Boarding School Abuse

Boarding School Abuse illustrates a series of illegal and lurid actions frequently perpetrated on students by school faculty members, administrators or staff regarding sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault can be a one-time, non-consensual abuse or it might include several assaults during an continuing interaction. For example, an continuing intimate encounter with a student, created by the predatory behavior of a faculty member, school administrator or employee 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, that can be compounded by the school’s negligence to provide a safe environment that allowed the attack to occur. Within the school population are students of different ages, maturity and experiences. Younger students might be exposed to the predatory actions of older, more mature students. This behavior, along with peer-pressure applied to both the predator and the targeted victim, might lead to different forms of abuse including sexual assault of varying degrees.

In deerfield academy abuse alleged Boarding School Assault matters, a school administration’s megligence to completely, adequately report the crime to police and other authorities, or its further negligence to investigate, address and deal completely with the matter increases the effects on the abuse survivor, the school community and potentially others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the media highlight these failures, including situations where the perpetrator quietly leaves the school only to assume working elsewhere in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Many private schools pride themselves on their small, personal communities within a well-defined and safe campus. In this environment, faculty, administrators and staff are frequently much nearer and familiar with students than would be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This can provide both opportunity and cover to the possible abuser and for the predatory behavior.

In some situations, the attacker could be a personable and popular person, generally considered to be a positive addition to the school community. A targeted student may feel flattered that a popular superior in the school community is expressing special attention in him or her. Because of this popularity and involvement in the school community, abuse allegations against these predators are often met with distrust, disbelief, and resistance from the community. Frequesntly, abusers have boundary and judgment issues which manifest themselves in unusually friendly relationships with students that are past what are commonly expected. This creates a predatory path and opportunity for the attack.

Most abusers, to varying degrees, employ predatory methods that are generally known as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Following is a compilation of grooming methods used by predators that are in a position of authority in relation to the subordinate student.

Grooming
Grooming is a major part of a predator’s method. In a boarding school setting, a predator usually works closely with small numbers of students, realizing every student’s needs and vulnerabilities. Once a target is identified and selected, these vulnerabilities – such as being lonely, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, may be systematically exploited in the following ways:

Trust

A predator might initially work to get the student’s trust. This step is most difficult to discern as boarding school communities are often tight-knit and personal engagement is commonplace. Here, the attacker is likely part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellness and achievement at the school.
Reliance
As a predator creates a trusting engagement with the potential student-victim, the student might begin to count on more and more on the predator for whatever need it is that the predator is leveraging and fulfilling. The student may spend more time with the predator, feeling increasingly comfortable with the relationship. In addition to attention and affection, the possible victim may receive gifts from the predator, which may include valuable, gifts like the promise of higher marks, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance stage is mainly when the predatory behavior is distinguishable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

Isolation

While the grooming continues, the predator might work to isolate the potential victim. At school, this could mean after-hour get togethers, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dorm , one-on-one athletic practice sessions, or other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will start to desensitize the student from reacting negatively to contact, caressing and other actions which lead to sexual interaction. This might start with breaching the physical-touch barrier, or verbally, with suggestive language to determine the victim’s response to the progression. This might increase until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
Once the sexual relationship is created, the predator may work to keep control over the victim and the continuing interaction. The predator will likely seek to manipulate the victim by inducing emotions of shame, or possibly threats, or use the opposite tactic of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator may continue to exploit the victim with means available to maintain the immoral physical relationship.

Impacts on Abuse Victims

While the grooming escalates as intended by the predator, the targeted student, being made to feel special, will probably respond positively to the behaviors. The predator, from these well planned and executed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-calibrate and remove the moral boundaries of the targeted student. Because the victim participated in the re-calibration, he frequently experiences deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming himself for the incident and hesitant to report it.

Additionally, beyond the abuse has been reported, survivors of private school abuse are frequently subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, such as bullying, isolation from their peers, or retaliation from staff. Especially at private schools, where education is stringent, competition can be fierce and social circles small, survivors of abuse may be quickly isolated and socially persecuted. Subjected to those reactions, many private school abuse survivors that have reported the abuse leave school. Others, faced with the prospect of the isolation and social persecution, report the abuse decades later. In either case, the legacy can be severe and life-altering.

Some abuse survivors bear from long-term effects of the abuse including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, disturbed sleeping and eating patterns, and trouble establishing and keeping healthy relationships. Individualized therapy and support groups might help victims overcome those effects.

Legally, a survivor of boarding school abuse can receive financial compensation from the abuser and more frequently, from the school for its negligence to protect the student from the abuse, as well as failures or deficiencies in its process 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 talk with you. It’s important for a survivor to realize that being a victim is not your fault. The lawyers at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those who committed the the abuse to justice.