Alliance: Media Response Project - UConn Student Denied Probation in Dorm Room Incident

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FACTSHEET:
Sexual Assault

In 1992, the National Women’s Study estimated that 683,000 adult American women are forcibly raped each year (National Center for Victims of Crime & Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992). According to Bureau of Justice Statistics data, U.S. male and female residents age 12 and older experienced an estimated 307,000 rapes and sexual assaults in 1996 (Ringel, 1997). The difference between the number of rapes in 1992 and the number of rapes and sexual assaults in 1996 reflects standard statistical error and differences in methodology. One significant methodological difference is that the National Women’s Study interviewed individuals by telephone, allowing women greater confidence in their anonymity. The Bureau of Justice Statistics conducted face-to-face interviews, in some cases with entire families present, which could have possibly deterred disclosure.

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UConn Student Denied Probation in Dorm Room Incident Published in Newsday on September 20, 2006

VERNON, Conn. (AP) _ A former University of Connecticut student on Wednesday was denied a special form of probation in a public indecency case that prompted a change in state law.

Martin V. Piscottano, 20, of Somers, was one of three men who was accused of masturbating over a female student as she slept in a dorm room on Sept. 24, 2005.

He is charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency and conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Harleston said the case is "far too serious" to allow probation.

"This is not an offense for which I can grant accelerated rehabilitation," she said.

The unidentified victim said in a statement read in court that she opposes accelerated rehabilitation for Piscottano.

"I believes he needs to experience appropriate consequences in order to recognize the brutality of his actions and possibly prevent a similar incident in the future," she said.

Piscottano, Zak Allen Brohinsky, 20, of Simsbury, and Jared Skvirsky, 20, of Brookline, Mass., could not be charged with sexual assault. Outrage over the case prompted the General Assembly in April to expand the definition of fourth-degree sexual assault to include unwanted contact with bodily fluids.

Brohinsky has pleaded no contest to a single count of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to 75 days in prison. He has completed the term.

Charges are still pending against Skvirsky.

The three students have left the university.

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Maria Brandt responds:

...the quotation you included not only offers readers a clearer understanding of what's at stake in the case, but also presents the victim as an articulate and psychologically complex human being...