Sex offenders: Why "just show" is not easy

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When a person becomes a victim of a sexual crime and tells others about it, a lot can happen: people may say that they should forget the whole thing. But it can also be very good that they say: "I hope you show the offender", "You have to go to the police", "You have to talk to a lawyer or a counseling center". All of these requests are understandable, but everyone is crying out of ignorance of what it can mean to bring such an act to light. It can simply mean that a new nightmare begins.

This is not about discouraging anyone from viewing it. At the moment, many people have an idea of ​​this process that seldom comes true. Probably something like this: A woman is sexually harassed or abused, so the next day - or better yet the same - to the police, of course, with all the necessary evidence. There she gives all the necessary information to the friendly officials and goes home. Soon after, she gets a letter saying that the culprit has been arrested, that he has confessed and received the following punishment, etc. I do not know if that's about the picture that people have in mind, but it can not be far away.

Only an accident?

In Lübeck, the former head of the local White Ring is in court. Two dozen women have reported him, accusing him of sexual harassment. The accusation was only in one case because of the charge of exhibitionism. Witnesses also appeared in the proceedings to describe their experiences with the White Ring representative.

Some examples: A woman came to Detlef Hardt after her business was robbed. She reports that he has repeatedly searched for her closeness in an overbearing manner: he wanted to take her by the breast, made offensive slogans and once drove her to a secluded parking lot, according to her statement with clear intentions, which she had rejected. Another woman came to the White Ring after her husband had become violent towards her. Hardt grabbed her by the breast and kissed her against her will. Another woman reports that Hardt has advised her to give her unborn child up for adoption and prostitute, and masturbate in front of her. The man denies all allegations.

Well you could say, yes, this leader of the White Ring in Lübeck would be a case, a very unpleasant, but not the rule. An accident for the White Ring, you could say. Perhaps. On the other hand, I can report that a few years ago I even wanted to get a counseling certificate from this organization because of a rape case - a kind of coupon, with which a counseling with a lawyer is paid, if you have a low income.

The district court had rejected my application because my case was supposedly too long ago (also a very unpleasant experience). I wanted to go to the White Ring, and several women who had experiences with him advised me against it. That is, I wanted to become one of the largest victim support organizations, and I was advised against it .

I could get the bill, but it might be that a retired police officer puts his arm around me to comfort me, that's what the women put it. I went anyway, got the bill, no one put an arm around me, but both contacts, by phone and in person, were not exactly happy, to say the least. In short, onkelig-flapsig in one case, in the other aggressively patronizing. Nothing that I would call support.

It takes a lot of strength to display the culprit

Recently, a case was reported in which police officers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania tried to get close to teenagers. A 15-year-old had filed a complaint because pictures of her had been put online during sex. The policeman, who had taken the ad, then invited the girl via text message to a photo shoot. The portraits ended up on his Instagram profile.

In Austria, there are plans by the ÖVP and the FPÖ to change the applicable law on violence in such a way that medical personnel are subject to a legal duty to report a justified suspicion of rape, that is: regardless of whether the affected person wants to or not, the case should be reported to be brought.

There is much criticism of this and, among other things, the fear that in the case of such a law sufferers can no longer undergo medical examinations because they have no - perhaps not yet - power to report the perpetrator. Be it because they still live with him or he is still their superior, whether they have not enough evidence, the reasons can be very different. (Journalist Nicole Schöndorfer analyzed this legislative proposal in her podcast.)

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06.06.2019, 13:21 clock
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DISPLAY

Margaret Stokowski
Free downstairs

Publishing company:

Rowohlt Paperback

Pages:

256

Price:

EUR 12,00

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This does not mean that people should not report sexual violence. However, the tip "just show it" often testifies to a naive belief that victims of violence at the police, counseling centers and courts are in principle exemplary helped.

Many victims know this because they can interact with others or reasonably assess their actions and their persecution options, and therefore weigh precisely whether and when they choose to report or seek legal advice. It may be that they need years to do that. Not because they are too weak or too slow, but because they know what work and stress may still be coming to them, in addition to the suffering that has already happened to them anyway.