Editorial - She Asked For It, Right?

Just the other day I was out on my favorite social networking site when a video popped up on one of the pages I follow. It came out of the Rape Crisis Scotland’s “Not Ever” campaign in an attempt to debunk the myth that “women don’t “ask” to be raped, not ever.” The group in Scotland has recently premiered its first TV spot to work on the alarming prevalence of victim-blaming attitudes there. This is something the United States should consider as well!

The video, in a nutshell, went like this: A pretty girl in a bar is wearing a short skirt. Across the room a guy catches a glimpse of her and says to his friend: “Check out that skirt – she’s asking for it!” Then the video cuts to earlier in the day when the girl is shopping for something to wear that night. She’s in the store and the saleslady asks her if she needs some help. The girl replies: “Yeah, thanks, I’m going out tonight and I want to get raped. I need a skirt that will encourage a guy to have sex with me against my will.” The clerk excitedly says: “The blue one. Definitely the blue one.”

What?!? Are you kidding me? Are they serious? Women don’t flirt, drink or dress the way they do to get raped! The ad goes to show you how absurd that theory is.
The myth that sexual violence can be the victim’s fault if she dresses seductively, “leads” someone on, or says “no” when she really mean “yes” is simply that, a myth! Blaming the victim for the crime is the result of a myth that sexual violence is nothing more than sex. The fact is that sexual violence is a crime of power, a way for the powerless to feel stronger. It has nothing to do with the way someone dresses, acts or how much she’s had to drink. The law is, “NO MEANS NO.”

Do we ask a victim of a robbery at gunpoint if he struggled with the robber? No.

Do we ask him if he screamed or cried out? No.

Do we ask about his past and whether he’s given money away willingly before? Probably not without some other questions being asked. Most likely he has given money away willingly. He’s probably got a reputation for donating money to some organization.

How do we know that this wasn’t a set up for him to have his money taken away with force? We don't. We ask him what time this robbery occurred? He tells us at 11PM. What? 11PM? What was he doing out on the street at 11PM? He replies he was walking? Doesn’t he know that it’s dangerous to be walking out on the street that late at night? Wasn’t he aware that he could be held up or robbed? Oh, then we can ask, “What were you wearing?” Was it an expensive suit? Oh, I see, he was walking around on the streets late at night in a suit that shouted out that he had money. We might think that he was asking for it.

Does this happen to our robbery victim? No, we don’t ask these questions for this type of crime. Why do we ask those same questions to a rape victim?

She wasn’t asking for it. As if…

http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/07/13/not_ever_rape

This topic of sexual assault is always current and relevant, especially to people who work in this field.  To dispell myths of sexual assault is a very difficult thing.  As advocates working to do this, it seems like we are always swimming upstream.  We have to work to change the thoughts of many individuals.  There are so few that believe that the victim isn't to blame; much more believe that the woman (victim) puts herself in that situation.  Whatever happens to her is her fault.  As advocates we need to shift the blame to the perpetrator; that would be the person who chose to rape the victim.  It doesn't matter what the victim was doing, or where the victim was, she didn't deserve to be raped.  Many times victims may make some bad decisions that put themselves at a higher risk but the end result should NEVER be rape.

Progress Report

The overall purpose of this progress report is to discuss how effectively our group has been able to put together a plan to help raise/save funds for The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) to get it out of the budget crisis that has plagued the entire nation. We believe that if the economy continues down the road it currently on, the university will have to raise tuition again for all students, scholarships will be cut, classes will be cut due to instructor manning, ultimately leading to USM closing its doors.

Our group was established in June 2010 during the summer class of ENG333. It consists of Jill Bailey, Shardae Foley, Sarah St. Pierre, and myself, Christine McGill. At the direction of our instructor, Ms. Jill Robinson, we were given the instruction of brainstorming what type of intervention we wanted to pursue. We chose to do a fundraiser weekend, which we will call “Keep the Eagles Soaring”. The theme will be “Don’t Let Our Eagles Become Extinct”. We have met weekly. Our first meeting was on June 26, 2010. We plan on meeting more frequently as required as the date for the event gets closer. The fundraiser weekend will culminate on July 31-August 1, 2010. I fully expect us to meet the challenge of a successful fundraiser for USM.

As of this report being published, we are on target! We have pitched our proposal to USM administration and it has been accepted. After the proposal was accepted, Ms. Bailey began to assess which organizations on USM we could talk to about joining in on the fundraiser and what they would be interested in doing. Our next step is to start advertising for the event (my department). We will design fliers, mailers, posters, contact WUSM, and the Student Print. We will mail applications out to all organizations, clubs, activities on and/or associated with USM. Those applications should be emailed, faxed or mailed back to Ms. St. Pierre, who will work in conjunction with Ms. Foley to determine and keep track of who is doing what for the event weekend. The week prior to the event, we will confirm attendance, gather the donations received and begin the set up on campus. On the day of the event, we plan on having lots of fun!

There were a couple of problems that we thought we thought we ran into. The first problem we felt we had as a group was that we fully didn’t understand that we needed to have our first Skype meeting with our instructor. This misunderstanding caused us to meet again the following evening and work things out. The other problem that I have specifically is that it is difficult for all of us to meet at specific times and that when we do meet, our time is so short and precious that we don’t get all the information to everyone. We have fixed this problem with text messages and email. One final issue that I can think of that may arise is during the event weekend is our weather in southern Mississippi. It is so hot and humid. There may be a problem with the heat and/or storms. We cannot predict what the weather will be doing, and do not have a rain location or date.

I would strongly suggest that there be a maximum effort of all USM students, faculty, administration, alumni and local business to participate in this event. All parties named have a vested interest in keeping USMs doors open for current and future students.

Overall, I believe that this can be a fruitful event for USM. If this proves to be beneficial in assisting to help alleviate raising the cost of tuition, keeping scholarships alive, keeping qualified instructors on board, and preventing classes from being cancelled then perhaps the administration will look for future events such as these to “keep our Eagles soaring.”

Thank you for your time. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at christine.mcgill@eagles.usm.edu.

Beginning the Job Search

Job Openings/Opportunities:

1. Sexual Assault Response Coordinator 
2. Case Manager
3. Correctional Officer
4. Sector Enforcement Specialist

Qualifications, Skills, Experiences Required

1.  Sexual Assault Response Coordinator

• Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, Criminal Justice or related social or behavioral science with one year's experience working with adolescent/adult sexual assault victims OR
• Four year's experience working with adolescent/adult sexual assault victims
• Social services program management experience 
• Knowledge of family violence dynamics, sexual assault, local community resources, and federal and state laws pertaining to domestic violence, sexual assault and family law.  Knowledge of the military, Department of Defense and Family Advocacy Program
• Ability to develop program management plans and adhere to them.  Ability to assess program effectiveness.  Ability to maintain accurate statistical framework for program data collection and reports.
• Ability to understand, be sensitive to, and have empathy for victims.  Ability to develop trusting helping relationships and to work effectively with individuals and families from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Ability to intervene in crisis situations, using sound professional judgment, ethical practice, and common sense.
• Ability to work cooperatively with military and civilian medical, social service, law enforcement, and legal personnel on behalf of victims.
• Skilled in oral and written communications.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite.  Skilled in the use of office software applications to prepare management reports and use software to develop information; able to enter data in required management reports.
• Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and military regulations pertaining to victims of sexual assault.  

 2.  Case Manager 

• Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice, Sociology, or related field.
• One year in caseload management of offenders in a correctional setting required OR an equivalent combination of education and related work experience required.
• Certified law enforcement officer experience OR correctional/detention experience preferred.

3.  Correctional Officer

• Age requirement:  a maximum entry age of 36.  If you are above the max entry age and have prior federal law enforcement coverage, you must submit an SF-50 at the time of interview.
• US Citizenship required.
• Successful completion of a full 4-yr course of study in any field leading to a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
• Nine semester hours or 14 quarter hours of graduate study, from an accredited school in Criminal Justice, Criminology, Social Science, or another field of study related to the position such as law OR
• One year specialized experience in the following areas:  correctional officer, detention officer, police officer, border patrol agent, state trooper, sheriff, park ranger, deputy sheriff supervising inmates in a jail, or mental health residential facility worker

4.  Sector Enforcement Specialist

• One year specialized experience that includes coordinating extensive law enforcement activities using a variety of communications equipment, retrieving, analyzing, and interpreting sensitive law enforcement data from a variety of sources in response to requests for information; and making critical decisions in conjunctions with searches of automated databases in stressful and emergency situations to assist law enforcement officials OR
• Completion of a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher graduate education leading to such a degree in an accredited college or university, or a L.L.B. degree may be substituted for experience at the GS-9 level.

Skills, Training, Accomplishments and Experiences:

My current position as a Program Technician in a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office puts me in the perfect position to qualify as the first job in the listing, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator.  This would be the next stepping stone in my career progression, especially once I finish my bachelor's degree.   

I have already worked for over 5 years in this field.  I have been a Volunteer Victim Advocate working with victims of sexual assault.  I have done this with working with Department of Defense and in the civilian sector working with a non-profit organization.  I have had the 40 hour Air Force Victim Advocate training and the 40 hour Air Force Sexual Assault Response Coordinator course.  I have certificates for both of these training sessions.  

I have also spent over 17 years within the Department of Defense system as a Secretary for various organizations in several locations.  With this job, I bring the knowledge of the operations of an office and organization.  I am fluent in Microsoft Office Suite.  I understand the functions of an office budget.  I work well under stress to accomplish tasks.

I have applied for the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator position in the past (not this specific one), but did not qualify because I do not possess the experience at the next lower level.  One thing that I believe will help me for further announcements will be the completion of my bachelor's degree.  I believe I would qualify for this position outside of the Air Force Merit Promotion system.  I would need to apply as an external candidate.  Having almost 20 years Civil Service experience, I'm reluctant to leave the Department of Defense.  This current announcement is with a job service (contractor) that is not related to the military.  This means that I would have to leave Civil Service.  I'm not willing, at this time, to do that. 

Website Evaluation

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing today to talk with you about your website, Rape Crisis Information Pathfinder, (www.ibiblio.org/rcip/), UNC Chapel Hill, NC. Thank you for your encouragement and care to survivors of rape and sexual assault. It is obvious to me that you care and have empathy for survivors of sexual assault, simply by the number of resources and links you have provided. However, I would like to propose to you a couple of suggestions to enable your reader easier access to your wonderful material.

Looking at the website, I notice that you are providing lots of great information on how to heal from the trauma of rape and sexual assault, emergency hotline phone numbers, message boards, and research areas. All of this information is needed, but could be very overwhelming when looking at all this information on one page. It is difficult to locate specific information, especially if someone is in a hurry.

If I could suggest the use of tabs or link buttons placed across the top of the page with your general topics (RESEARCH, EMERGENCY, HEALTH and DIVERSITY) in a priority; perhaps aligning them from most important to your reader (EMERGENCY) to least important (RESEARCH). Each of those links can be broken down into separate pages, with other information provided. Not only does this clean up the page, but groups all relevant information together.

The colors you have chosen for your website are great. They are very relaxing and inviting. I would suggest that the font size be enlarged for those readers that may have a hard time reading small print. I would also use a larger size and bold font for the headings. Those will “pop” off the page to your readers. It is important to keep the style of font the same and consistent across the entire website, but it is okay to change the size for emphasis. The artwork you have is beautiful and relevant. It is inviting and gives me a feeling of hope.

I love that you have a button for clearing out your computer’s history. Coming to your website for many can be very scary especially if the perpetrator is in the same house or room. It might be beneficial to have an “Escape” button as well. This button serves as a “false page” that will enable someone to click and be taken to what looks like a Google or Yahoo search page. This button works for someone who’s on the site and their perpetrator comes into the room and they don’t want them seeing what they are looking at. This could possibly protect someone from further harm. Give them an out, so to speak.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I hope you will take into consideration some of the suggestions I have provided for making your website a little easier for your readers. Please feel free to email me with questions or concerns. Again, you have a wonderful website full of great information for survivors of rape and sexual assault. You advocate several times that it is not the victims fault; the fault lies with the perpetrator. I am no expert in the area of sexual assault, but I have been working with survivors for over 5years. I plan on giving the survivors I may come in contact with in the future this link as additional resources for their healing.

Yours in Advocacy,

Defining Your Website's Objectives

I began my search of Criminal Justice web pages with our very own University of Southern Mississippi page. In my opinion, this page is okay. The web page for Mesa State College Criminal Justice Department was boring. There was not enough information provided to determine if this was the career field that I wanted to enter. It had a couple pictures, and a few links, but other than that, there was no real information for me to base a good determination. The web page that I liked the best was for Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice. This web page has all sorts of information. This is an awesome page to determine if this is the field of study you want to enter. It also has information available for the current student as well as the prospective student. This page also has several areas that you can access for whatever questions you might have in regards to the criminal justice field.

Overall Purpose

1) What are you writing? I will be creating a website to invite current and prospective students to the Criminal Justice career field.

2) What prompts you to write? The need for future law enforcement officers, corrections officers, victim services specialists, lawyers to be educated.

3) What outcome do you desire? I want students to be interested in the criminal justice field. To accomplish this, my website needs to be eye catching. It needs to be easy to follow. All relative information needs to be in the same places.

4) What outcome does your reader desire? The reader wants something that is easy on the eyes. Something that is easy to follow. The font needs to be large enough to read. Simple pages with relative information grouped together.

Reader Profile

1) Who is your primary reader? The primary reader would be current students who are looking for specifics on the criminal justice field or classes and/or prospective students. Those students who have not yet decided on a major or perhaps even a college.

2) What is your reader’s relationship to you? The reader’s relations may be someone who will be a possible team mate, fellow officer, or prosecutor. The reader may also be the parent of a new student looking for a college for their son/daughter to attend. The site needs to be informational.

3) What are your reader’s job title and responsibilities? My readers might be corrections officers, law enforcement officers, Secret Service agents who require additional course to remain current. They could also be freshman students who are considering a career in criminal justice or perhaps beginning their studies to be a lawyer or judge.

4) Who else might read your communication? Other that might access this website could be current professionals who are writing referrals for others. There might also be parents or family members who are looking for a career or a career change. Perhaps students who are critiquing websites for their ENG333 class!

5) How familiar is your reader with your subject? Some of my readers may be very knowledgeable in the criminal justice field. Others may not know anything at all about the field. I believe most will have some idea about the field but just in case, the website needs to be written in simple language—something easy to read.

6) How familiar is your reader with your specialty? Some readers may know lots about the specialties but not all of them. It’s important to talk about each one consistently, with the same amount of information for each.

7) Does your reader have any communication preferences you should take into account? Some readers may have learning disabilities or other physical or mental disabilities that could limit what they understand or their ability to access the site. The website needs to be 508 compliant.

8) Should you take into account any other things about your reader when writing? We should take into consideration that some readers may not be computer savvy and the fewer mouse clicks to get somewhere, the better.

Situational Analysis

1) What events and circumstances influence the way you should write? When you write, you need to take into consideration what has happened in the past and how the field may have reacted to certain situations. You also need to look at what may be happening in the future and how the field may be changed. Perhaps an increase in the number of individuals interested in the field may require additional classes.

Usability Objectives

1) What are the key questions your reader will ask while reading? Key questions may be:

a. Where do I go for additional information?

b. What are the requirements for obtaining a degree in Criminal Justice?

c. How long will it take for me to complete my degree?

d. What jobs will this degree get me?

e. Can I go further in this field?

2) How will your reader search for the answer? The reader will most likely look for certain key words: Criminal Justice, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, corrections, victim services, law enforcement. Some readers may read the entire section from beginning to end to ensure everything is covered.

3) How will your reader use the information you provide? The reader will use most of the information to determine how it will affect him/her. They may also use the links provided to obtain information for work purposes. Maybe they will use the information provided to build a briefing.

Persuasive Objectives

1) What is your reader’s attitude toward your subject? Why? What do you want it to be? I’d like the reader to be excited about the criminal justice career field. I want to provide information so they can make an educated decision about a career they’d love to pursue.

2) What is your reader’s attitude toward you? Why? What do you want it to be? I want the reader to believe what I’ve written. I want them to return to the website many times. I want them to be able to use the site for references.

Stakeholders

1) Who, besides your readers, are stakeholders in your communication? Stakeholders might be others in the criminal justice field. If there is bad information out there, the credibility of the field may be questionable.

2) How will they be affected by it? If the information is bad, the reader may decide not to enter the criminal justice field. They may think because this information is posted that all the information in the field is bad.

Constraints

1) What expectations, regulations, or other factors limit the way you can write? Expectations may be that I need to do lots of research about creating good websites. I am limited by the amount of knowledge I currently have. I need to ensure that all readers have access to the web site. I need to ensure that proper citations are credited when using information written by others. I need to make sure my site is believable, interesting not boring. It needs to grab attention but doesn’t need to go overboard.

The one thing that I found with the web sites I looked at in completing this blog is that the attention grabbing color is crucial as well as simplicity in the page. Information that is related needs to be kept together, but the page can’t have too much information on it. Links to different pages is good, especially when there might be too much information for one page.

Rhetorical Analysis - Blog 2

“A Cop’s View on “Drug Courier Profiling” (Whoops—I meant “Drug Courier Indicators” written by S. Leon Felkins is a short piece written for individuals in the criminal justice or law enforcement fields. The context is about ‘drug courier profiling’ versus ‘drug courier indicators’—wording. It is mainly a satire on the words profiling and indicators. This article is located at http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/felkins6.html I know very little about the topic issues, other than that the average, everyday citizens feels the pressure of being profiled by law enforcement thus affecting their Fourth Amendment, “Probable Cause.” http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/html/amdt4.html

Mr. Felkins is a retired Engineer, Army officer and former teacher of Computer Systems. He currently maintains a web page on Political Philosophy, “A Rational Life”, and another on the history of politics, “Political Almanac.” This article was written in May 2001.

As stated earlier, I believe the intended readers are those in the criminal justice/law enforcement fields. Perhaps maybe even the political field or even the average citizen (with no specific field in mind).

The call to write is due to the “’drug war’ and the constant attack and chipping away at the security and privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.” Mr. Felkins plays the average citizen against the law enforcement officer in this article. He uses the Fourth Amendment against the law enforcement officer and the drug courier indicators against the citizen. Mr. Felkins simply pits one against the other, thus creating animosity in the world of law enforcement and protecting the citizen. So he is not only reaching out to the law enforcement officer, but everyone else as well.

I think the purpose of the article is to showcase how easy it is for law enforcement to ‘target’ someone as a drug courier regardless of the protection of their Fourth Amendment right.

The writer’s tone in this article is mainly sarcastic. He starts off as protecting the rights of United States citizens and being knowledgeable in the area of rules for police and federal drug agents, but towards the end of the article, he is making jokes about how easy it is for everyone to be a drug indicator. There is even an extract from another article, “The Drug Courier Profile,” by Charles L. Becton. Mr. Felkins refers to this article as “a precise drug profile model which will allow the police to nab the druggies without in anyway stepping on the constitutional right of ordinary citizens.”

I believe that if Mr. Felkins had wanted to reach a certain field, he should have focused on that certain field instead of attempting to touch many fields. Although as an everyday citizen, I appreciated the humor in which it was presented. He did make me think about the next time I drive my 1995 black Corvette with dark tinted windows to the grocery store. I might get stopped for a routine traffic violation (scrupulous obedience to traffic laws—being overly cautious) because I’m too scared to do anything else in the car. While I’m being “looked at” for that violation, they may just want to look into the trunk and inspect the rest of the car—just because they can! Never mind that they’ll find tissue and a radar detector in there too. I hope they don’t notice the other “indicators” that might be rolling around in the back.

Who am I?

Who am I? I am Christine (Bennett) (Lewis) McGill. Those who know me call me "Chris". I was born in Greeley, Colorado to the late Donald and Judith Bennett. My birthday is on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th. I have 2 younger sisters. I married my high school sweetheart. My sweetheart joined the Air Force and we moved to Massachusetts where we spent 7 years. During those first 7 years, my 2 beautiful daughters, Renea and Rachelle, were born. The Air Force moved us again to Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is where my handsome son, Brian, was born. After 13 years of marriage, we went our separate ways. This is when I met and married my current sweetheart. The Air Force once again moved me (for a final time) to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. While here, I was blessed with becoming a grandma! I have a handsome grandson named Braylon.

What do I do? I currently work for the United States Air Force as a Program Technician in the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. I work with survivors of sexual assault. This can be a very difficult but rewarding job. I have volunteered as a Victim Advocate for the Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence doing rape crisis intervention.

I had decided early on that I wanted to follow in my mother's footsteps and be an Elementary Ed teacher. I started pursuing my degree in that area. After completing my Associate's Degree with MGCCC and transferring to USM, I decided to change my major to Criminal Justice. A degree in Criminal Justice will help me with my current passion, assisting victims. I will minor in Psychology as I have already completed many of those requirements.

Writing? The type of writing I enjoy most is journaling/note taking. This is the most easiest and enjoyable for me. I spent all those years in the Secretary career field doing just that! Journaling can be creative. It's also very relaxing to be able to get emotions out and expressed on paper. It is a way of cheap counseling. ;-)

What do I want out of this class? I want to be able to learn different styles of writing. I want to be able to write for different levels of understanding, ex., report writing, briefings, speeches, letters, etc. There are times when some of these areas are 'blocks' for me, especially the speeches and briefings. The information gathering for the briefings is easy, it's finding a good flow that is the difficult part and then putting it all together so it sounds good. By the way, an A in the class wouldn't be bad either!!!