscious victim is considered rape in most if not all jurisdictions. With that being said, Benzodiazepines, or tranquilizers such as Valium, Ativan, and Librium are prescribed legally to patients to treat anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks are very often used to sedate females into unwillingly knowing that they are being sexually assaulted. Rohypnol is sold as a table in a bubble packaging and has no taste or smell and the effects are felt within 15 to 20 minutes, peaks at two hours and can last more than 12 hours. GHB is very similar to the tranquilizers like Rohypnol or Valium and is commonly used in the same manner where the drug is combined with alcohol to take advantage of an unknowing victim. There are extreme dangers that can occur when an individual is attempting to drug someone in order to rape them. Many times there is a risk of overdose because the person attempting the rape will give incapacitating doses of the drug in a try to keep them “under” long enough to fully sexually assault them. Respiratory failure and the possibility for an individual to become brain dead is very possible.
The most frequently used method to detect date rape is to take a urine sample to seek traces of possible. In the United States it is generally requested that there is a “rape kit” used to locate and define what, if any, drugs have been used to sexually assault a victim. These tests are typically commercially sold and allow for even civilians the luxury of being certain that something illegal has taken place. It is often difficult for the victims to come forward and even more difficult for the prosecutors to push the case in court.
It is increasingly difficult to prove the perpetrators intent, if the victim gave legal consent, if there was witnesses, and if both parties were consuming drugs or alcohol during the event. The entire idea of the date rape is considered fraught with legal issues, and the possibility that the judicial proceedings will be ineffective are high. If a case can be proved, the use of a drug likely increases the severity of the case. The coverage of these issues have been described as “creating or amplifying a moral panic” that is rooted deeply in social anxieties. Rape, hedonism, and increased freedom of women in modern culture has proven to be a moral burden upon common society and takes us to a new level of mistrust amongst one another. Shining a spotlight on recreational drug and alcohol abuse can tend to lead to even more intriguing views seeing as how frequently the act of social get togethers involving drugs and legal alcoholic beverages occur. It is not unusual for many of these accepted parties to get out of hand and illegal activity to occur, specifically these instances of involuntary sedation and sexual
rape. Unfortunately, there may be no real way to combat these instances of “date rape drugging” aside from educating the mass public. Individuals need to be informed that this is occurring at a rather high rate and it could happen to them if not careful about heeding the warning signs. It seems that as long as there are social interactions involving recreational drugs and alcoholic beverage amongst co ed venues there will be sedated and involuntary sexual battery and assault. In the coming years it is crucial that society acknowledges and does deny the issue that many individuals are being taken advantage of well beyond their personal voluntary will and steps must be made to ensure that we can all safely attend social functions without concern of being raped or robbed.
www.womenshealth.gov www.medicenet.com www.teenadvice.about.com
www.pamf.org/teen/risk/drugs/daterape
West Georgia College
Professor Shepard
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the growing phenomenon known as “date rape drugging”. The victims in these scenarios are being doped up beyond ability to defend themselves and being raped by an offender. This growing trend is sweeping the nation and is unfortunately difficult to prevent. The intentions of this paper are to give an overview of the history, frequency of occurrence, identify the types of substances being used, clarify the dangers, display the detection rates and specify the legal issues that are currently correlated with this crime.
The scenario of individuals being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and being sexually assaulted …show more content…
is not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. Alcohol has been a mainstay in this market and has been inhibiting individuals for several years. However, law enforcement agents have been impacted significantly by this issue increasingly since the mid 1990’s. Individuals (typically female) are usually engaging initially in voluntary social behavior such as enjoying alcoholic beverages with friends and then loses awareness of what is taking place. Hours later, the victim awakes confused and unaware of what took place. Often there are signs of sexually assualt such as disarranged clothing, presence of semen,or vaginal or anal soreness. Also many times the female feels after effects of the drugs such as dizziness, trouble standing, confusion or nausea. There is no certain way of measuring how frequently or infrequently this scenario takes place behind closed doors. Unfortunately in these scenarios the victim is literally unaware of what happen so most of the time there is no report or if there is the suspect is difficult to obtain because there is no clear evidence from the victim. There are three major types of substances or “date rape drugs” that are currently swirling amongst society. Alcohol, Benzodiazepines, and GHB are the most common types of drugs used. Alcohol is the most frequent and readily available sedative used on the market seeing as it is legal. The perpetrators typically will use a willing participant that wants to indulge in alcoholic beverages and encourages them to drink to unconsciousness. Once in a state of no return, the assailant engages behind closed doors or sometimes in front of others in sexual intercourse or sodomy. Sex with the unconscious victim is considered rape in most if not all jurisdictions. With that being said, Benzodiazepines, or tranquilizers such as Valium, Ativan, and Librium are prescribed legally to patients to treat anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks are very often used to sedate females into unwillingly knowing that they are being sexually assaulted. Rohypnol is sold as a table in a bubble packaging and has no taste or smell and the effects are felt within 15 to 20 minutes, peaks at two hours and can last more than 12 hours. GHB is very similar to the tranquilizers like Rohypnol or Valium and is commonly used in the same manner where the drug is combined with alcohol to take advantage of an unknowing victim. There are extreme dangers that can occur when an individual is attempting to drug someone in order to rape them. Many times there is a risk of overdose because the person attempting the rape will give incapacitating doses of the drug in a try to keep them “under” long enough to fully sexually assault them. Respiratory failure and the possibility for an individual to become brain dead is very possible.
The most frequently used method to detect date rape is to take a urine sample to seek traces of possible. In the United States it is generally requested that there is a “rape kit” used to locate and define what, if any, drugs have been used to sexually assault a victim. These tests are typically commercially sold and allow for even civilians the luxury of being certain that something illegal has taken place. It is often difficult for the victims to come forward and even more difficult for the prosecutors to push the case in court.
It is increasingly difficult to prove the perpetrators intent, if the victim gave legal consent, if there was witnesses, and if both parties were consuming drugs or alcohol during the event. The entire idea of the date rape is considered fraught with legal issues, and the possibility that the judicial proceedings will be ineffective are high. If a case can be proved, the use of a drug likely increases the severity of the case. The coverage of these issues have been described as “creating or amplifying a moral panic” that is rooted deeply in social anxieties. Rape, hedonism, and increased freedom of women in modern culture has proven to be a moral burden upon common society and takes us to a new level of mistrust amongst one another. Shining a spotlight on recreational drug and alcohol abuse can tend to lead to even more intriguing views seeing as how frequently the act of social get togethers involving drugs and legal alcoholic beverages occur. It is not unusual for many of these accepted parties to get out of hand and illegal activity to occur, specifically these instances of involuntary sedation and sexual
rape. Unfortunately, there may be no real way to combat these instances of “date rape drugging” aside from educating the mass public. Individuals need to be informed that this is occurring at a rather high rate and it could happen to them if not careful about heeding the warning signs. It seems that as long as there are social interactions involving recreational drugs and alcoholic beverage amongst co ed venues there will be sedated and involuntary sexual battery and assault. In the coming years it is crucial that society acknowledges and does deny the issue that many individuals are being taken advantage of well beyond their personal voluntary will and steps must be made to ensure that we can all safely attend social functions without concern of being raped or robbed.
www.womenshealth.gov www.medicenet.com www.teenadvice.about.com
www.pamf.org/teen/risk/drugs/daterape