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Archive | Domestic and Sexual Violence

Current Focus

MaineFocus on Sexual Violence: This year, we will examine child victims, whose lives are forever altered and the crime against them is often unrecognized, misunderstood or ignored. We’ll also examine programs that treat sex offenders, many of whom were victimized themselves as children. What can Maine do help kids and break this cycle?

MaineFocus on Domestic Violence: We will turn our attention to rehabilitation of domestic violence offenders in Maine. From the Maine State Prison to small anti-violence nonprofits, offenders are given the chance to change. The question: Will they?

Human trafficking: Underreported, underground sexual violence

A story Monday by BDN reporter Dawn Gagnon highlighted an issue sexual violence advocates have been working to tackle for years — forced child prostitution, also called human trafficking. According to the story, three victims in a recent three-day FBI sting that netted 150 arrests were children from Maine. The victims’ names and hometowns are […]

Sexual abuse is a “gateway experience” that often leads to drug addiction later in life

Lesser known fact about Sigmund Freud – early in his career he was all but laughed out of his field for suggesting that sexual abuse within families was a significant social problem. To remain respected he recanted his findings. Toward the end of his career he went back to his original claims and backed them […]

Dover-Foxcroft police design child-centered sexual violence interview room

Sexual violence is traumatic for anyone, but especially for children, who may not understand what happened to them or that they are a victim. As such, advocates argue that interviewing a child multiple times can cause undue stress and should be avoided. Gretchen Ziemer, an advocate with Rape Response Services in Bangor, said officials often […]

40 hours: Rape Response Services Advocate training

For Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April 2013, BDN Newsroom Administrator Natalie Feulner and Editorial Page Editor Erin Rhoda took 40 hours of training to become advocates for victims of sexual assault. The training was provided by Rape Response Services, a subsidiary of Penquis in Bangor, to ready volunteers to meet victims at the hospital […]

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This blog has been archived and is no longer being updated.