No surprises here...

A majority of sexual assault victims have little to no confidence in the police, the courts or the criminal justice system, according to a new government survey that echoes what advocates have been saying for years. The responses in the Justice Canada survey indicate that two-thirds of the men and women who took part had no faith in the justice system, the process of filing a complaint against their abuser and the prospect of seeing a conviction.

The majority of victims of both child and adult sexual abuse did not even bother filing a complaint with the police, fearing they would be blamed or wouldn't be taken seriously, the document says. "Survivors also often feel they are not believed and are somehow to blame," says the report called The Victims of Crime Research Digest. "There was a perception among some that while the survivor must cope with the traumatic experience, the accused is not punished."

The report surveyed 207 sex abuse survivors at six sexual assault centres in mostly urban areas across Canada in 2009 and represented different demographic groups, including aboriginals in the North. It found that the majority — including 70 per cent of the male participants — did not report the abuse to police because they feared they wouldn't be believed or didn't trust the justice system.

The Justice Department declined a request for an interview.

Most sexual assault victims lack confidence in cops, courts, Justice survey says

I really need to get out more...

So, my summer classes start tomorrow (or today, or some point in the past, depending on when you read this... either way, my classes start May 6th). I will be in class Monday from 2:30PM to 5:30PM (PHYS lecture) and from 6:00PM to 9:00PM (WGST lecture), Tuesday from 2:30PM to 4:30PM (PHYS lab), Wednesday from 2:30PM to 4:30PM (PHYS lab) and from 6:00PM to 9:00PM (WGST lecture), and Thursday from 2:30PM to 5:30PM (PHYS lecture). I will be working the next two weeks (nominally) from somewhere before 9AM to when my classes start at 2:30PM (with a break for lunch in there somewhere) or all day Friday since I have no classes. Needless to say, the next two weeks are going to leave a mark. The week after all that is done, I'll probably be starting part time on the EUDET Pixel Telescope project, but that will be quite a bit more manageable I'm sure.

And speaking of marks, my final marks are in: B+ in WGST2801 "Activism, Feminisms, and Social Justice", A- in MATH3705 "Mathematical Methods I", and A+ in MATH2108 "Abstract Algebra". I went into the WGST exam with an A, so I obviously did pretty poorly on it, which is not a surprise because I was too overwhelmed to memorize the 20 citations that we were required to regurgitate on the paper (I could barely function by that point). I think I actually wrote some fairly good essays (I'm hoping I can get them back and share them, maybe after some buffing), but because I crashed on burned on the readings portion, I didn't have much of a hope. The Mathematical Methods course was a re-do... the first time I took it, I got a D, and I probably shouldn't have even gotten that... and I was finding that the skills from that course, that I didn't learn, were critical in future courses I needed to take (and therefore did very poorly in and need to repeat). So it's good I've remedied that failing and should do much better on my courses that I'll be taking next year (fall/winter). I'm not quite sure what to do about the abstract algebra thing though... hmmmm...

One of the things I do plan to do to get out of the house a little more is go to see one movie at the Mayfair Theatre every Monday or Wednesday after class (it's just up the road from Carleton), depending on whether they have a movie that starts at 9:30PM (without regard to what is actually showing... I'm just going to go see whatever is playing). So, if you want to join me... you can find me at the movies! My schedule for May is: Wednesday, May 8th, 9:30PM, "Shadows of Liberty"; Monday, May 13th, 9:30PM, "Parker" (whut? heh, gonna see it anyway); Monday, May 20, 9:30PM, not going to a movie because there is no school (Victoria Day); and Monday, May 27th, 9:30PM, "Sound City" (Dave Grohl!!! ... 'nuf said!). $6 for members, $10 for non-members, $10 for a membership :). I might also try to get out to see "Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain" later in the month as well, heh. Please note: I will not, I repeat not, be going to see "Birdemic 2: The Resurection"... I love bad movies, but "Birdemic" was one of the most painful experiences of my life (was just bad, not funny bad, not incoherent bad, just really, really bad and long... painfully long...). Even I have standards ;).