In this section of the course, we will look at the methods of approach that various sexual predators use in order to gain access to those they victimize. They generally fall into one of two typologies: Blitz or Con/Confidence.
Blitz attacks are those that are “traditionally” associated with rape e.g., the stranger-assailant who jumps out from the behind the bushes, with no prior warning, and immediately starts to physically assault their unsuspecting victim etc., whilst with the Con/Confidence approach, a predator will first engage their victim verbally, with some form of story, such as needing directions or creating a fake emergency to elicit help etc., before escalating to the physical assault.
Obviously, there can be variations in the way that these approaches are executed, especially where a “con” is used, and these may vary widely based on whether the predator has a prior relationship with their victim or whether they are a stranger etc.
In part one of this section, we will consider approaches that sexual predators use when they are targeting strangers, and in the second part we will look at the “grooming” approaches used when the assailant knows their victim and has some form of relationship with them.
Stranger-Rapists
Not all strangers are the same when considering rape and sexual assault. LeBeau recognizes three types of victim-offender relationships regarding strangers. These are:
1. Strangers – These are individuals who the victim has had no previous contact or acquaintanceship/knowledge of before the assault i.e., they are what are known colloquially as “complete strangers”. Examples of such attacks/assaults would be the jogger who is attacked as they run through an isolated part of a park or other public space etc.
2. Casual Acquaintances - These are offenders who become known to the victim just before the offense e.g., The assailant might approach a potential target at a party/social gathering before convincing them to come to another room in the house (possibly making the argument that they need help with something, or that the current location is to loud for a conversation etc.), and then sexually assaulting them.
3. Acquaintances – These are individuals whom the victim might have some prior knowledge of, and have certain pieces of information about, such as knowing where a co-worker lives and/or works etc. but has no actual relationship with. This could be someone who lives on the same street as them, however they’ve never had a real conversation with them etc.
From a practical, personal-safety perspective, we can have a singular and over-riding definition of who a stranger is i.e., a stranger is a person who you have no prior knowledge/experience of how they will act in a particular situation.
It is easy for us to believe that we “know” someone due to our experiences of them in a specific context/setting e.g., we may believe that we know a co-worker, understanding them to be polite, reserved and respectful, only to find out later that once they’ve had a few drinks, where no other co-workers or managers are present, that they turn out to be a rude, misogynistic racist, who is more than happy to share their unpleasant views with anyone who’ll listen etc.
When we experience people who we know in one context in another, we should initially treat them as strangers. This doesn’t mean that we should be rude or cold but rather when something happens which could compromise our safety such as going into a room alone with them etc., we should consider whether this is something we would do with a “stranger” etc.
As we get to see how someone behaves in a variety of different contexts and settings, we will become better informed and able to predict how they are likely to behave in others.
One of the first warning signs that we may have concerning someone we know (or are acquainted/casually acquainted with) having harmful intent towards us is when we suddenly find ourselves in a very unfamiliar setting with them, especially if they have created or orchestrated it.
Often stranger-rapes are believed to be carried out in public spaces, however Amir, recognizes that there are three potential locations involved in a rape/sexual assault. These are:
1. The initial meeting place
2. The crime scene
3. The after scene
There is a common misconception about stranger rapes, that everything happens in the same space e.g., an attacker jumps out from the bushes (the meeting place where offender and victim first interact), commits the assault in the same space (the crime scene), and then leaves those they’ve victimized in that same space (the after scene).
However, many assaults are much more mobile. In January 2019, a 23-year-old woman met Victor Pena on the street outside of Hennesy’s Bar, near Quincy Market in Boston. She had been escorted out by security for being too drunk.
There is a type of sexual predator, often referred to as a “scavenger”, who will hang around outside bars and clubs waiting/hoping to come across intoxicated women who have become separated from their friends and/or have been ejected from an establishment for being too drunk.
At this stage of the night, they are usually somewhat disorientated, tired/exhausted and looking for assistance to get home or to a safe place because they understand that they are too disorientated to do this for themselves (to read an article that looks a bit deeper at these types of predators click here – article will open in a new window).
CCTV footage shows Pena, helping support his target, and then through the use of public transport and walking, taking her to his apartment just under two miles away, where for three days he held her captive and raped/sexually assaulted her. She was only located by law enforcement after Pena allowed her to turn her mobile phone on.
Whilst such prolonged sexual assaults are rare, many stranger-rapes do see those targeted moved to another location before being assaulted. This can be through subterfuge, convincing someone for whatever reason to come with them (an offender may claim/pass themselves off as a plain clothes law enforcement officer) or by implicit/explicit threats and use of force etc.
Sometimes the distances may be short, such as the initial meeting space occurring on the street a short distance from the victim’s house, before being forced into it, whilst at other times such as with this case it may be much further.
In many cases the crime scene and the after scene may be the same place, but where a vehicle is used, this may not be the case e.g., an offender meets a target at one location, drives them to another to commit the assault, and then drives them to another before leaving them etc.
Whilst stranger-rapes are statistically less common than those where the victim knows and/or has some form of prior relationship with the offender, they do occur, with research showing that over a third involve there being some distance between the meeting place and the crime scene.
Whilst our natural/default coping mechanisms to deal with threats and dangers, involves denying or discounting them e.g., when we’re walking and we hear footsteps behind us and feel scared (our subconscious fear system has alerted us to a potential danger), we will usually tell ourselves that we are being “paranoid” and/or “imagining” that the person behind us may have harmful intent/be planning an assault etc.
To acknowledge that we could be in danger means that we have to do something about it, such as confront it in some way, verbally and possibly physically. If we have to do that, we have to accept that we enter into a world of “unknowns” and uncertainty, something that human beings hate to do, as we crave certainty and predictability in our lives.
However, if we can get ourselves into the right mental space, as we are being moved/transported between the meeting space and the crime scene, we may be able to act in a way that prevents us from being assaulted.
This could be verbally, by getting our assailant to see us as a person, rather than an object or vehicle ( David Canter’s Victim-Interaction Model) e.g., by creating a pseudo-relationship with our offender so that at some point we can create a disengagement opportunity; one of the reasons that the woman Victor Pena assaulted for three days got him to hand over her phone is that she offered to clean his apartment and do things which created a “relationship” between them.
We may also recognize the opportunities to break free, and physically disengage before we get to the crime scene. Unfortunately, once there our options start to decrease somewhat. Generally, the best time to act in any abduction is at the start, as time progresses the abductor will gain confidence, put in place measures to prevent escape etc., and the victim will lose confidence understanding that with each proverbial step they take away from the meeting place they are losing control of the event.
In the next part of this module, we will look at rapes and sexual assaults committed by people you may know/have prior relationships with. These are some of the hardest situations/incidents to deal with as they involve navigating social interactions with people we don’t want to believe have harmful intent towards us.