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Summit County Prosecutor Launches Sexual Assault Victim Awareness Campaign

The Start By Believing campaign is a national effort to educate society about the treatment of sexual assault victims.
START BY BELIEVING
The Start By Believing campaign is a national effort to educate society about the treatment of sexual assault victims.

The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office is participating in a national campaign to change the way people treat sexual assault victims.

The program is called “Start By Believing.”

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said the local campaign aims to discourage victim blaming, as well as educate the community on how to properly respond to and support victims.

Walsh recounted an incident when she was attacked at the age of 25. She said the comments she received then partly inspired her to launch the program in Summit County.

“I think victims already blame themselves for whatever the circumstance is," Bevan Walsh said. "I think it’s really important that we be more understanding and less judgmental and not blame victims.”

You can learn more about the Start By Believing Campaign here.

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Anna joined ideastream in 2019, where she reports on health news for WCPN and WVIZ in Cleveland. She has also served as an associate producer for NewsDepth. Before that, Anna was a 2019 Carnegie-Knight News21 fellow at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
Gershon Harrell, is a junior journalism major at Kent State University. He was a diversity reporter and features writer for the Kent Stater, the student-run newspaper, for two semesters. Gershon has a passion for storytelling and aspires to be a features writer, telling the stories of people and the ever changing culture.