Boarding School Abuse

Boarding School Abuse presents a series of criminal and lurid acts often perpetrated on students by school faculty members, administrators or employees involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The attack can be a one-time, non-consensual attack or it might include numerous assaults during an ongoing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate relationship 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, which might be made worse by the school’s negligence to offer a safe environment that enabled the attack to occur. Inside the school community are students of varying ages, maturity and experiences. Immature students may be subjected to the predatory actions of older, more mature students. This actions, along with peer-pressure applied on both the attacker and the targeted victim, could lead to different forms of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all reported Boarding School Abuse situations, a school administration’s failure to completely, adequately report the crime to law enforcement and other authorities, or its further negligence to research, address and deal fully with the situation amplifies the effects on the victim, the school population and possibly others. Recent Boarding School Abuse cases reported in the press exemplify these failures, including matters where the attacker quietly leaves the campus only to assume working elsewhere in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Most private schools pride themselves on their small, 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 might be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This can create both opportunity and cover to the possible attacker and for the predatory behavior.

In some situations, the attacker might be a likeable and popular person, 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 into the school community, attack accusations against these criminals are frequently met with distrust, disbelief, and resistance by the community. Often, abusers have distance and judgment issues which manifest themselves in unusually friendly relationships with students that are past what are commonly anticipated. This provides a predatory pathway and opportunity for the abuse.

Most abusers, to varying amounts, use predatory tactics that are generally referred to as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Following is a list of grooming methods 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 a boarding school situation, a predator often works closely with small amounts of students, realizing each student’s needs and weaknesses. Once a target is identified and selected, these vulnerabilities – like being lonely, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, can be systematically exploited in the following manners:

Trust

A predator might initially work to get the student’s trust. This step is most difficult to realize as boarding school communities are often tight-knit and personal interaction is commonplace. Here, the attacker is usually 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 relationship with the potential student-victim, the student may begin to rely more and more on the predator for any need it is that the predator is leveraging and fulfilling. The victim might 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 such as the promise of high marks, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance step is mainly when the predatory behavior is distinguishable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

Isolation

While the grooming continues, the predator may try to isolate the student. At school, this could mean late meetings, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dormitory , one-on-one sports training sessions, or other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will start to de-sensitize the possible victim from reacting negatively to touching, caressing and other actions which lead to sexual interaction. This may start with breaking the physical-touch barrier, or communicating, with suggestive language to gauge the victim’s response to the progression. This will increase until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
As the sexual relationship is created, the predator will try to keep control of the victim and the continuing interaction. The predator will likely try to manipulate the student by introducing emotions of shame, or even threats, or employ the opposite tactic of continuing to have the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator might continue to exploit the victim by whatever means necessary to keep the inappropriate physical relationship.

Legacy on Abuse Victims

While the grooming increases as planned by the predator, the targeted student, being made to feel special, will likely respond positively to the behaviors. The predator, through these well planned and performed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-calibrate and remove the moral boundaries of the targeted student. Since the abuse survivor participated in the re-calibration, he often experiences deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming himself for the incident and hesitant to report it.

Furthermore, after the abuse has been revealed, survivors of boarding school abuse are frequently subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, such as bullying, isolation from their peers, or revenge from teachers. Particularly at boarding schools, where academics are stringent, competition can be fierce and social circles small, victims of abuse can be readily isolated and socially abused. Subjected to such reactions, many private school abuse survivors who have reported the abuse leave school. Others, faced with the prospect of such isolation and social abuse, report the abuse years later. In either case, the impact can be severe and life-altering.

Some abuse survivors suffer from long-term effects of the abuse including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings, substance abuse, restless sleeping and eating patterns, and difficulty creating and keeping healthy relationships. Individualized therapy and support groups could help survivors overcome those effects.

Legally, a victim of boarding school abuse may receive financial compensation from the predator and more frequently, from the school for its negligence to protect the student from the predator, as well as failures or negligence 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 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 attorneys at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those who committed the the assault to justice.