Joanna Katz was just 19 years old when her life was forever changed. Late one night in June of 1988, Katz was leaving a nightspot with a new friend of hers, Julie. As they stood talking at Julie’s car, Katz felt something sticking into her rib. She turned around, thinking it was a friend playing a joke. It was then that she quickly realized it wasn’t anyone she knew.What had been stuck into her rib was a gun.

The man holding the gun ordered Katz into the car, and this sudden encounter marked the beginning of a hellish night that is remarkable for, amongst other things, the fact that Katz lived to talk about it.

Katz has talked about her experiences ever since, culminating in a documentary by filmmaker Liz Oakley, titled Sentencing the Victim. Katz came to Guilford on Dec. 2 to visit students during the day, and later that night to show the film and participate in a discussion afterwards.

The film chronicles Katz’s in-depth discussion of her assault at the hands of five men that lasted for more than five hours. It then goes on to show the subsequent trial and conviction of the culprits, and Katz’s exhaustive ordeal in having to attend five separate parole hearings since 1996. The film shows a woman who is unafraid to tackle her past experiences as well as the exhaustive process of keeping her attackers in jail.

Katz explained that she was initially reluctant to be the main focus of the documentary.

“I originally wanted to do it about other victims,” said Katz. “When I met Liz Oakley, I talked to her about it and she initially wasn’t interested. Then she went to a parole hearing and was completely appalled and agreed to do the film on her own terms.”

Those terms turned out to be having Katz as the centerpiece to the film.

The film premiered on PBS as part of the Independent Lens film series in 2002, and became the highest-rated showing in the series’ history. Around this time, Katz had been on hiatus from public speaking. Then Guilford alumna Debbie Allen, who works in Victim Education, got a chance to meet Katz, and Katz herself made a point to talk with Allen.

“I met Joanna at a conference and she sought me out,” explained Allen. Together, they formulated a plan for Katz to come to Guilford with the help of a grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission.

Kathryn Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, was instrumental in making Katz’s trip possible, and she said that “the students were amazed by her ability to articulate her experience.”

Katz made it her duty to speak out about victim’s rights and the problems that arise because of judicial hearings of violent crimes and the stigma they carry.

However, Katz is seeing progress.

“Nowadays, victims are more apt to come forward,” Katz said, “but when one gets overwhelmed on making decisions on whether an offender should go to the next stage, you should never forget that the victim should never fall secondary.”

In the film, there are several scenes in which Katz received seemingly indifferent treatment at parole hearings. Her lawyer tried to reason with the board to let all of the hearings be combined so Katz wouldn’t have to continue making repeated trips away from home and missing work as a result.

The film provokes some strong reactions. “It’s gotten some people hot under the seat,” said Katz.

After the film ended, there was a brief clip showing the governor of South Carolina signing a new law that successfully merges all the remaining members of the group together into one parole hearing every two years.

The other three have since been released, but Katz made it clear at the presentation that she isn’t too worried about her well-being, since the three men are on a registered list that can show where they are currently living. So even with several of her attackers released, Katz still feels like she was able to convert her nightmare into a positive experience.

“If I was able to make it happen, the world can’t be such a horrible place,” said Katz.

Senior Samantha Kittle attended when Katz spoke: “I saw the movie earlier this semester. I’m really happy to see issues of rape and sexual assault talked about because they are rarely discussed; I was surprised to see this event coming. I liked what she said about the power of the personal story. Her whole idea really touched me and her use of film as motivation for social change really inspired me.