FACTSHEET:
Crime Victims Rights in the News Media
The news media can often inflict a "second victimization" upon crime victims or survivors by enhancing their feelings of violation, disorientation, and loss of control. It is important for journalists to understand the emotions felt by victims and survivors, who are often disoriented and confused following a crime. Victims should have the rights when dealing with media that include refusing interviews, limiting the scope of questions, demanding corrections, and the right to anonymity.
|
New York Reads Together: Speak"I know my head isn't screwed on straight. I want to leave transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut; I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me. My closet is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no one can hear them."
From Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, 1999 
Speak, the acclaimed novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, follows Melinda Sordino, a high-school freshman as she silently endures a nightmarish school year, ostracized by her former friends and persecuted by one particularly rude teacher. In flashbacks, it emerges that Melinda is despised by her classmates because she called 911 and brought the cops to a late-summer party. What no one knows (she couldn't tell the police when they arrived) is that she made the call because she had been raped by a popular senior boy. People of any age who read Speak may identify with many aspects of Melinda's life - her transition to high school, difficulties with peer relationships, teacher demands and parental debates. Some readers may also identify with Melinda in a far more significant way, as victims of sexual violence. If you're one of those readers, we hope that Melinda's story helps you to recognize your own strength and courage. Coping with sexual assault is tremendously difficult. It's not something you have to deal with alone. No matter what happened to you, know that it was not your fault. No matter what happened to you, know that help is available. The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, along with the New York Reads Together Program and Seton Hall University, want to help you find the help you need. Please download the SPEAK bookmarks, which list hotlines, websites, and local rape crisis and health care programs that you might find helpful. Remember, in New York, teenagers can talk to a rape crisis counselor and get health care following a sexual assault on your own -- you don't need your parent's permission. Also know that what you tell your counselor or health care provider will be kept confidential. Their only interest is helping you.
 Download the bookmark (5MB)
|
More About NYRT
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
contact | privacy policy | webmanager@nycagainstrape.org
Graphic design: Worksight, Programming: Clever Name Here