Boarding School Abuse denotes a wide-range of criminal and improper actions commonly perpetrated on students by school faculty members, administrators or staff involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault might be a one-time, non-consensual abuse or it can involve many assaults within an ongoing interaction. For example, an continuing intimate encounter with a student, formed by the predatory actions of a faculty member, school administrator or staff and whether leading to physical consensual sex acts or not, is a form of abuse.
Student-on-student sexual assault is an additional type of abuse, which may be compounded by the school’s negligence to offer a safe environment that allowed the assault to happen. Inside the school population are students of different ages, maturity and experiences. Immature students might be exposed to the predatory behavior of older, more experienced students. Their behavior, along with peer-pressure exerted on both the predator and the targeted victim, might lead to different forms of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.
In all alleged Boarding School Assault matters, a school administration’s megligence to fully, adequately report the crime to law enforcement and other authorities, or its further negligence to investigate, address and deal fully with the matter increases the effects on the abuse survivor, the school community and potentially others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the press exemplify these failures, including matters where the attacker quietly departs the campus merely to assume working elsewhere in a school environment.
Predatory Behavior Most boarding schools pride themselves on their tiny, personal communities inside a well-defined and safe campus. In this environment, faculty, administrators and staff are frequently much nearer and familiar with students than might be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This can provide both opportunity and cover for the would-be abuser and for the predatory behavior.
In some situations, the abuser might be a personable and popular individual, generally thought to be a enhancement to the school community. A targeted student may feel flattered that a well-liked superior in the school community has expressed special interest in him or her. Because of this popularity and involvement in the school community, abuse accusations against these predators are often met with doubt, disbelief, and resistance by the community. Often, abusers have boundary and morality problems which turn into oddly friendly relationships with students that are beyond what are commonly anticipated. This provides a predatory pathway and opportunity for the abuse.
Most abusers, to varying degrees, employ predatory actions that are generally referred to as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Below is a compilation of grooming behaviors exhibited by predators who are in a position of authority in relation to the subordinate student.
Grooming Grooming is a main part of a predator’s method. In a boarding school setting, a predator usually works closely with small amounts of students, realizing each student’s needs and weaknesses. Once a target is identified and selected, these vulnerabilities – like being lonely, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, can be systematically exploited in the following manners:
Trust
A predator may first work to gain the student’s trust. This step is the most difficult to discern as private school communities are usually tight-knit and personal engagement is commonplace. Here, the attacker is usually part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellbeing and achievement at the school. Reliance As a predator establishes a trusting engagement with the potential student-victim, the student might begin to rely more and more on the predator for whatever need it is that the predator is exploiting and fulfilling. The victim will spend more time with the predator, feeling more comfortable with the relationship. Additionally to attention and kindness, the possible victim may receive gifts from the predator, which may include valuable, gifts such as the guarantee of high marks, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance stage is mainly where the predatory behavior is noticeable from well-meaning collegial behavior.
Isolation
While the grooming progresses, the predator may work to isolate the potential victim. At school, this may mean after-hour meetings, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dorm , one-on-one sports practice sessions, or various other such circumstances. Sexualization The predator will start to de-sensitize the possible victim from reacting negatively to contact, caressing and other actions which lead to sexual interaction. This may begin with breaking the physical-touch barrier, or speaking, with suggestive messages to determine the victim’s response to the progression. This might escalate until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature. Maintenance As the sexual relationship is created, the predator may work to keep control over the student and the continuing abuse. The predator will likely seek to manipulate the student by introducing emotions of guilt, or possibly threats, or use the opposite strategy of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator will keep trying to exploit the victim with means available to keep the inappropriate physical relationship.
Legacy on Abuse Survivors
While the grooming escalates as planned by the predator, the victim, being made to feel special, will probably respond positively to the behaviors. The predator, through these well-thought-out and performed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-calibrate and remove the moral confines of the targeted student. Because the abuse survivor participated in this re-calibration, he frequently has deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming herself for the incident and hesitant to report it.
Additionally, beyond the abuse has been revealed, victims of private school abuse are often exposed to discreet social pressure and intimidation, such as being bullied, isolation from their peers, or retaliation from teachers. Particularly at boarding schools, where education is stringent, competition can be intense and social circles small, victims of abuse might be rapidly isolated and socially abused. Exposed to those reactions, many boarding school abuse victims that have reported the abuse leave school. Others, faced with the prospect of such isolation and social abuse, report the abuse a while later. In either situation, the legacy can be severe and lasting.
Some abuse victims suffer from long-term effects of the abuse that include depression, anxiety, ptsd, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings, substance abuse, restless sleeping and eating patterns, and difficulty creating and keeping healthy relationships. Individual therapy and support groups can help survivors get past those effects.
Legally, a survivor of boarding school abuse can recover financial compensation from the abuser and more commonly, from the school for its failure to protect the student from the abuse, as well as failures or deficiencies in its method of reviewing and replying to the victim’s report of the abuse. If you are a survivor of boarding school abuse and would like to confidentially review your situation and learn of your legal options at no cost or obligation, we are ready to speak with you. It’s important for a victim to realize that experiencing assault is not your fault. The attorneys at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those who committed the the assault to justice.
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