The jury's decision to convict Brandon Vandenburg and Corey Batey on all counts of aggravated rape and sexual battery could soon have a noticeable effect on the national discourse on such crimes.

According to the Associated Press, the ruling says loud and clear that intoxication should not be accepted as an excuse for gang rape. Defense attorneys for the former football players at Vanderbilt University argued that the culture of binge drinking and promiscuous sex had the young men not feeling as though they were not doing anything wrong.

It also states that a perpetrator can be convicted of rape and battery even without touching the victim, which is apparently the case with Vandenburg. Per witness testimony, Vandenburg was dating the victim at the time, asked for help getting her into the dorm room when she was passed out drunk and "coached" Batey, Brandon Banks and Jaborian McKenzie in raping her.

Banks and McKenzie are awaiting a trial of their own, but served as witnesses in Vandenburg and Batey's.

"There's no shortage of rape and sexual assault cases being put out in the media, but very rarely do we hear all the graphic details of a sexual assault," Rachel Freeman, vice president of programs at the Sexual Abuse Center of Nashville, Tenn., told the AP.

But on the surface, 80 percent of sexual assault cases on college campuses go unreported, according to U.S. Justice Department data. Comparatively, 67 percent of all other sexual assault cases go unreported.

Victims have sometimes said they either did not or delayed reporting their attack for fear, shame and embarrassment. In a statement read by a prosecutor, the victim in Vandenburg and Batey's trial had a simple message.

"I want to remind other victims of sexual violence: You are not alone," she said. "You are not to blame."