English Sba
3/3/2022
Sexual Violence
Name: Samantha Whyte
SCHOOL: TACIUS GOLDING HIGH SCHOOL
Table of Contents
Plan Of Investigation..........................................................................................................................2
Artifact 1............................................................................................................................................3
Artifact 2............................................................................................................................................4
Artifact 2 Continue............................................................................................................................5
Artifact 3............................................................................................................................................6
Artifact 3 Continue............................................................................................................................7
Artifact 3 Continue............................................................................................................................8
Reflection 1........................................................................................................................................9
Reflection 2......................................................................................................................................10
Reflection 3......................................................................................................................................11
Written Report.................................................................................................................................12
References.......................................................................................................................................13
Plan Of Investigation
I selected the theme Crime & Violence, but my focus will be on Sexual Violence. I
would like to investigate why persons resort to such actions and the effects that these actions
have on victims and Society.
Also, I would like to know the sanctions on persons who commit such crimes.
This research will benefit me as a female student because it will enlighten my
knowledge about perpetrator out there and widen my mindset.
In my research I will use three (3) Artifacts to help with my investigation.
Artifact 1
At 23, Sherika* says she has been raped by five different men on different
occasions. And that number of offences would be higher if repeated encounters
with her biological father – the first to defile her at nine years old – are counted.
Now, she lives in a state of numbness, much like 36 per cent of Jamaican men
and women who a recent Northern Caribbean University (NCU) study suggested
have been sexually assaulted locally since the pandemic.
“I don’t think about it. I just don’t,” Phillips told The Sunday Gleaner of her painful
encounters last week. “I always try to find ways to distract myself because once
I’m alone and in silence, everything comes back to me.
“That is when I cry,” reflected the woman, who has given up on counsellors and
suggested coping interventions since childhood. None has helped the lifelong
depression she now experiences.
“Sometimes I just shut down. I lock myself away and I cry. I don’t want to see or
talk to anybody. That is how I deal with it,” she offered as she reflected on the
news of two young girls being abducted in St Thomas last week.
Artifact 2
SEXUAL predators have gone on a rampage since the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19) restrictions started in March, assaulting several children who were forced
to stay home after Government ordered school shut in the face of the pandemic.
Head of the Ministry of Justice's Victim Services Division Osbourne Bailey, in an interview
with the Jamaica Observer, expressed dismay that sexual crimes against children were
rivalling those against adults. While emphasising that it is still early days yet and too soon to
declare a trend, he said the numbers seen over the two-month period just ended are cause for
much concern.
According to Bailey, of the just over 700 victims who met the division in March, 368 were
new, while for the month of April there were 379 new cases.
“The crimes that are associated with these numbers are a wide range of sex-related crimes,
which is a cause for alarm, because the normal feeling is that, during these times, given the
fear for interaction [and] the promotion of social and physical distancing, that crime would be
reduced. You may have seen the police report for St Ann that says they, too, saw an alarming
increase in that level of crime,” he said.
The Victim Services Division, said Bailey, has had to be counselling more victims of sexual
savagery since March.
“There has been a major commotion [during the work-at-home order] to focus on intimate
partner violence on the premise that with people so much closer to one another — and there
was much anecdotal evidence nationally and internationally — that during this time the
potential for the rise of these incidents cannot be understated. I believe we must be mindful of
that. But [instead], what we saw was more a rise in sex crimes. It could be a one-off, and I
Artifact 2 Continue
would not like for us to raise an alarm, [but] we just saw in one month that there were some
reasons to begin to pay attention to that,” Bailey said.
He, however, noted that the numbers were enough for him to issue a caution on behalf of
children who have been out of school since March on account of the pandemic and are not
slated to return until September.
Artifact 3
Young people are being sexually abused at an alarming rate during the COVID-
19 pandemic, research conducted by the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) has
found.
The study, dubbed An Inquiry into Sexual Assault Among Young Jamaicans, found that
nearly four in 10 Jamaicans have been sexually assaulted while complying with official stay-
at-home orders issued by the Government under the Disaster Risk Management Act
(DRMA).
The study, which focuses on young Jamaicans between ages 18-30, found that most of the
persons who have been assaulted are females and that 46 per cent of the sexually assaulted
persons indicated that they had been threatened following the sexual encounter.
"It is a huge concern if you look at the numbers, they are staggering and it means that we are
having a pandemic on top of the pandemic," said Paul Bourne, the lead researcher.
The Government has used the DRMA to institute lockdowns, curfews, and no-movements
days as non-clinical methods to slow the spread of COVID-19 throughout the population.
Schools have also been closed, for the most part, to face-to-face interactions, forcing children
to remain at home and in their communities.
"The pandemic means that no longer can you easily walk into some places and get assistance
by the time you walk in. So, if it is that you want assistance on a Sunday, that is a lockdown
day. So, the pandemic is constricting several things that people would have done, or
opportunities people would have had," Bourne said.
Meanwhile, the researcher sought to explain why the study was not focused on minors who
some experts argue are at risk of being sexually abused.
Artifact 3 Continue
"Children require ethical clearance from parents - mother and father - so we didn't
want to go into that knowing that 50 per cent of our Jamaican children are living with
mothers only. That would create a problem trying to track down daddy, but we really know
that we need to do a study on the children," the researcher said.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday,
expressed concern that children were being sexually abused because of the suspension of
face-to-face classes.
"We took the view that the safest place for the children to be in the pandemic is at home. It
may be the case but not all homes are safe. Not all homes nurture their children. Not all
homes have children who can read and write," Holness said. "I have got calls about young
girls getting pregnant, so I have asked for some data as to whether or not we are seeing any
rise in teenage pregnancy as a result of children being home, many of them unsupervised."
A disturbing result of the NCU study is that most of the sexual assault is carried out by
persons who the victim knows. These include friend/family friend (38.5 per cent) followed by
a family member (excluding father/stepfather -25.6 per cent), and father/stepfather (4.5 per
cent). 'A stranger' represents 14.7 per cent of the perpetrators, followed by taxi operators (4.5
per cent). The NCU study further found that 46 per cent of the sexually assaulted persons
indicated that they had been threatened following the sexual encounter, 31.6 per cent were
physically assaulted, and 52 per cent informed someone of the sexual encounter.
A significant majority of sexually abused persons (95 per cent) did not report the matter to
the police, the report said.
"I am forecasting that if this thing continues, what will happen is that we are going to see an
increase in suicide, an increase in violent cases among young people because they are
Artifact 3 Continue
frustrated and do not know how to deal with their situation," Bourne told THE WEEKEND
STAR.
"They will be taking matters into their own hands, so the individual who rapes or abuses
them, they will take the matters in their hands and possible shoot them, possible stab them
because no longer can they wait for these things to be addressed. If you look at the findings
these things are happening frequently," he said.
The findings of the NCU research are not in line with police data that shows a 28 per cent
reduction in incidence of rape island wide. The police's serious crimes report for January 1 to
October 23 shows declines in rape in 16 of the 19 police divisions.
Manchester, where NCU is located, has the worst record with 26 cases, representing a 225
per cent increase over last year's figure. Some 327 cases of rape were recorded across the
island over the period compared with 452 over the corresponding period last year.
Bourne said that he has engaged several authoritative bodies, including the police, to see how
best they can find solutions to problems identified in the research.
"I share them with the police to let them know that they have to find out what is going on, but
it is difficult within the psychology of it for these victims because if it is daddy, brother,
cousin and your pastor raping you are going to find it difficult to talk. But we are going to
have to find a way for people to have to speak," Bourne said.
Reflection 1
The News Paper Article “Rape victim battling lifelong trauma from multiple offences” is very
disturbing.
This article showed that Sherika was sexual abuse by her father from a tender age and to
make matters worse it’s her biological father. Someone who should be looking out for her
that’s the person who’s hurting her and damaging her future. She was raped five (5) different
times by separate men and multiple times by her father. She has been in and out of
counselling and now she has given up on counselling completely she has been living with this
for almost all her life. This article is proof that even persons who are close to you even those
who should be the one protecting will hurt you sometimes.
Reflection 2
This article was from the Jamaican Observer titled” Sexual savagery!”. Was an
interview between the Head of the Ministry of Justice's Victim Services Division Osbourne
Bailey and an observer news reporter. It also shows that sexual abuse against children is
raising to the point that it is challenging abuse against adults. Because of the pandemic
persons spend more time at home working and doing schoolwork. Both adult and children are
spending more time at home, so they have more time to be sexually abuse by family members
and people from the community and as such the rate of sexual abuse of adults and children
have been raising at a dramatic pace.
Reflection 3
This article is based on research done by Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and it shows
that 46% of the females that have been sexually abuse have been threatened. A disturbing result of
the NCU study is that most of the sexual assault is carried out by persons who the victim knows.
These include friend/family friend (38.5 per cent) followed by a family member (excluding
father/stepfather -25.6 per cent), and father/stepfather (4.5 per cent). 'A stranger' represents 14.7
per cent of the perpetrators, followed by taxi operators (4.5 per cent). The NCU study further found
that 46 per cent of the sexually assaulted persons indicated that they had been threatened following
the sexual encounter, 31.6 per cent were physically assaulted, and 52 per cent informed someone of
the sexual encounter. These facts prove the point that I said in reflection 1 is true, most people who
have been sexually abuse know the persons who have abuse them.
Written Report
To finish this SBA, I had to work with some of my close friends and families who could help
me acquire information, analyse, and report on my topic. We did our research to make sure we
found the right method for each task. Dur our research to find the best strategies we found out that
the best tools were three news articles from Jamaica’s best newspapers to answer my question:
How does sexual abuse affect the victim emotionally and physically?
How do you think sexual abuse will affect a child in the future?
Different types of abuse and how does it affect each victim?
In this study it was evident that all the persons that were abuse suffered some form of
trauma or regrets. There were different types of sexual abuse being shown in each article. Some of
the victims in the newspapers are complaining about how they feel after being sexually abuse. In
article 3 NCU, has the worst record with 26 cases, representing a 225 per cent increase over last
year's figure. That shows that in all instances sexual abuse has increase dramatically. “Sometimes
I just shut down. I lock myself away and I cry. I don’t want to see or talk to
anybody. That is how I deal with it,” this is how Sherika says she must deal with
being raped from a younger age. She had to stop doing guidance sessions
because it’s not helping.
References
https://moj.gov.jm/victim-support-unit
http://jamaica-star.com/article/news/20210624/more-400-cases-sexual-abuse-against-children
http://jamaica-star.com/article/news/20180709/sexual-assault-victim-still-hurting-12-years-later
