Gerry Johnson and Michelle Myer, both of the Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Center of Scotland County, are encouraging everyone to participate in Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
• Candlelight Vigil Tuesday
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Center of Scotland County is hoping to educate people about sexual abuse.
"It is important for all of us to be aware that sexual assault is an issue in North Carolina and Laurinburg," Director Gerry Johnson said.
He said the center received 220 calls last year from sexual assault victims.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, Johnson said. Most rapes and sex crimes don't get reported because of societal stigmas around the victims.
"The myths surrounding sexual assault are pervasive," Michelle Myer said. She wants to educate people about sexual assaults.
The rape crisis center is kicking off its participation in Sexual Assault Awareness Month with Jeans for Justice day.
The day commemorates a 1999 ruling in Italy to throw out a rape conviction because the court did not believe that someone could get the jeans off someone to rape them without the victim's participation.
Now local groups across the globe hold Jeans for Justice Day to protest this ruling and the mentality that a victim of rape somehow brought it on themselves.
There will be a candlelight vigil on Tuesday as well.
The vigil, put on by the St. Andrews Presbyterian College Gender Justice Club, will be on the college campus at the bell tower at 8 p.m.
Guest speakers will be present, including a victim of sexual assault who utilized the local crisis center.
The Domestic Violence Rape Crisis Center released statistics on sex crimes against children that show low rates of convictions.
• In 2008, there were 65 convictions of first-degree rape against children and 171 convictions of first-degree sex offense against children. In that same period, 778 were charged with first-degree rape against children and 1442 charged with first-degree sex offense against children.
• In North Carolina, 2,553 children under the age of 18 were served by rape crisis centers.
In adults, the conviction rate was even lower, with less than one in 10 being convicted of rape and around one in seven being convicted of sexual offenses.
For information on either of these events or on Sexual Assault Awareness Month, call the DVRCC at 276-6268.
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