Christopher Allen Noakes, charged with the sexual assault of a University student last week, was denied bond Feb. 22 because of his prior record of criminal activities, according to Charlottesville District Court Clerk Mary Trimble.
Noakes has a history of violating his parole, as well as a prior conviction for abduction, according to a recent Daily Progress article; in 1986, Noakes was arrested when he attempted to drag a 19-year-old University student into bushes in a case similar to the one for which he is currently facing charges.
According to Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at the University's Women's Center, once Noakes served his previous jail time, there was little the community could have done to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
"It's difficult because people who perpetrate these kinds of crimes are likely to again, but once person has served their time, what can you do to contain them without violating their civil rights?" Kaplan said.
Charlottesville Police Sgt. C.R. Smith said once a person is convicted of a crime, he or she rarely ever serves the entire sentence in jail.
"In general, people who serve time, and even people who don't, are put on some form of probation," Smith said. This probation could be a period of supervised monitoring, she said, involving drug tests and curfew restrictions, followed by a period of unsupervised probation, as well.
In addition, a judge often will give a convicted felon a 12-month sentence, with 10 months suspended, Smith said. If this is the case, the felon in question would serve two months, then be released.
"If you do something else wrong you could get [the remaining] 10 months, plus whatever you are sentenced for that crime," Smith said.
In cases of repeat convictions, Smith said, the penalties can also be increased; according to Smith, penalties for a second or third conviction "should and would carry a harsher penalty."
For example, if someone is convicted of a third robbery, he or she could be sentenced to life in prison, Smith said.
Smith added that there is also a sex-offender registry in Virginia that citizens can use to search for convicted sex offenders in their area. A sex offender convicted of a crime more than 20 years ago may not be on the site, however, Smith said.
"But if it happened today, he would be on the registry," she noted.
Although monitoring all such criminals is not possible, Kaplan said there are several things to consider when faced with situations such as assaults in the community.
"People need to be aware and conscious when engaging in their daily activities that even Charlottesville is not safe," Kaplan said, "But I don't believe they should curtail their activities because of some hypothetical perpetrator."
Kaplan added that University students should remain aware that most sexual assaults are committed by someone who knows the victim.
"Eighty-five to 90 percent of perpetrators related to U.Va. students are other students," Kaplan said, noting that "students tend to think of the bad guys out there, but they don't think of the people siting next to them."
Kaplan emphasized the importance of education in preventing crime, as illustrated by the current case.
"Every student [should] learn about this stuff ... A good thing in this terrible situation is that someone heard noise, went out and called the police," Kaplan said. "That's the community pulling together."
Preventing child abuse and domestic violence are also part of the plan to fight sexual assault, she said, noting that many criminals were abused as children.
"If we intervene when kids are abused, we could reduce crime by huge amounts," Kaplan said.
Other than educating students and attempting to protect children from abuse, Kaplan said she believes the most pressing issue is what society can do to treat and help criminals.
"When they are released, how can we provide support so that they don't do it again?" she asked.
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