Private School Abuse

Private School Abuse illustrates a series of illegal and lurid acts commonly perpetrated against students by school faculty members, administrators or employees involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault may be a one-time, non-consensual encounter or it might involve several assaults within an ongoing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate encounter with a student, formed 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 another type of abuse, which can be compounded by the school’s negligence to provide a safe environment that enabled the assault to happen. Inside the school population are students of varying ages, maturity and experiences. Younger students might be subjected to the predatory actions of older, more experienced students. This actions, along with peer-pressure exerted on both the attacker and the targeted victim, might lead to different types of abuse including sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all alleged Boarding School Abuse matters, a school administration’s megligence to completely, immediately report the crime to law enforcement and other authorities, or its additional negligence to research, address and deal fully with the matter amplifies the effects on the victim, the school community and possibly others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the media highlight these failures, including times when the perpetrator quietly leaves the school merely to assume working somewhere else in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Many private schools pride themselves on their small, personal communities inside a well-defined and secure 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 may provide both opportunity and cover to the possible abuser and for the predatory behavior.

In some matters, the attacker might be a likeable and popular individual, generally thought to be a enhancement to the school community. A targeted student might feel flattered that a well-liked superior in the school community has expressed special interest in him or her. Because of this popularity and integration in the school community, abuse accusations against these criminals are often met with distrust, disbelief, and resistance from the community. Often, abusers have distance and morality issues which manifest themselves in unusually friendly relationships with students that are beyond what are commonly anticipated. This creates a predatory pathway and opportunity for the abuse.

All abusers, to differing amounts, use predatory tactics that are generally referred to as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Following is a compilation of grooming behaviors used by predators that are in a position of authority in relation to the student.

Grooming
Grooming is a main part of a predator’s method. In abused at boarding school , a predator often works closely with small amounts of students, knowing every student’s needs and weaknesses. Once a victim is identified and chosen, these vulnerabilities – like loneliness, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, could be systematically leveraged in the following manners:

Trust

A predator might initially work to gain the student’s trust. This step is the most difficult to see as boarding school communities are often tight-knit and personal interaction is commonplace. Here, the predator is likely part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellbeing and success at the school.
Reliance
As a predator creates a trusting engagement with the potential student-victim, the student might start to rely 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 more and more comfortable with the relationship. Additionally to attention and affection, the possible victim might receive gifts from the predator, which may include valuable, presents like the guarantee of high grades, 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 will work to isolate the student. At school, this might mean after-hour meetings, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dorm , one-on-one sports practice sessions, or various other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will start to de-sensitize the student from reacting negatively to contact, caressing and other actions that lead to sexual interaction. This might begin with breaking the physical-touch barrier, or verbally, with suggestive messages to determine the victim’s response to the advancement. This might increase until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
Once the sexual relationship is established, the predator will try to maintain control over the student and the continuing abuse. The predator will probably seek to manipulate the student by inducing feelings of guilt, or even threats, or employ the opposite tactic of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator may keep trying to exploit the victim by whatever means necessary to keep the immoral physical relationship.

Legacy on Abuse Survivors

While the grooming escalates as planned by the predator, the victim, being made to feel special, will likely respond affirmatively to the behaviors. The predator, from these well planned and performed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-calibrate and reduce the moral boundaries of the targeted student. Since the victim participated in this re-calibration, he frequently experiences deep feelings of shame, initially blaming herself for the incident and likely not to report it.

Furthermore, after the abuse has been reported, survivors of boarding school abuse are frequently subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, such as being bullied, isolation from their peers, or revenge from staff. Especially at boarding schools, where academics are stringent, competition can be intense and social circles small, survivors of abuse may be quickly isolated and socially persecuted. Subjected to such reactions, many boarding school abuse victims that have reported the abuse leave school. Others, faced with the prospect of the isolation and social abuse, report the abuse a while later. In either situation, the legacy can be significant and lasting.

Some abuse victims suffer from long-term effects of the abuse that include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings, substance abuse, restless sleeping and eating patterns, and trouble establishing and keeping healthy relationships. Individual therapy and support groups might assist victims get past these effects.

Legally, a survivor of boarding school abuse can recover financial compensation from the abuser and more commonly, from the school for its failure to protect the student from the abuse, as well as failures or negligence in its process of reviewing and replying to the survivor’s report of the abuse. If you are a survivor of boarding school abuse and would like to confidentially share your story and learn of your legal options at no cost or obligation, we are ready to speak with you. It’s important for a victim to realize that experiencing assault is not your fault. The attorneys at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those who committed the the abuse to justice.