HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) released a letter to the Penn State University Board of Trustees today offering resources, insight and expertise on child sexual abuse in light of the allegations against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence are urging the Pennsylvania House and Senate to restore funds to the House amended budget because of victims like Beth. 

from the Bloomsburg, PA Press Enterprise

Southern made a tragedy worse

Try to picture this scene, and see if it doesn't make your blood boil: A teenage boy has been declared delinquent for sexually assaulting a girl with whom he attends high school, and now he must appear for sentencing.
There in the courtroom is the principal, the man who is supposed to oversee the education of both the attacker and the victim.
What does the principal do?
With the family of the victim looking on in disbelief, he tells the judge that the attacker is a young man of good character.

Pennsylvania is one of two states that doesn't allow for them to testify, but many say doing so could help jury members understand the behavior of the victims.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
BY ASHLEY MANNINGS
 
For The Patriot-News
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1284000906102700.xml&coll=1
 
 
Kate Rush Cook believes that if an expert in what a sexual assault victim goes through was allowed to testify at her trial, the man who was acquitted of raping her would not have been turned loose.
 
"I was victimized once by my rapist and then subsequently by the court system," said Cook, of York County.
 
Pennsylvania is one of only two states that does not allow expert testimony in sexual assault cases, which many claim could help jury members better understand the behavior of the victims. Minnesota is the other.
 
Rep. Cherelle Parker, D-Philadelphia, is sponsoring a bill that would allow a qualified expert to testify regarding symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and any recognized and accepted victim behavior in sexual assault cases.
 
Seventeen years ago, Cook was kidnapped, terrorized, robbed and raped. She reported the crime amid tears and hysteria, but it wasn't until her trial that she realized she was not prepared for what she would have to endure.
 
For example, she was asked questions such as where she bought her underwear and what color they were.
 
Sexual assault is the only crime in which the victim is continually scrutinized and questioned, said Jennifer Storm, executive director of the Victim/Witness Assistance Program.
 
During Cook's trial, it became clear that not only did she have to recall the painful memories that occurred that day, but she had to defend herself against myths and stereotypes the jurors had about rape victims.
 
"While my rapist was on trial, I was made to feel as if I had to prove my innocence," she said.
 

Hearing spurred in part by Sun reporting on cases in city
 
By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-senate-hearing-rapes-20100907,0,4630153.story
 
Concerned that police departments nationwide fail to fully investigate rapes, a congressional committee will examine the issue next week at a hearing spurred partly by a Baltimore Sun examination of the systemic underreporting of sex crimes.
 
The Senate Crime and Drugs subcommittee has asked representatives of the Office of Violence Against Women to appear in Washington to discuss the problem, as well as a Pennsylvania woman jailed by police who erroneously accused her of making a false rape report.
 
The Sun reported in July that Baltimore for years led the nation in the percentage of rape cases in which police concluded that the victim was lying, with more than 3 in 10 cases determined to be "unfounded." Other cities have seen disturbingly high percentages of uninvestigated or dropped race cases in years past, and a women's advocate in Philadelphia pushed for the congressional hearing after the Sun's investigation reignited concerns.
 
The newspaper's report "made me believe that all of the issues [in other cities] were not just idiosyncratic problems, but that there is likely a chronic and systemic failure in police departments," said Carol E. Tracy, head of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia. "I think it's important to expose it, and to encourage the federal government, which has very little jurisdiction around this, to nevertheless exercise greater accountability on the data that it does receive."

 
By Steve Lopez
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100714_One_more_gift_for_Polanski.html
 
You'd have to call it Roman Polanski's luckiest day since 1978, when he managed to flee Los Angeles before a judge sentenced him for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
 
On Monday, Swiss authorities refused to extradite the Oscar winner, who was arrested last year in Switzerland and placed under house arrest while Los Angeles prosecutors lobbied to have him brought back for a final verdict on a crime committed more than 30 years ago.
 
The Swiss government said there were "persisting doubts concerning the presentation of the facts of the case." It said a confidential statement by the former prosecutor had not been turned over to it. Once again, Polanski is saved by legal nonsense.
 

7-month house arrest ends
By Rachel B. Duke

 
by Wendy Melillo
 
It's ironic that a message intended to keep children safe from sexual abuse is considered too graphic for the listeners of WBEB 101.1 FM, Philadelphia.
 
The soft-rock station isn't squeamish about playing provocative songs from Kid Rock, Queen and Prince -- yet it turned down a public service message from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, which wanted to buy airtime from the station. The reason: the 30-second PSA contained the words "rape" and "sexual."

Harrisburg, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape is proud to announce that Michelle Ridge  received the Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year at the annual National Philanthropy Day Celebration on Monday, November 16 at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel.