Private School Abuse

Boarding School Abuse illustrates a wide-range of criminal and improper actions often committed against students by school faculty members, administrators or staff regarding sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault can be a one-time, non-consensual encounter or it can include numerous assaults during an continuing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate encounter with a student, spawned by the predatory behavior of a faculty member, school administrator or staff 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 might be made worse by the school’s negligence to provide a safe environment that enabled the attack to occur. Within the school population are students of varying ages, maturity and experiences. Immature students may be exposed to the predatory behavior of older, more mature students. Their intent, coupled with peer-pressure applied on both the predator and the targeted victim, can lead to varying types of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all reported Boarding School Assault situations, a school administration’s megligence to completely, adequately report the crime to law enforcement and other authorities, or its further negligence to research, address and deal completely with the situation amplifies the effects on the victim, the school community and potentially others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the media highlight these failures, including times when the perpetrator quietly departs the campus only to assume working somewhere else in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Many boarding schools pride themselves on their tiny, personal communities inside a well-defined and secure campus. In this environment, faculty, administrators and staff are often much nearer and familiar with students than would be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This can create both opportunity and cover for the possible attacker and for the predatory behavior.

In some situations, the attacker may be a likeable and popular individual, generally considered to be a enhancement to the school community. A targeted student could feel flattered that a popular superior in the school community has expressed special attention in him or her. Because of this popularity and integration in the school community, attack accusations against these abusers are frequently met with distrust, non-belief, and resistance from the community. Often, abusers have distance and judgment problems which turn into oddly friendly relationships with students that are past what are commonly anticipated. This provides a predatory pathway and opportunity for the abuse.

All abusers, to varying degrees, use predatory actions that are generally referred to as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Below is a list of grooming behaviors used by predators who are in a position of authority in relation to the student.

Grooming
Grooming is a significant part of a predator’s ploy. In a boarding school setting, a predator usually works closely with small amounts of students, understanding every student’s needs and vulnerabilities. Once a victim is identified and chosen, these vulnerabilities – like loneliness, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, may be systematically leveraged in the following manners:

Trust

A predator might first work to gain the student’s trust. This step is the most difficult to see as private school communities are often tight-knit and personal interaction is commonplace. Here, the predator is usually part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellness and success at the school.
Reliance
As a predator establishes a trusting engagement with the potential student-victim, the student will start to count on more and more on the predator for any 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, including valuable, gifts like the guarantee of high marks, or a university recommendation letter. The reliance step is usually where the predatory behavior is noticeable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

Isolation

As the grooming progresses, the predator will try to isolate the student. At school, this might mean after-hour meetings, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dormitory , 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 begin with breaching the physical-touch barrier, or speaking, with suggestive language to determine the victim’s reaction to the progression. deerfield academy abuse until the relationship transforms to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
Once the sexual relationship is created, the predator will work to keep control of the victim and the continuing abuse. The predator will probably try to manipulate the victim by introducing feelings of shame, or possibly threats, or employ the opposite strategy of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. In any event, the predator might keep trying to exploit the victim with means necessary to keep the immoral physical relationship.

Legacy on Abuse Survivors

While the grooming increases as planned by the predator, the targeted student, being made to feel special, will likely respond positively to the actions. The predator, through these well-thought-out and performed grooming behaviors and activities, tries to re-work and reduce the moral boundaries of the victim. Since the abuse survivor participated in this re-calibration, he often has deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming herself for the incident and hesitant to report it.

Furthermore, after the abuse has been reported, survivors of boarding school abuse are frequently subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, like bullying, isolation from their peers, or revenge from administrators. Particularly at boarding schools, where academics are rigorous, competition can be fierce and social circles small, survivors of abuse might be quickly isolated and socially persecuted. Subjected to those reactions, many private school abuse survivors who have revealed the abuse leave school. Others, fighting with the prospect of such isolation and social persecution, report the abuse decades later. In either situation, the impact can be significant and lasting.

Some abuse survivors suffer from long-term effects of the abuse that include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings, substance abuse, disturbed sleeping and eating patterns, and difficulty creating and maintaining healthy relationships. Individualized therapy and support groups may help victims get past those effects.

Legally, a victim of boarding school abuse could recover financial compensation from the predator and more frequently, from the school for its failure to protect the student from the predator, as well as failures or deficiencies in its process of reviewing and responding to the survivor’s report of the abuse. If you are a survivor of boarding school abuse and would like to confidentially discuss your story and learn of your legal options at no cost or obligation, we are prepared to talk with you. It is important for a victim to remember that experiencing assault is not your fault. The lawyers at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those responsible for the assault to justice.