The crime of rape is one considered as particularly violent and tied to psychopathology more so than many other violent crimes. Rape is not nearly as much forced sex than an approach to power by an individual who, as defined by statistic, is most likely to have a personality disorder. Experts tell us that a rapist, more so than any other violent criminal, knows the act they are committing is wrong but will do so regardless of knowing that.
The universal facts about rape are very telling—it is usually a crime where the individuals, the attacker and the victim, know each other. In fact, more than two-thirds of all rapes are committed by attackers known to their victims. Almost 40 percent of those attacks are committed by friends or acquaintances while 30 percent of rapists are intimately known to their victims. Fifty percent of these attacks occur within 1 mile of the victim’s home or at the home, while nearly the same percentage take place between the hours of 6 p.m. and midnight.
As this newspaper was going to press on Wednesday word of yet another sexual assault, at a hotel on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, reached the newsroom. Yet another assault was reported in Astoria when a livery cab driver tried to rape his passenger. This makes more than six high-profile attacks of a sexual nature within three months in Queens.
Three times in Forest Hills over the past three months Ibrahima Ragis has attacked his victims not far from the Long Island Expressway and the Queens Center Mall. The fourth and last reported incident involving Ragis happened on the Horace Harding Expressway in Corona and involved a second attacker.
This newspaper has been covering the attacks and have published the mug shots of the suspects each week. We believe whole heartedly that unless these attacks are highly publicized, the likelihood of them continuing represents a growing danger to potential victims. The coverage that has been offered by major news outlets and locally is inadequate considering the gravity of the situation.
We urge the other local newspapers to please print the photos of these suspects every week until they are caught. There has been an alarming spike in these crimes as well misdemeanor sexual assaults in western Queens as well. Public awareness of this extremely serious situation is one of the only proven mechanisms for ending this type of violent outbreak.
Rape is a serious, violent crime and for it to increased so suddenly is cause for major concern. It is ironic that sometimes the media is accused for acting as an alarmist, however, in this particular case we feel what is alarming is the lack of coverage. So to our colleagues we say, speak up.
