 Wysłany: Pon 8:54, 18 Kwi 2011 Temat postu: |
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| in usa not in uk
[img]www.starnewsonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=WM&Date=20080502&Category=ARTICLE&ArtNo=805010332&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&border=0[/img] A 12-year-old robbery case shares striking similarities with the robbery and rape of a 95-year-old woman that happened almost three weeks ago in Wilmington’s historic downtown. At 5:30 a.m. April 12, a man pushed his way into the woman’s home on the 400 block of Nun Street when she stepped out on her porch to pick up the newspaper. He raped the woman and beat her face so severely that she lost sight in her right eye after she gave him cash, Wilmington police said. On Thursday, Wilmington police announced they arrested 41-year-old Brian A. Reavis, charging him with rape, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, committing a sex offense and malicious maiming in connection with the latest assault. Reavis’ arrest comes four months after he finished serving a prison term related to his conviction in the robbery case 12 years earlier. Police tracked him down at his mother’s house in the 900 block of South Seventh Street late Wednesday with the help of a U.S. Marshals Service task force. Police said they linked him to physical evidence from the woman’s home but did not elaborate on the findings. Reavis is being held at the New Hanover County jail on a $1 million bond. At a news conference Thursday, Wilmington police Chief Ralph Evangelous expressed outrage at the attack and repeat offenders. “This man should never have been released back into society,” Evangelous said. “We hope to put him back into prison where he belongs.” The police chief added that investigators, including lead detective Paul Verzaal, took the case personally.“This is a crime that shocked the conscience of the whole community,” said Ben David, district attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties. “From the moment it occurred, a team of professionals worked tirelessly to catch the perpetrator. This same team will continue to work to make sure that justice is both swift and severe.” Neighbors respond The community also rallied to the woman’s defense and is now providing her with food and looking after her. Members of Residents of Old Wilmington, a downtown neighborhood association, joined together to help the woman after the attack, offering a $1,000 reward for the capture of her assailant. The victim’s neighbors on Thursday said they’d been living in fear since the attack, and said they were relieved when they found out about the arrest. Christine Parrish, a 32-year-old mother of one, said the picturesque street lined with historic, two-story homes is quiet and considered a good place to live. But after the attack, she and her husband activated their alarm system. And she was always paranoid and looking out for someone who fit the description of the attacker. With the arrest, she said they might be able to relax again. “I’m super happy,” she said. “It makes me feel a lot safer.” Another neighbor, Betty Biaggi, said the attack on the woman “did make us all afraid” – to the point that she stopped walking regularly. Twelve-year-old case On March 4, 1996, Reavis stormed into the home of a 68-year-old woman when she opened her front door in the 400 block of South Sixth Street. Reavis, who goes by the alias Brian Colbert, threatened to kill the woman unless she gave him her purse, according to a news account at the time. He emptied the purse, was caught and convicted. Reavis served a little more than 9 1/2 years in prison for the robbery of the 68-year-old woman, N.C. Department of Correction records show. After he got out, he violated conditions of his release by going to Philadelphia without notifying his probation/parole officer and went back to prison, said Jean Walker, the judicial district manager for the 5th Judicial District Division of Community Corrections. Reavis went back to prison and was released in December 2007, DOC records show. Similar patterns Reminiscent of the 1996 attack, the latest victim was walking inside when the man rushed into her home and demanded money. She gave him $20 from a table in a hallway. But he wanted more and forced her to go upstairs, where he threw her on a bed and raped her even after she gave him more cash, police said. Before he left, he ripped a phone from the wall, police said. The victim provided a detailed description of her attacker to investigators, and neighbors went around posting wanted signs on store windows and telephone poles. No one came forward with tips, even after the organization offered the reward, said Kevin O’Grady, president of Residents of Old Wilmington. “I’m going to take great joy in writing ‘Arrested’ on the wanted sign in front of my house,” O’Grady said. Reavis served a little more than 9 1/2 years in prison for the robbery of the 68-year-old woman, N.C. Department of Correction records show. After he got out, he violated conditions of his release by going to Philadelphia without notifying his probation/parole officer and went back to prison, said Jean Walker, the judicial district manager for the 5th Judicial District Division of Community Corrections. Reavis went back to prison and was released in December 2007, DOC records show. Similar patterns Reminiscent of the 1996 attack, the latest victim was walking inside when the man rushed into her home and demanded money. She gave him $20 from a table in a hallway. But he wanted more and forced her to go upstairs, where he threw her on a bed and raped her even after she gave him more cash, police said. Before he left, he ripped a phone from the wall, police said. The victim provided a detailed description of her attacker to investigators, and neighbors went around posting wanted signs on store windows and telephone poles. No one came forward with tips, even after the organization offered the reward, said Kevin O’Grady, president of Residents of Old Wilmington. “I’m going to take great joy in writing ‘Arrested’ on the wanted sign in front of my house,” O’Grady said. http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20080502/ARTICLE/805010332/0/news05&tc=ix?p=3&tc=pg |
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| Wysłany: Nie 16:58, 06 Lip 2008 Temat postu: Rape |
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| Revolt Against Rape
Monday, Jul. 22, 1974 Article Buzz "I'm not sure I understand rape at all. I don't see how a woman can be penetrated if she doesn 't cooperate. You just can't thread a moving needle." Who Can Say What? Say this for Don Imus: the man knows how to turn an economical phrase. When the radio shock jock des... Makes Me Wanna Holler What I find most disturbing about the Imus affair is the reaction of black women. Our plentiful publ... India’s Parliament: Women Wanted? No one can accuse the Indian legislature of doing things in a hurry. Or of doing them quietly. Sixte... Joy in Gotham While Harvard’s administration suffered through its embarrassment last week, the leadership at anoth... For decades, the majority of lawmakers and jurors have seemed to agree with that viewpoint, expressed by a Manhattan defense attorney. "The victim is really the one on trial," protested one woman after a long court battle against three men who gang-raped her. Indeed, only 133 out of every 1,000 men tried for rape were convicted in 1972—the lowest rate for any violent crime. Meanwhile, the incidence of reported rape is increasing at a startling rate. In 1973 there were 51,000 rapes reported in the U.S., a 10% increase over 1972 and a staggering 60% over 1968. Some of the rise can be attributed to women's greater willingness to report the crime. Yet many victims are still too embarrassed to do so, or hesitate to expose themselves to the ordeal of a trial. The FBI estimates that the actual number of attacks is at least double that reported. In California, according to the state police, there is a sexual assault on a woman on the average of once every 20 minutes. Says Massachusetts Representative Jon Rotenberg, who was active in pushing through two rape-reform bills in the state legislature: "The threat of rape affects women of all ages who are afraid to go out at night, to live alone, to ride the subway or wait for a bus." Rewriting Laws. The fact that more women are living alone, going to work at odd hours and are generally more vulnerable accounts for many attacks. Most rapes occur in the black ghettos. In the most recent national survey, the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence found in 1967 that in 17 cities, 60% of rapes were committed by black men against black women, 30% by white men against white women, 10% by black men against white women and .3% by white men against black women. These figures may be shifting, however; in Philadelphia, the Center for Rape Concern found that in 1972 the incidence of black men raping white women had risen to 16% of the total. What to do about these attacks of violence? Spurred by police statistics and women's rights groups, some state legislatures are now rewriting their rape laws. To convict a rapist, most states require evidence to support the victim's claim: cuts, bruises or torn clothing, a medical report stating physical penetration and sometimes even an eyewitness who can identify the assailant. Believing that such rules were making it too tough to get convictions, Connecticut and New York recently repealed them. Women's groups generally applaud the change, but in a new book, The Charge Is Rape, Journalist Gerald Astor warns that repeal of corroboration laws may not help. "The law can say what it pleases the legislators to have it say, but the jury will decide whom to believe." Some legal experts believe that lightening the sentence for rape will help increase the conviction rate. They say that a jury is much less likely to avoid convictions if the penalty is only a few years than if there is a possible sentence of death or life imprisonment.* Yet in some states the laws have been too soft; women in Indiana have pushed through a bill prohibiting suspended sentences for convicted rapists. A rape victim with a reputation for promiscuity has often had a difficult tune in court. Iowa and California have recently passed laws barring defense lawyers from making courtroom inquiries into a woman's past sexual conduct, and in Florida such questions must first be screened in the judge's chambers. The principle, insisted upon by the rape task force of the National Organization for Women: a victim's activities with men other than the accused are irrelevant. "Previously," explains Ralph Brown, a lawyer and member of the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women, "a lawyer could ask a victim how many men she had slept with in the past month, year or five years." By this questioning, he managed to discredit all of her testimony. Many juries require that a woman prove that she put up a fight against her assailant even though police often advise women to offer no resistance, especially if the attacker is armed. Massachusetts recently passed a pioneering law saying that even if there is only a threat of bodily injury, a woman is justified in submitting to her attacker. Many big cities are now making special efforts to deter rapists and to help their victims. The Los Angeles police department helped produce a widely distributed film, Lady Beware, that shows where rapists may lurk and teaches that women in danger should scream. In Washington, D.C., the police department has put out pamphlets for rape victims urging them to bring sex offenders to court. In New York City, St. Louis, Albuquerque and Chicago, special police rape squads brief victims on what to expect during medical examinations and how to file charges. Feminists have had rape counseling groups for more than a year (TIME, April 23, 1973). One of the newest and biggest is Women United Against Rape (WUAR) in Indianapolis. The group, which now numbers 50,000, has urged the police department to place special female officers on rape cases. In addition, WUAR has helped persuade 25 local industries to hold 200 safety classes for women, advising them, for example, to check the back seat of their cars before getting in. Hospitals, too, are becoming increasingly concerned. Some offer 24-hour counseling to rape victims brought to emergency rooms. Generally a woman is encouraged to talk openly about her experience. Counselors also provide follow-up psychological treatment for women who have persistent fears and nightmares. Says one girl who recently went through the experience: "Rape is a terribly, terribly brutal and degrading thing. You have to talk about it to someone afterward, and you have to keep working on yourself in order to recover." * At least ten states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia have death as the maximum rape penalty. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942962-2,00.html |
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