Bethel region led state in trooper cases of sexual assault, sexual abuse, study shows

ALEX DeMARBAN

January 17, 2008 at 11:35AM AKST

The Yup'ik language has no term to describe sexual abuse.

That's not because it never happened, said forensic interviewer Elena Aluskak.

It's because no one ever wanted to talk about it.

Things are changing, said Aluskak, who gathers evidence from rape victims in the predominantly Yup'ik region around Bethel.

Even children, once afraid to talk, are coming forward more frequently, she said. In five years working at the Tundra Women's Coalition, the shelter in Bethel, she's interviewed many of the 700 child victims who have come through the shelter.

She tells them they've done the right thing by sharing what happened.

"I tell them they should not feel the shame and guilt because it doesn't belong to them. It belongs to the person who abused them," she said.

Aluskak, 44, was sexually abused at age 9. Last week, she said that a family member sexually abused her in a Bethel-region village.

She didn't tell anyone for decades until about seven years ago, when she told her husband.

As a child, she was taught that Yup'ik people respect others. She didn't want to shame the person who had hurt her, Aluskak said.

"I thought if I disclose this, it's not love and it's not respect," she said. "Now I tell victims the love and respect we give we also have to receive. It has to be mutual."

Crisis levels

New statistics from the Alaska State Troopers suggest that Western Alaska may lead the state in cases of sexual abuse of a minor – often when girls are raped or molested by intoxicated adult male relatives and acquaintances – and cases of sexual assaults that often leave women victims.

A soon-to-be released study of 989 such cases that were investigated by troopers in 2003 and 2004 shows that the greatest number – 476 cases or 48 percent – occurred in Western Alaska, said Katie TePas, a Troopers program coordinator.

The region is immense – containing more than one-third of the state's land mass – and stretches from Kotzebue in the north to Kodiak in the south and out the Aleutian Chain past Unalaska. It's served by 13 trooper posts in what's known as the C Detachment.

But the population is small, represented by dozens of villages – many with fewer than 500 people -- and a handful of hub communities, such as Kodiak, Bethel or Nome, each with fewer than 6,000 people.

In the vastly more populated regions along the road system – including around Anchorage, as well as Fairbanks and the Matunuska-Susitna Borough – troopers investigated fewer such cases during the two-year period. Combined, troopers' posts in those areas investigated 299 of the studied cases, or 30.2 percent during the two-year period.

Ground zero is the Bethel region, where troopers investigated 17 percent of the cases, more than any other post in the state, TePas said.

"We have an epidemic," she said. "It's a statewide epidemic, but the epicenter, our data shows, is the Bethel region."

Children most vulnerable

TePas presented the numbers at a summit on Alaska Native child sexual abuse in Anchorage on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10.

They're some of the highlights from an unprecedented 102-page study that will be released soon. The Justice Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage conducted the study, she said. It will include conviction rates.

Only Trooper cases that entered the justice system during the two-year period and reached a conclusion, such as cases that did and did not result in a conviction, are included in the study, she said.

Similar cases investigated by other agencies, such as the Anchorage Police Department, were not included in the study. Nor were figures from the North Slope Borough, which has its own police force.

The early figures paint a disturbing picture of rapes and other sexual violence against adults and children in Western Alaska, where the population is largely Alaska Native and villages are often loose extensions of family.

In all the 989 cases, family members and friends sexually abuse or assault each other in more than 90 percent of the incidents, she said.

They're especially hurting children. The most common charge during the two years was second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, a class B felony that generally means the rape or other molestation of someone 16 years old or younger, often by an adult.

Almost one-fourth of the child victims were from ages 13 to 15, she said. Nearly the same amount was from ages 6 to 12.

Strangers were the perpetrators in less than 1 percent of the cases involving children, TePas said.

Breaking the silence

Relatives and friends sexually abuse in the Bethel region because village life is isolated and everyone knows everyone, Aluskak said.

It's a massive problem for several reasons, including alcoholism stemming from cultural upheaval. But it's not necessarily more common in Western Alaska than anywhere else, she said.

One thing is certain – reporting has spiked in recent years.

Aluskak deserves much of the credit. In the past two years, she's held regional workshops and a conference in Bethel on the topic, partly so victim's advocates can learn about services. She also wants people to talk about the problem.

Two years ago, her three daughters said they had been keeping their own secret for several years. They were from 9 to 13 years old when they were sexually abused by older male cousins, she said. The last time was in 2000.

"People are no longer silent," she said. "They're coming together and starting to open up."

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.