Detection, Control And Prevention Of Rape - Term Paper Example

Detection, Control And Prevention Of Rape “Estimates from national prevalence studies suggest that 13%–16% of adult women have experienced forcible rape in their lifetimes” (Testa & Livingston, 2009, p.1350) Sex-related crimes, especially rape like antisocial activities growing across the world day by day. No country or community seems to be free from the dangers of rape. Sociologists and psychologists have blamed electronic media for the increased rape-related crimes. The development of electronic media like mobile phones, internet, and television helped the spreading of sex-related materials which encourage or motivate people to engage in violent activities like rape. It is widely demonstrated that rape is a major public health problem on college campuses, with research suggesting that that 3% of college women are raped during a 9-month period and one fifth to one fourth of all women experience a completed or attempted rape during their 4- to 5-year college careers (McMahon, 2010, p.3) Rape spoils the life of the victim. It is difficult for the victim to lead a normal life after the rape incident. In some countries, people isolate rape victims from the main streams of social life. In conservative or patriarchal societies, it is difficult for the victim to think of a married life because of the reluctance of people in marrying victims. In most of the rape cases, the victims would be unmarried females or female teenagers. Patriarchal societies have the habit of blaming females in rape cases, even if they were victimized by the dominant male community. In other words, females would be at the receiving end in majority of the rape-related crime incidents. Rape-related incidents or sexual assaults are taking place not only in open societies, but in closed societies like prisons or correctional facilities also. Kaiser & Stannow (2008) have pointed out that “more than 216,600 people were sexually abused in prisons and jails and, in the case of at least 17,100 of them, in juvenile detention. Overall, that’s almost six hundred people a day—twenty-five an hour”(Kaiser & Stannow, 2008). In fact, many of the criminals believe that rape or sexual abuse is part of their prison life and it cannot be avoided, even though rape in prisons was prevented by the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). In short, rape is a social evil which should be detected, controlled and prevented by implementing stiff laws against rape. Detection, control and prevention of rape Detection of rape crimes is important in taking preventive measures. In some countries or cultures, victims often try to hide their bitter experiences because of the fear of consequences from the society. In male-dominated societies, females have many things to loss than males, in rape cases. They may face social isolation, harassing, teasing etc. In order to avoid such things, victims quiet often try to hide the rape attempts made by the males. The failure of victims in reporting their bitter experiences related to rape, encourage the offenders further and they will repeat their activities again and again. There are many rape cases reported from different countries in which the offender was none other than the father himself. In such cases, the victim (female children) will not disclose their experience most of the times because of their fear of their father. “In one study, seventy-four percent of women who had intercourse before age fourteen and sixty percent of those who had sex before age fifteen report having had a forced sexual experience (Colb, 2004, p.2). The above statistics show the depth of the problem quiet clearly. It is an accepted fact that teenagers are vulnerable to sex-related crimes than adults because of various reasons. Molesting a teenager is easy than molesting an adult because of genetic or psychological reasons. Teenage is a period during which sex hormones develop rapidly and therefore teenagers have a strong desire for sexual activities. They may not think too much about the consequences at that time. The sex offenders often work among teenage community in order to execute their plans. So, the rape control activities should begin from the teenage community. Teenagers should be given proper sex education to save them from sex-related crimes. Sex education should be included in the curriculum so that the myths, superstitions and concerns about sex activities among teenage community can be reduced considerably. A number of researchers found an association between alcohol and sexual assault. The proportion of victims to perpetrators who consumed alcohol prior to a sexually aggressive incident range from 50% to as high as 80%.In addition, a woman’s level of alcohol consumption is more highly correlated with attempted rapes, as well as with an increased severity of sexual assault. However, women are likely to underestimate the role of alcohol as a personal risk factor for sexual assault. Alcohol may impair a woman’s ability to resist unwanted sexual advances. Intoxicated women have reported participating in greater levels of consensual sexual activity with the perpetrator immediately prior to a sexual assault and offered less resistance than did nonintoxicated women during an assault (Loiselle &Fuqua, 2007, p.261). The above statistics clearly show the correlation between alcohol addiction and rape cases. As stated earlier, in the majority of the rape cases, the offender would have consumed alcoholic drinks prior to the rape attempt. Moreover, the resistance offered by the females against rape attempts could be feeble if the females are under the influence of alcohol. Even well-behaved teenagers may become sexually violent under the influence of alcohol. In many cases, substance abuse or drug addiction also causes rape attempts. In school and college campuses, many of the teenagers use alcoholic drinks and psychoactive drugs quiet regularly and under the influence of these psychoactive drinks, they lose control over their actions. In short, the majority of the rape-related crimes can be reduced by putting control over alcohol and drug abuse in school and college campuses. Loiselle & Fuqua (2007) have pointed out another reason also for the wide spreading of rape crimes. In their opinion, “dating situations contain many ambiguous cues, some of which may be associated with positive and negative consequences like sexual coercion and assault” (Loiselle &Fuqua, 2007, p.262). In western countries, dating is a socially accepted phenomenon whereas in Asian countries, such things are rare. Dating is an activity in which a male and female interact more closely. These close interactions often result in body touching, hugging, kissing etc which will generate sexual energy. It is not necessary that the mind-set of the male and female is the same while engaging in dating activities. Females may not have wrong intentions whereas males may have intentions for sexual intercourse. In such cases, the possibility of a rape cannot be ruled out. So, regulation of dating activities is necessary to prevent rape incidents among school or college students. Another reason for the increase in rape crime is the attitude of the public towards rape incidents. In many cases, people are reluctant in interfering even if they witness rape attempts. Many studies have proved that bystander intervention can help in preventing rape-related crimes. The idea of bystander intervention originated after the landmark case involving the murder of a woman named Kitty Genovese in New York in 1964. The assault occurred in public and there were numerous witnesses who did not intervene, and thus began the often-cited work of researchers Latane and Darley who studied how bystanders react to emergency situations and why they do not intervene. The idea of bystander behavior is well established in the field of social psychology and is utilized internationally, largely to explore individual’s reactions to witnessing crimes and emergencies (McMahon, 2010, p.4). Morality and ethics are rapidly diminishing subjects from the current world. Religions were the major pillars upon which morality and ethics constructed in the past. Religions are losing its significance in the contemporary society and therefore morality also follows the same path which is evident from the Kitty Genovese incident. People are becoming more and more selfish in nature. The current generation is less interested in interfering in matters which are unrelated to them. In the past, people were more interested in helping others in emergency or crisis situations. It should be noted that larger families given way to nuclear families at present and as a result of that cooperation and healthy relationships between even the family members are exhausting. Cultivation of moral and ethical principles in the society is one way of controlling rape like social evils. No religions encourage or advocate rape as an accepted behavior. So in countries where religions have the significant role, rape incidents would be less. For example, in Middle Eastern countries, rape-related crimes are very less compared to the western countries in which religions have less significance. Moreover, in countries like China, rape cases are less because of the stronger autocratic administration prevailing there. In short, good or stronger governance and spreading of religious beliefs can prevent rape-related crimes up to certain extent. So, far we have discussed arguments against rape and the possible remedial measures to prevent or control rape crimes. However, it should be noted that prostitution is a socially accepted profession in many countries even though rape is an illegal activity. This is because of the fact that the impacts caused by rape and prostitution affect the offender and the victim differently. Rape is an activity which is performed without mutual consent whereas prostitution is an activity which is performed with mutual consent. In other words, rape provides pleasure to the offender and damages to the victim whereas prostitution provides pleasure to both. The relationship between persons is inter-subjective or inter-personal. Marriage, whether good or not, is an inter-subjective, inter-personal relationship; whereas prostitute/client relationship is between subject and some of his useful objects. Prostitution actually alienates anything personal or inter-personal (Gilead, 2010, p.87). The relationship between the male and female is important in rape or normal sex activities. Sex activities among husbands and wives can also sometimes come under the category of rape. It should be noted that some of the husbands forcefully engage in sexual activities with their wives. In such cases, the females may not derive any pleasure. Moreover, "forced anal penetration may cause intense pain, abrasions, soreness, bleeding, even, in some cases, tearing of the anus or transmission of the HIV virus”(Ribet, 2010, p.290). Such sexual activities can be considered as rape rather than normal sexual intercourse. In short, the mind-set of the male and female should be taken into the account while labeling a sex act as a rape or normal sexual intercourse. Laws against rape Forcible rape, as defined in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Assaults and attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded (Rape Law - Guide to Rape Law, 2011). Rape laws are feeble in United Sates. Rape is an offense under common law of England. Since United Sates was once a colony of Great Britain, British common law is still applicable in America. Under this law, if a party uses forces to have sex with another party, it can be considered as a crime. However, the victim should provide sufficient evidences to the court that the rape was happened without his/her consent. The forceful sex performed by a husband upon his wife was not considered as a crime till the late twentieth century. Wives were considered as the private property of the husbands in the past. For example, “until 1993 North Carolina law stated that "a person may not be prosecuted if the victim is the person's legal spouse at the time of the commission of the alleged rape or sexual offense"(Rape Law - Guide to Rape Law, 2011). However, at present even husbands are legally prohibited from forcing their wives for sexual activities. Even in closed societies like prisons and correctional facilities, rape elimination laws are applicable. For example, Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was enforced in 2003 with an intention to eliminate sexual abuse cases in prisons and correctional facilities. PREA calls for the adoption of a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse; maintains prohibitions on cross-gender pat and strip searches of juveniles; requires a facility to designate an on-site PREA co-ordinator; and calls for background checks of prospective corrections officers to screen for past incidents of inmate abuse (Ending Prison Rape, 2011). The major objective of PREA is the prevention of sex crimes in prisons and correctional facilities and ensures zero tolerance to sex-related crimes. One of the major myths associated with life in correctional facilities is that correctional facilities are places where rape is permissible. Even some of the jail officials have the belief that they can exploit the prisoners sexually and no laws can punish them. PREA is aimed to prevent sexual assaults not only among prisoners but also it aims to control the exploitation of prisoners by the jail officials. Conclusions Detection, prevention and control or rape is possible only with the help of the individuals, family, community and the government. The disappearance of morality and ethics is the major reason for the wide spreading of rape related antisocial activities. The dominating attitude is inherent among human beings and it is predominant among stronger individuals. Males are more muscular and stronger than females and therefore in rape related incidents, females would always be at the receiving end. Sex education helps teenagers in controlling their violent behaviour with respect to sex related crimes like rape. In many cases, the victims fail to report the incident because of their fear of social isolation and other consequences. Victims should never stay away from reporting rape incidents in order to prevent the offender from repeating his activities. Alcoholic addiction and substance abuse force teenagers to engage in rape like activities more frequently. In other words, reduction of substance abuse, alcoholic addiction etc would help the controlling of rape. The society should change its views and attitude towards rape related crimes. Instead of isolating the victims from the main streams of social life, the offenders should be isolated from the society or punished, in order control sex related crimes. Even though the rape prevention laws were weaker till the late twentieth century, it is not so at present. There are many laws with respect to the prevention of rape, both in open and closed societies. Even the forced sex performed by a husband upon his wife is punishable under the modern laws, which are aimed to control sex crimes against females. In prisons and correction facilities, separate laws are in place to reduce the rape incidents. In short, rape incidents are increasing; not because of the absence of severe laws, but because of the lack of sincerity in the implementation of these laws by the authorities. References Colb S F (2004). The pros and cons of statutory rape laws. CNN Justice. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2004-02-13/justice/findlaw.analysis.colb.statutory.rape_1_child-molestation-young-girls-virginity/2?_s=PM:LAW Ending Prison Rape (2011). Hamilton Spectator, The (ON), Feb 02, 2011. EBSCOhost. Gilead A (2010). Philosophical Prostitution. Journal of Social Sciences 6 (1): 85-92, 2010 ISSN 1549-3652. 2010 Science Publications, March 1, 2010. Kaiser D & Stannow L (2008). Prison Rape and the Government. Retrieved from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/mar/24/prison-rape-and-government/ Loiselle M PhD & Fuqua WR PhD (2007). Alcohol’s Effects on Women’s Risk Detection in a Date-Rape Vignette. Journal Of American College Health, Vol. 55, NO. 5. March 1 2007. McMahon S (2010). Rape Myth Beliefs and Bystander Attitudes Among Incoming College Students. Journal Of American College Health, VOL. 59, NO. 1 July 1, 2010. Rape Law - Guide to Rape Law, (2011). Retrieved from http://www.hg.org/rape-law.html Ribet B (2010). Naming prison rape as disablement: a critical Analysis of the prison litigation reform act, the Americans with disabilities act, and the imperatives Of survivor-oriented advocacy. Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law Date: January 1, 2010 Testa M & Livingston JA (2009), Alcohol Consumption andWomen’s Vulnerability to Sexual Victimization: Can Reducing Women’s Drinking Prevent Rape? Substance Use & Misuse, 44:1349–1376. 2009 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.DOI: 10.1080/10826080902961468 Read More