Sexual Abuse -Youth at Risk in Manitoba or Canada (Essay Sample)

Sexual abuse-youth at risk in Canada
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Sexual abuse-youth at risk in Canada
Introduction
Sexual abuse is the act of forcing unwanted sexual activities on a victim by the perpetrator (Floric & Broyles, 2012). The perpetrator often uses intimidation, force, threats or seduction. This causes the victim to give in without prior consent. In most cases, the perpetrators and the victims know each other, and may even be close family friends or relatives. Over the last few decades, there has been growing overall knowledge about this crime, acceptance and awareness. The crime has become an issue in the society as the victims end up suffering physical and emotional injuries. There are laws that have been created to mandate the reporting sexual abuse cases. A good number of the sexual abuse cases are reported by young adolescents and youths across Canada. These victims come forward with sometimes years of memory repression in regards to the sexual abuse they suffered while they were children, hence making it hard to bring the perpetrators to justice. For this reason, awareness about the crime has to be increased amongst the youths so as to make them conscious about the crime. This paper looks at sexual abuse and how the youths are at risk in Canada.
Analysis of sexual abuse in Canada
Sexual abuse amongst the youth is well documented in Canada. The crime is not restricted to only girls, but also boys. Using the term sexual abuse would be quite ambiguous, as the act itself is much more complicated than it looks. For instance, using derogatory names, the denial of someone to use contraception after sexual activity, using of unwanted physical force that can cause pain during sexual activity and passing on of sexually transmitted diseases all qualify as sexual abuse. According to some media, adolescence can be part of the reason for the growing cases of sexual abuse (Ney, 2013). This is because this is the age group that is associated with or can easily find selves in practices such as alcohol and drug abuse, which are discussed later. In Canada, the negative behaviors that have been associated with unruly youths have somehow recorded a decrease, thanks to awareness programs and intervention by the parents, teachers and the elderly. Most youths are now finding their education important and are more attached to their families, a move that has helped to reduce sexual abuse cases.
In Canada, of every 100 incidents of sexual assault cases, about only 6 are reported to the police or relevant authorities (sexassault.ca, 2014). Only about 2% of date rape, sexual assault cases are reported to the authorities, as a majority of them either shy away or fear to report the cases. This makes it easier for the perpetrators to evade justice, and continue committing the crime. It has also been established that one out of every four women in Canada would have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime, with a majority of these cases taking place when they are still in their youth. 11% of the women who are sexually assaulted end up suffering physical injuries as a result of force that is used by the victims during the crime, while a big percentage end up with emotional injuries, haunting them for the rest of their lives. Although there are many false reports of sexual abuse, it has been calculated that only about 4% of the reports are false, for reasons such as blackmailing or settling grudges (sexassault.com, 2014). In Canada, a staggering 60% of sexual abuse victims were found to be below the age of 17 years, indicating that this is the age group of the most affected victims. Of these, 80% of the cases are reported by women. However, this does not mean that men are not affected or are not supposed to be taken seriously. Some of the men who are victims suffer life-long physical and emotional injuries, while others end up committing suicide. According to the statistical analysis of sexual abuse in Canada by sexassault.ca (2014), it presumed that sexual assault is far more common than it has previously been thought. Also, very few cases are reported to the relevant authorizes and that young and otherwise vulnerable women are most likely to be sexually abused. The reasons that these cases are underreported include personal trauma, fear or re-victimization and whether or not they will be taken seriously. Also, most sexual assaults are committed by people who are known to the victim, while a few are committed by strangers.
In the year 2012 alone, there were more than 14000 children and youth sexual assault incidences in Canada (Cotter & Beaupre, 2014). This means that for every 100,000 youths, there are about 205 victims. The next highest rate of sexual abuse cases that was reported in Canada in the same year was in the age-group of 18-24 year, whereby about 140 for every 100,000 population was assaulted. The figure below shows the child and youth victims, between 0 to 17 years, of police-reported sexual offenses in Canada.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1Child & Youth victims 2009-2012. Source (Cotter & Beaupre, 2014).
Risky behaviors amongst the youth
One of the riskiest behaviors that may lead to someone being a victim of sexual assault is alcohol and drug abuse. Drug facilitated assault occurs when alcohol and drugs are used to compromise an individual’s ability to consent to sexual activity (Floric & Boyles, 2012). Alcohol and drugs additionally may be used to minimize the resistance of an individual towards sexual activity, or even in weakening the memory of the victim. Many youths in Canada engage themselves in these risky behaviors. A good number take alcohol, for leisure or for celebrations. Alcohol remains to be the most commonly used chemicals in sexual assault. Others engage in hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, which often lead to misjudgment and blackouts. Diminished capacity exists when an individual is not able to consent to sexual activity. The reasons for this include sleeping, passing out drugging and mental incapacitation. This makes them vulnerable to the perpetrators, who take advantage of their toxicity to commit the crime. Many youths have reported to the authorities as being sexually assaulted while they attended a party or went out with friends. The biggest percentage of the youths who are sexually abused after abusing alcohol and drugs are women. However, specification between the outcome measures and drug abuse is found amongst the yout...