Sexual assault is a violent crime that causes profound physical, psychological and emotional trauma. Being taken hostage is a traumatic experience. Being sexually assaulted as a hostage is an ordeal many of us would rather not think about.

The Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) officer who was held hostage for two weeks in Buckeye lived through it. With the ordeal over and her captors now in custody again, she can begin healing, a process that can take years.

Many sexual assault survivors — as many as 46 per cent, according to the U.S. Department of Justice — never come forward to report what happened to them. The reasons≠ Some think they won’t be believed, that they will be blamed for the violence somebody else chose to use against them, and would be embarrassed by the stigma attached to rape victims. Some survivors who choose not to report to law enforcement do still seek mental health services to help the healing process.

The corrections officer in the case of the Buckeye standoff unfortunately does not have the choice of remaining silent. One of two victims in the longest prison hostage standoff in modern U.S. history, the details of the crimes perpetrated against her are public record. The one detail missing from the public record is the victim’s name. The public may have a right to know what happened during the ordeal, but there is absolutely no reason to broadcast this brave woman’s identity. Doing so could do her more harm than good.

The potential harm caused by such callous name-dropping should be obvious. It is traumatic for a victim of any form of sexual violence to hear strangers discuss the most personal and traumatic experiences of her or his life in an open forum. To have one’s name used in that context can give a survivor the sense that the full pressure of open scrutiny is upon her or him, instead of on the perpetrator, where it belongs. Facing the trauma of a sexual assault is pressure enough; facing the public eye on top of that can be overwhelming.

We support ADOC Director Dora Schriro’s decision to not release the name of the victim to the public. As the investigations into what went wrong continue, we hope the community-at-large will also remember the compounded trauma of sexual assault and respect the survivor’s privacy.

Bridget Riceci

Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault