In Alyssa Pinsker's letter in yesterday's Daily Collegian, she creates a false dichotomy between not blaming victims and taking sensible measures to prevent crime.

To hold the victims entirely blameless is to say that they had no power to prevent what happened to them, and that's simply not true.

In most crimes, there is something the victim could have done to protect him or herself.

If you leave your car unlocked overnight in a bad neighborhood, that doesn't make it okay if someone steals it.

But when it does get stolen, people will ask what you expected.

Ms. Pinsker uses the words "accept" and "expect" is if they were inseparable. But there is a big difference between accepting sexual assault and expecting it.

Of course we shouldn't accept any type of crime.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't expect these things to happen occasionally and do what we can to be safe.

Educating males about sexual assault is not the answer.

In recent incidents, it appears that mental illness and intoxication were far more to blame than the perpetrators' not knowing any better. No amount of education or punishment will ever eradicate crime.

When it comes to preventing bad things from happening to us, we all need to take responsibility for our own safety and security.

Women would be well advised to avoid being alone with intoxicated males, be careful not to get too drunk themselves and lock their doors.

The last two suggestions apply to men as well.

Instead of worrying about whom to place the blame upon, we should be looking out for each other and, most of all, ourselves.