Abstract
"Victims Have Rights Too."" The sticker on the parked car's bumper sums up the popular feeling that, in recent years, criminals have been given every conceivable safeguard for their constitutional rights, while victims of crime enjoy few protections. Of course, that sentiment is not completely accurate. But the message on the bumper sticker reflects the profound truth that very little has been done to prevent the further victimization of those who already have been injured by crime. "Victims Have Rights Too."" What victims? What rights? For the purpose of this Essay, the victims are children who have been sexually assaulted, violated and all too often destroyed by adults. How many are there? A recent study suggests that one-quarter of all female children will be molested before they reach their fourteenth birthday and that over one-third will be victims by the age of eighteen. Data suggest that the figure for boys lags somewhat behind. Child abuse has reached epidemic proportions. Victimization does not end with the criminal act itself. Victims of childhood sexual abuse are far more likely than others to experience drug addiction, prostitution, prison, life-long sexual victimization, loss of religious faith, mental disease and suicide. When adulthood arrives, they stand an increased chance of becoming child abusers and pedophiles themselves."
Recommended Citation
Lambert, Richard N. W.
(1986)
"Victims Have Rights Too,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1986:
No.
3, Article 3.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1986/iss3/3