Poll Was Anybody Convicted For Crimes Against You?

[Aribear]

I have 3 younger siblings I always looked out for and protected as best as I could. I was told by my mom that if I ever said anything to anyone we would all get split up and put with worse people who would do worse things to us and there would be no way I could protect them.

I had a chance once, in second grade... something happened, I don't remember what, but I was in the nurses office and she point blank asked me if my parents ever hit me. I lied. I said no and smiled and pretended to not understand why/what she was asking. All I could think was that at least this way the others wouldn't get hurt (by that point I was the primary target of the abuse) and I could protect them if things got worse.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had reported it then.

 

[Orglethorp]

I was abused and raped by my father until he suddenly & voluntarily disappeared from my life when I was 15. After a messy 3-month relationship with an untreated bipolar sufferer at 18, I unravelled. I started telling my mother what had really been going on all those years. 6 months later, at 19, I made my report with the local RCMP (police). I was brought back in for a second interview, as was my mother. My sister was given the opportunity, but being only 15 herself at the time and terrified, she declined. All of his known, living relatives were contacted, included his brother who lives in Norway. Someone close to us tipped us off that he'd been seen registering for a trades program at a local college, and we passed that information along.

He was questioned once, denied everything, and was told never to go to my home, to my university, or to my place of work. He owed over $44,000 in unpaid child support, and hadn't filed his taxes in over 7 years, so all of his licenses (driving, fishing, etc.) were revoked, and his inheritance when his mother died 2 years later (not much at all) went to Mom, but that's about it. The police used to call me on a regular basis with updates (or usually lack thereof). The last call I received, during which they told me that my case was now considered "cold," came in when I was 21.

Simply due to the fact that I did not report him as soon as possible after one of the many incidents during my first 15 years when there would have been physical evidence to hold against him, this country's penal code is now protecting him.

 

[Jlso111187]

See here in Wisconsin, word is really all you need. Or atleast in the county I live in. In someways this is a good thing but as you can imagin there are those guys who dont really rape some one and get turned in and convicted of it. I am sorry you dad never got in trouble and you did not get the justice you deserve Orglethorp.

 

[cookinggal]

Wisconsin sounds like the state everything should have happened maybe then he would've been convicted. In turn the cops are protecting a known offender and when they got a report of me "stealing all his stuff" they asked me which I did hate him but why would I want all of my rapists possessions. Also a few months later he told his friend to tell me to contact him at a hotel that was just down the street from the hotel where I'd last seen him.

 

[surviving_it_all]

No, I didn't report early crimes of violence. The change came when my younger brother hit me when I was like 21. I reported it because I was tired of being hit. Months later when assaulted by a stranger, I reported my rape. Afterwards, I just kept moving so I am sure charges never went through. The police were not so compassionate as we were drinking etc the night before it occurred. I carried these condescending looks with me for reason that it was my fault. If the prosecuting people feel its the victims fault and the victim feels it her fault, it is easy for the perp to get away with it.

 

[Salmagundi Soul]

I reported it to my mother, but that's it. I was physically/emotionally/sexually abused by my father for years before I finally got the courage to tell my mother (I had just turned 12), and rather than protecting me, she threatened me never to breath a word of it to anyone else because not only would I destroy the family, but I would get taken away and put in Girl's Town, the state home for kids with serious behavior problems...like Boy's Town, only for girls.

At least the sexual abuse stopped then, but the emotional and physical abuse escalated (to the point of broken bones...oh, but that was "just an accident" when he threw me to the ground). I found out later that I was not the first child, nor the last, but none were ever officially reported (he carefully selected children from families who would see it more as a disgrace to their family instead of a heinous crime against their child by a monster), although in one case that I know of for sure the family threatened his life. Even though he's old and wheelchair bound now (I cut ties with them years ago, but extended family members are determined to keep me updated :banghead:),

In my humble opinion, no child is safe around him as long as he's still got a breath left in him.

 

[Fart Smella]

Kind of surprised nobody raised this before... good topic.

Okay, I have PTSD and many events in my earlier years have most likely caused my disorder, however recently I was assaulted by a female and I allowed it to happen although I did have the means to stop the attack. I sought clarification from the Police as to what I was allowed to do if in the future this happened again. I also filed a report with the Police and hoped that the offender be bought to justice. This did not happen because the 3 witnesses to the attack were her family members (als o very close friends of mine)and a friend of hers .... they rolled over and said I was the aggressor although the knew full well that I wasn't - GRRRRRR !

My application for a VRO was accepted and an Interim was put in place. The offender has countered with her own VRO but because of lies it looks like the trial will go her way and not mine .... this I believe is the cause of my extreme anxiety as although PTSD symptoms have been with me for many years I've never been over anxious.

My faith in the Australian Justice System is waning. My faith in people telling the truth when it matters is in tatters and my trust in total strangers is no longer.

 

[ericaboo]

I was told by my mom that if I ever said anything to anyone we would all get split up and put with worse people who would do worse things to us

When I threatened to call authorities on my family members I was told the exact same thing as above - and how selfish I was to even think of doing a thing like that.

I did report sexual abuse by a neighbor, and was talked out of pressing charges by the officer and my Mom - they said there would be court ordered treatment for the rapist instead, but I never knew what happened, and the perpetrator moved away... I don't know if I feel like justice was served. I honestly believe he's out there somewhere continuing his behavior.

What about treatment for me??? Nada.

 

[Deleted member 19804]

I didn't report, because in my confusion I told myself it was my own fault and that I apparently deserved what happened to me. Right now, I wish they would send him to prison for the next 30 years or so.
Or even better: tattoo "rapist" on his forehead.

 

[Raj]

No I did not report it to authorities. In fact for years in denial I thought it had not happened, I mean how could another juvenile relative I knew and loved like a brother rape me! My family still says all abuse I endured is my fault and I deserved/encouraged it. As an adult coming out of denial I didn't see any legal recourse for the rape. This person has harmed others both sexes and to my knowledge never been convicted at one point in a different country HE is evil. It concerns me greatly this wast of space has a new wife to beat (he beat the first wife and lost a civil suit) and little ones.

 

[pathos]

No, but years later, the people in the institution were fired. Not convicted, though.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I reported it 25 years later. I knew there would never be an investigation or conviction, but it was the right thing to do.