Blog #3 - Sexual Assault/Rape

1.  The population for Pennsylvania is 10,719,812 and the amount of forcible rapes reported was 3,324.

2. I was able to find information on the statute of limitations for sexual assault in Pennsylvania. They have the following information listed:

For the following major sexual offenses, within 12 years after commission of the offense:
Rape
Statutory sexual assault
Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse
Sexual assault
Aggravated indecent assault
Incest
Sexual abuse of children

For the following offenses, if committed against a minor under 18, prosecution must commence by the date the minor reaches 50 years of age:
Rape
Statutory sexual assault
Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse
Sexual assault
Aggravated indecent assault
Indecent assault
Incest
Sexual abuse of children

3.  By doing a google search I was able to find some detailed information on Pennsylvania's rape laws. Rape is a crime in Pennsylvania where the defendant forcibly or under threat of force engages in sexual intercourse with another person. Rape has also occurred if the defendant has substantially impaired the victim's ability to control his/her conduct by intoxicating the victim without his/her knowledge or if the victim has a mental disability. If the defendant rapes a child under the age of 13, the charge is called "rape of a child" and is a separate offense from rape. It is also considered a separate offense if the defendant commits a rape of a child and the child is seriously injured. This offense is called "rape of a child with serious bodily injury." Rape is considered a first degree felony in Pennsylvania. A first degree felony carries a sentence of up to twenty years in prison. In addition to this term, if the defendant used any type of intoxicating drug in the commission of this offense, the sentence may be extended for an additional ten years in prison. Also, a fine of up to $100,000 may be imposed as well.
For the crime of rape of a child, the charge is also a first degree felony. The maximum sentence for this crime can be up to forty years in prison. For the rape of a child with serious bodily injury, it is also a first degree felony and the sentence can be extended to life imprisonment.

4. I found a news article from back in December of 2012 in Upper Darby where three armed men forced their way into a car where a woman was waiting for her boyfriend to come out of the bar on Christmas night.  The article states that the three men then drove the woman around Philadelphia for three hours while making her perform sex acts on them.  The men also physically assaulted her and stole a bunch of her valuable belongings. While going through her purse they noticed the victim had a daughter and threatened to kill her if she didn't keep quiet.  After the men fled on foot, the woman drove to her boyfriends house and then they went straight to the police to report the incident.  In an ironic twist, later that night police were called to another woman's house for a disturbance call and the victim's belongings were found and two of the three men were arrested.  All are charged as adults with 42 crimes related to the attack including kidnapping, rape and robbery. One of the men is also facing weapons charges.  Two of the men were 17 and one was 19. The victim was 22.

5.  A movie that sticks out in my mind about rape/sexual assault would be Precious. The movie is about a 16 year old girl born into a life no one would want. She’s gets raped repeatedly by her father and is pregnant for the second time by him.  Her mother knows about it and just gets angry at her and puts all the blame on her and none on the father. She must also wait hand and foot on her mother, who abuses her emotionally and physically.  Another movie about sexual abuse would be the movie Taken. A young girl goes to Paris with her best friend and is kidnapped on the first day they arrive and is put into the sex trafficking trade where the women are beaten, raped, sexually assaulted and sold on a daily basis.

I think both of those movies portray sexual abuse/rape in a very accurate manner. Unfortunately, you hear of stories like Precious more than we would like to think about in urban areas. And the movie Taken could happen to any young girl that is on vacation in a foreign country and not being careful of her surroundings.

Blog #2 Hate Crimes

My second blog is about hate crimes in Pennsylvania, the following are the answers to the questions you asked.

1. The population covered for hate crimes in Pennsylvania was 12,565,359 and the total number of incidents reported was 53.

2. The crimes covered under Pennsylvania state law are bias-motivated violence and intimidation, civil action, race, religion, ethnicity, institutional vandalism and data collection. It does not cover sexual orientation, gender, disability, "other" and training for law enforcement personnel.

3. Pennsylvania covers crime penalty/enhancement which they define as: A person commits the offense of ethnic intimidation if, with malicious intention toward the race, color, religion or national origin of another individual or group of individuals, he commits an offense under any other provision of this article or under Chapter 33 (relating to arson, criminal mischief and other property destruction) exclusive of section 3307 (relating to institutional vandalism) or under section 3503 (relating to criminal trespass) with respect to such individual or his or her property or with respect to one or more members of such group or to their property. an offense under this section shall be classified one degree higher in the classification specified in section 106 (relating to classes of offenses) than the classification of the other offense. Pennsylvania also covers institutional vandalism which they define as: A person commits the offense of institutional vandalism if he knowingly desecrates, vandalizes, defaces or otherwise damages: (1) any church, synagogue or other facility or place used for religious worship or other religious purposes; (2) any cemetery, mortuary or other facility used for the purpose of burial or memorializing the dead; (3) any school, educational facility, community center, municipal building, courthouse facility, State or local government building or vehicle or juvenile detention center; (4) the grounds adjacent to and owned or occupied by any facility set forth in paragraph (1), (2) or (3); or (5) any personal property located in any facility set forth in this subsection. A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he intentionally desecrates any public monument or structure, or place of worship or burial. The state also covers data collection which they define as: The Pennsylvania State Police shall have the power and its duty shall be to collect information relating to crimes and incidents related to the race, color, religion or national origin of individuals or groups, which shall be reported monthly by all local law enforcement agencies and the State Fire Marshal. But Pennsylvania does not cover Law Enforcement training.

5. Back in February of 2011, two Pennsylvania men were convicted of a hate crime and sentenced to 9 years in prison.  Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky were found guilty in federal court for several crimes including hate crimes on Luis Ramirez. They were acquitted of the murder charge, but found guilty on the simple assault. According to witnesses, the fight started because the two defendants did not want "immigrants" in their neighborhood and began to attacked Luis Ramirez while using racial slurs. The beat Luis Ramirez so badly that he was on life support and then died two days after the attack.  Three police officers were also charged in trying to cover up the crime and falsifying police reports. All three were found not guilty of conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation, but one of the officers was found guilty of falsifying police reports and the other officer was found guilty of lying to the FBI.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-23/justice/pennsylvania.hate.crime_1_derrick-donchak-brandon-piekarsky-federal-court?_s=PM:CRIME

6. Two movies about hate crimes that instantly come to my mind would be Boys don't cry and American History X. Boys don't cry stars Hilary Swank and is a real life story about a woman who dresses and acts like a boy and is beaten, raped and murdered by male acquaintances once they find out that find out that he is actually a female. The second movie is American History X which is about two brothers whose father is a firefighter and is killed by a black gang member while he is trying to put out a fire. The oldest brother is a neo-nazi and brutally kills two black gang members when he catches them trying to break into his truck that his father gave to him.  He gets sent to prison and his views change and he tries to teach his brother to not go down the same path he went down. I don't have links for this question, because I have seen both films so I already knew what they were about :)