The community has been rocked by the shootings that occurred at the Cook County Courthouse Thursday, December 15, 2011 after a 12-member jury convicted Dan Schlienz, 42, of Grand Marais of two felonies and two gross misdemeanors related to his sexual behavior with an underage girl over six years ago. Schlienz allegedly shot County Attorney Tim Scannell and subpoenaed witness Greg Thompson after the guilty verdicts were returned.
The trial took place after Schlienz successfully appealed the court to withdraw his 2007 guilty plea. When the county attorney’s office first took on the case, the community was divided on whether Schlienz should be prosecuted. He was 35 and she was 15 when their sexual relationship began.
One of Schlienz’s convictions was for third degree criminal sexual conduct. According to Minnesota statute, this applies to cases involving sexual penetration with someone between the ages of 13 and 15 by someone who is more than two years older.
Engaging the adolescent
Adult men having sexual relationships with young girls is not a new phenomenon. Many victims report being plied with gifts, showered with affection, or lured with alcohol, and many have positive feelings about the perpetrator.
The power dynamic in these relationships is very unequal. A perpetrator may choose to believe that the relationship is one of love between equals, but he has the power to shape what his victim thinks about the relationship, leading her to ignore her own intuitions and feelings.
One theory cited in a 2006 review of research on statutory sex crime relationships by Denise Hines of the University of Massachusetts and David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire proposed that perpetrators give their victims cues that lead them to believe they have a choice, gradually convincing them to give in to their advances.
Therapist Rachel Efron, a sexual assault trainer at Columbia University, asserted, “… Women learn to diminish or ignore their own judgment, especially when it contradicts with that of another— especially when that other is a male. They learn (far more than men) the importance of pleasing others, attending to the needs of others even to their own detriment, not hurting or embarrassing others, avoiding conflict, and not ‘making a scene’ or embarrassing themselves.”
The mind of the offender
A national Center for Sex Offender Management training curriculum cites research suggesting that “sex offenders are a diverse group of individuals who may in fact be more similar to us than they are different.”
According to Rachel Efron, “If an accused rapist says that he thought she had consented, he may have believed that consent is implied when a woman dresses in certain ways, drinks, goes to a man’s room, shows that she likes the man, allows him to pay for her dinner, is affectionate, is sexual in any way or is known to have been sexual in the past.”
Some experts believe social skill deficits, problems in intimate adult relationships, inadequate coping skills, and a history of maltreatment may contribute to offending behaviors.
Effects on the victim
One victim wrote in a victim impact statement that her perpetrator led her away from her home, school, family, and friends. “He’s stolen things from me that I can never get back,” she wrote. “He’s changed me forever and changed my family and who I am. …My life will never be the same because of him.
“He thinks that he can control women and that he has power over them. …Plain and simple, he’s a predator. He’s done it for years, and he’ll continue. He has a definite pattern. He knows what he’s doing. He goes after girls who are very vulnerable, and he knows how to attack them. He hurt me and what’s worse is that he made it seem okay.”
The young woman stated that she contacted the defendant after he had tried to befriend her. “I was 15, struggling to find my place in life, and vulnerable,” she wrote. “He doesn’t know what it does to a girl when he tells her that he can do whatever he wants to her. He doesn’t know what it’s like being backed into a corner by a man 20 years older than you. …And the man you call to console and comfort you violates you, takes everything that you feel you have left….”
How to respond
One of the three young women who came forward in Schlienz’s original plea-bargained case stated that she believed Schlienz had an addiction and needed treatment. “He needs time locked up to sit and realize some things, to be [away] from influences, away from his situation to get an outside perspective. He won’t work on or really even realize that he has an addiction until he is out of the situation. …He needs help and consequences for his actions.”
One local physician wrote a letter to the court in January of 2007 expressing concern regarding the effect relationships such as these have on women. “…As a physician caring for the families of Cook County…, I’ve seen the consequences predatory men like Schlienz have on my patients. I help these girls, and the women they become, deal with mental health issues, chemical dependency, unwanted pregnancies, single parenting, and sexually transmitted diseases. I see dreams, potential, and hope – shattered.
“The three brave women that have come forward in this case represent dozens I have worked with over the past decade. … Mr. Schlienz is not the community’s only offender….”
A parent making a victim impact statement in Schlienz’s original case expressed concern that this community has historically tolerated this kind of abuse: “…There has always been this Grand Marais mentality that men of any age can go to high school parties and try to have sex with young girls. …No adult, child or law enforcement agency has ever done anything to stop this until now.”
Schlienz himself told the court, “I would really just wish that the court would…allow me to defend myself in front of a jury and the court. …I really do feel sorry for the way that these girls feel about this whole situation, and I wish that we could go to court, go to trial and bring the whole truth out for the world to see.”
Addressing the culture
A 1997 American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law study cited professional concerns over the eroticization of young girls in advertisements, soap operas, movies, and television. The study’s authors recommended raising public awareness of the kinds of messages being conveyed through advertising and entertainment media.
A December 15 memo to Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women members reported that the Center for Disease Control had just released a report on its National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. The memo states that the report “underscores the heavy toll that sexual and physical violence and stalking extract … across the lifespan. The report stresses the need [for] prevention efforts that start early and promote healthy and respectful relationships, intervention efforts that hold perpetrators accountable, and expansion and increase of coordination of services to ensure healing and prevention of recurrent victimization.”
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