NCC:Women BEWARE!

[Guest guest]

Below is a letter a woman wrote who

works with sex offenders. Read these

ways to protect yourself and share

with all the women you know.

***************************************************************

" I have to share some things I have

learned in my job with you. In my job, I

review criminal and psychiatric files of

imprisoned sex offenders who are

approaching their release date. I

decide if they are likely to re-offend

based on certain criteria and then

civilly commit them to a sex offender

treatment facility if I decide that they

are at significant risk to re-offend. I

have read hundreds and hundreds of

files, and have taken

note of some of the mistakes women

make. Let me preface this by saying

that a woman is NEVER EVER EVER at fault

for being raped or attacked, but there

are definitely ways to reduce your risk

of being a victim.

Here are the most common mistakes women

make that could result in them getting

kidnapped, attacked, and/or raped:

Getting into the attacker's car when

he pulls a gun and orders you to get

into his vehicle. Most attackers don't

want to shoot you ... they want you to

get into the car so that they can drive

you to a deserted place and torture

you. Don't comply. Run screaming. It

is MUCH more likely than not that he

will just move on to an easier target.

Pulling over when a man drives

alongside of you pointing at your car

pretending something is wrong. If this

happens, drive to the nearest well-lit

and populated gas station and look the

car over yourself (or ask an

attendant). Never pull over. Believe it

or not, many women have fallen for this

for fear of their car spontaneously

exploding in the middle of the road.

Not likely.

Not locking your doors while

driving. I have read several cases where

the attacker simply walks up to a

woman's car while she's at a traffic

light and jumps in with his gun or knife

drawn.

Opening your front door when you

have not positively identified who is

there. If you don't have a peep hole,

get one. I've seen countless cases

where the attacker gains access to its

victims simply by knocking on their

door. Don't let an attacker get into

your home. He then has a private,

relatively soundproof place to attack

you.

Not being alert in parking lots. If

you go to the grocery store at night,

don't be shy about asking for an escort

to your car. Too many women are

abducted from parking lots or even raped

in the parking lot. Look in your back

seat before entering your car. Cars

provide endless hiding places for

attackers, both inside them and in

between them. Be

aware of your surroundings by looking to

the left and right and behind you with

your head up all the time. You may

appear paranoid and look funny to

others, but an attacker will think twice

about approaching someone who appears so

aware of what's going on.

Trusting a clean cut, honest looking

stranger. I see mug shots of every sex

offender in the state of Florida. They

do not look like monsters. They often

look like they could be your friendly

grocer, bank teller, waiter, neighbor,

clergy, doctor, etc. They are every age

between 15 and 90, and probably beyond.

Only a small minority actually look

scary. I just read a case yesterday of

a man with only one leg who beat up his

victim with his crutch before he raped

her. Who would have ever thought that a

one-legged man could be a rapist?

Trusting people to be alone with

your children. This is a difficult one,

because child molesters end up being the

LAST person the parents would believe is

the molester. Most of the child

molesting cases I see involve the

stepfather, the uncle, the sister's

boyfriend, the mother's boyfriend, the

grandfather, the baby-sitter, the

neighbor, the family friend, the youth

camp director, day care worker, etc.

Although rare, even women can be

molesters. In every case, the

perpetrator is a nice guy, trusting,

good with children, and the family is

baffled or even in disbelief that the

person could be abusing their child.

When it comes to your children and

grandchildren, be suspicious of

everyone, no matter who they are. And

pay attention to what your child says

and how he/she reacts to the mention of

different people in their lives. I

didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable

with this, but I am at work right now

reviewing files, and realized that this

email is a way I can reach many women at

one time. I have the dirty job of

reading all these files, and it makes me

feel good to know that I can share some

inferences from what I have learned.

This is not an exhaustive list of what

not to do, but just some things that I

have observed more than just a few

times. "