Burden of Silence

[pieter]

Burden of Silence

One in three Native American women will experience sexual abuse - we follow one woman who is speaking out.

Witness Last Modified: 05 Jun 2012 08:21



Filmmaker: Tod Lending

One in three Native American women will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lifetime. That is more than twice the national average. And for the women of Alaska, the US state with the highest incidence of rape, the situation is particularly bleak.

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Donna Erikson is a Native Alaskan woman and a survivor of sexual abuse. She, and those who share this devastating history, are now embracing the transformative power of lifting the burden of silence within their community by speaking out about sexual assault.

In Burden of Silence we hear her story and see, through the work of a Native Alaskan state trooper, the challenging reality of law enforcement for a crime that is so frequently hushed up by victim and victimiser alike.

[karl]

Pieter

It is good to bring this into the open, rather then to keep for the victims, the silence that is so prominent to this type of crime.

For the victim of such abuse, it is of several factors that are real and present. For not only the act in self as a violation to the victims body, but the humiliation of disclosure to others.

For one, there must be for the investigators, the questioning and show of proof that a crime has been committed to then develop probable cause. This in self is very painful to the victim, for then in rebuilding the incident action, they must relive that event to describe to the investigator{s}. For such is the value of:details, details, details.

Evidence gained may/will take the form of: Direct evidence in the form of examination by a physician for proof intercourse in the form of rape had occurred, any seaman samples taken for evidence to link the perpetrator to the victim.

Or, if non of the above, then it must be a written statement of the event linking the suspect by time/location and action{s}.

Of above, is a must do for warrant of arrest to be issued.

Then, if the above goes as it should for prosecution. Then the victim must endure the worse: That is to be in the witness sit, facing a multitude of strangers,,,and the suspect person, and directly bear witness against the accused.

With the above, to then under examination of both the prosecution, but to the defense. To once again retell all the sordid details that had occurred at the time in question.

As well to be understood, the victim of such a crime, is reluctant to come forward in reporting this crime against her person.

For in relation to the above, often as naught, a family member may be directly involved,,,then what?

The burden of silence is very appropriately designated for this crime against the innocent. Not always of course, but in some cases, the suspect may be the innocent as being falsely accused for what ever reason. For in that case, is the reason of the investigator to be aware of. If the investigation is properly conducted, the course of investigation will be correct in as well as the conclusion.

Our law is based upon Roman law, but in as of British and American/Canadian law, the rule of law is very similar.

The following is rather dated, but non-the-less provides differences in our two legal systems. The mechanics are very similar, it is just the details that will differ.

math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/us-d.html#legal

Karl

[pieter]

Karl,

These women are very brave and actually very strong. They started a process of conciousness and reconcilliation in their communities. It is very sad that the Native American communities are destroyed by alcoholism, drugs abuse, rape, incest, unemployment and the demoralisation caused by that.

Cheers,
Pieter

[karl]

Jun 6, 2012 7:44:01 GMT -7 pieter said:

Karl,

These women are very brave and actually very strong. They started a process of conciousness and reconcilliation in their communities. It is very sad that the Native American communities are destroyed by alcoholism, drugs abuse, rape, incest, unemployment and the demoralisation caused by that.

Cheers,
Pieter

Pieter

Thank you for post return and associated description of the plight of these people, and, what they are doing about it....

I was wrong in return reply that was not consistent with the intended presentation, I missed the target point, I am sorry for that. I have clouded the issue of the point of intention..

As a person, I must confess to ignorance of these people. They are the northern people with only my experience as being in Canada.

But, I am learning...

Karl