About 37 percent of women polled said they'd been sexually victimized at some point during their lives.
Andre Rosay, director of the University of Alaska-Anchorage Justice Center, which took the lead in conducting the poll commissioned by a legislative committee, called the rates "very alarming." It's not immediately clear how Alaska compares with other states: The survey, which found nearly 48 percent of women in the state have been threatened or harmed by a partner, was based on a national poll, the results of which aren't expected for several months, he said.
The Alaska survey of 871 women has holes: Conducted in May and June 2010, it only involved English-speaking adults, with at least on e phone in their household. The report on its findings notes rates of violence "may be significantly higher" among those not interviewed - including non-English speakers and women in prison or shelters.
It also notes the continued stigma with reporting violence and calls the findings conservative.
Rosay called the survey a "first wave" of information gathering. He said it provides a baseline that includes both incidents reported and not reported to law enforcement. Using the baseline, he said, officials should be able to track whether steps being taken to curb the violence are working.
Gov. Sean Parnell has made cracking down on what he calls the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault a centerpiece of his legislative agenda - calling on Alaskans to speak out, take away the stigma. So-called "Choose Respect" rallies, which Parnell helped lead in Juneau last year, are slated for communities around the state March 31.
Last year, the Legislature passed a suite of measures aimed at addressing the problem, including funding that Parnell said put village public safety officers in communities that did not have any law enforcement presence and what he called greater access to counseling services and shelters for abused women.
The governor is seeking funding for 15 additional officers for the next fiscal year.
Efforts are also underway to do regional victimization reports, said Lauree Morton, interim executive director of the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Variations among different parts of the state could be significant, Rosay said - and the results could show where additional attention or resources need to be focused.
The current proposals are "headed in the right direction," he said. "But I don't know if they'll be sufficient. It will take a great deal of effort and time to turn the curve."
Sen. Hollis French, chairman of the judiciary committee, which has been looking at the issue for some t ime, said the state has a "strong set" of laws for sentencing those convicted of sexual assault, a focus of his, but he said he wants to ensure investigators have the resources they need to build stronger cases to ensure there are more successful prosecutions.
For example, he said there are many cases where photos that could help build a case are never taken, or where cell phone records that could establish a relationship between the victim and abuser aren't obtained.
The problem that I see is that [at least in here Alaska] we keep examining the same small, very narrow portion of the 'plants' of domestic violence [and sexual exploitation and violence], over and over again, and acting as though this will provide knowledge of how to deal with the whole of these 2 massive and endemic problems.
In fact, the very narrowness of the focus biases and limits the effectiveness of all attempts to address the real problems. I think the one aspect that burns me the worst is the emphasis on Internet predation of children, while almost totally ignoring the very real, very sizable, problem of on-the-ground, in-the-flesh predation, exploitation, and trafficing of children and youth that goes on all around. But a close second is the [almost totally ignored] sexual exploitation and violence against young males in our society. Right behind that is the standing, entrenchable assumption [only very recently debunked using the State's own data], that sexual abuse and exploitation of children is almost always familial in origin, and that sexual violence can usually be, at least in part, blamed on the victim [debunked ages ago]. Although both these last 2 have been shown to be totally unjustified assumptions, they are still engrained in the mentality of our society and taint investigations, public reaction, etc.
The list could go on and on, because the fact is that the portions of the problem we have *chosen* to exclude from examination [by polls, surveys, studies, compilation of existing data, etc, etc] FAR excedes the narrow focus we are presently willing to address.
The other writers are correct, however, that by targeting the known group of victims, we are not paying attention to other categories of vulnerable victims of domestic violence:
men, children, the elderly, mentally and physically disabled family members, and undocumented live-in workers. I'm sure there are other categories that would also qualify as "domestic violence."
Your point is good and it all needs to be addressed. It is my hope any and all action is taken to protect people from their abusers.