Criminal Justice: Child Victim of Sexual Assaults and Acquaintance Rape Victims - Term Paper Example

? Criminal Justice: Child Victim of Sexual Assaults and Acquaintance Rape Victims Id: Institute’s Date: Abstract Sexual assault is not confined to specific segment or racial group of a society only. The general perception of a common man is that only mentally destitute person violently drags defenseless to the point of no return in attempting sexual assault. The vulnerable sexual objects for rape in the USA are children and the women. Acquaintance victims are the victims of forced rape. The child sexual assault, acquaintance rape, date rape, violence, and sexual harassment are very common in the educational institutional campuses in the USA. In majority rape cases friends, classmates, co staff, neighbors and of course nearest relatives were involved. The body of a sexually assaulted grows up in a disturbing way. This sort of disturbance affects the children’s biological development and adult function if sexual assault occurs. The legislators and the law enforcers of the US are trying hard to overcome this menace of sexual assaults by addressing number of loopholes in the criminal justice system. Researchers are united on this point that only college rape prevention programs are not sufficient to address the ongoing issue. Criminal Justice: Child Victim of Sexual Assaults and Acquaintance Rape Victims Introduction In all the developed countries around the globe in general and the United States of America in particular, child sexual abuse is a serious health problem. In the United States of America, females and males at the age of 18 years are vulnerable for sexual assault. Sexual assault is not confined to specific segment or racial group of a society only. All segments are affected with this experience. It is very unfortunate that in the USA sexual abuse is considered a common practice in the lives of kids and people of certain age groups. According to the survey conducted by the National Institute of Justice way back to 1997 indicates that out of 22.3 million children between the age of 12 and 17, 1.8 million victims fell down to sexual assault (Dominguez, et al., 2006). The general perception of a common man is that only mentally destitute person violently drags defenseless to the point of no return. It is an inaccurate perception. If we take five out of six cases, we find that the attackers are no other than known acquaintance of a victim who committed the crime The term “Acquaintance Rape” is used for an individual well versed with the victim, where as the term “Date Rape” is used where an individual has a dating relationship and sexual assault occurs during the course of dating. Therefore, mentioned rapes are considered as violent and coercive in nature (National Center for Victims of Crime, 1998). The vulnerable sexual objects for rape in the USA are children and the women. However, male cannot be completely absolved from sexual assault. Acquaintance rape attributes to a number of reasons (socio, economic, cultural, religious and racial). The wrong myth is that victims are sexually loose persons who have a desire for it. Contrary to that, acquaintance victims are the victims of forced rape. Literature Review Research conducted by the US Health and Human Services Department indicates that approximately 905,000 children fell prey to the crime of child abuse in the year 2006. The physical injuries inflicted upon a victim may or may not become to the surface but the consequences of incident may last long for children, their families and the society as well (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2008). The research in question indicates that damages done to the victims, family and society as a whole are irreparable. The abuse may have the reasons of neglect, personal character and of course the environment of a child where he spends most of the time. Consequences of sexual assault on a child may be mild or severe in nature but can harm him in many ways (physically, psychologically and behaviorally). At last, the society has to bear the brunt of child abuses and the acquaintances’ abuses if this menace is not stopped (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2008). The child sexual assault, acquaintance rape, date rape, violence, and sexual harassment are very common in the educational institutional campuses in the USA. More than 25% women irrespective of their race and gender may have the experience of date rape and acquaintance rape. Even it can be seen in the professor student relationship provided the student must be in the consent age. Their greed for better grade pushes them to maintain close relationship with the professors (Harper & Harris, 2010). Therefore, the said category of college and university students do not mind in maintaining the sexual relationship with their tutors for the sake of short term achievement, a practice which is known as hooking up in the educational institutions of USA. It may be different in meaning for different institutions. We may cite here the examples of Howard University wherein the majority of students take up hooking as meeting with friends or to exchange cell numbers instead of building a relationship for sexual acts (Bogle, 2008). In the country of apex power of the world, date rape is common amongst the age group of 15 and 25 on college campuses.  This sort of (date rape) relationship appears within ten weeks of student’s life.  Alcoholic influence, trust and the student’s lust may be the causes of sexual relationship at college and the university campuses (Bogle, 2008).   Initial two weeks of college academic year of a student’s life are important when an individual at the high risk of sexual assault. There are number of cases of sexual assaults which have happened due to lack of understanding and communication. The majority rapes of women so far reported led to the known attackers (Bureau of Justice Statistics). More than, Eighty-six percent of rapes happened in off campus premises or in a vehicle. Reportedly, prior to rape, the percentage of virgin was around 42%. It is strange that the reported false cases were only 2% to 3% (Harper & Harris, 2010). The legislators and the law enforcers of the US are trying hard to overcome this menace of sexual assaults by addressing number of loopholes in the criminal justice system. So far, the laws and the procedures to eliminate this heinous crime in vogue proved unsuccessful due to lack of corroborative and the physical evidence (Harper & Harris, 2010). It is the need of the hour that the trial courts should speed up trial process in order to clear the backlog and to provide timely justice to the affected persons. We are of the opinion that there should not be rape kit test if a rapist is identified by the victim and the witnesses. In accordance with the official statistics, few victims were found in reporting the false statement with regard to rape and attempted rape. Research confirms that non stranger assailants are the repeat offenders. In order to discourage criminals from repeating the similar offences every now and then, they should be death with an iron hand. In the subsequent paragraphs, you may find comparison and contrast between the two, Child Victims of Sexual Assaults and Acquaintance Rape Victims. The aftermath of rape is coupled with physical and psychological trauma, which a victim or victims has/have to face. The uncooperative attitude of a victim of sexual assault may lead to death. The victim of forced rape needs considerable time to rehabilitate as far as the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the victim is concerned (Sampson, 2002). The child in both forms of sexual assault has to cope up with short-term and long-term harm, which includes psychopathology in the later stages of life. The aftereffects of coercive sexual assault are psychological, emotional, destructive attitude and last but not least attempt to commit suicide. The harm of psychological impact on a victimized child is beyond someone’s imagination (Sampson, 2002). Data Collection Females are raped at a higher rate than the female students of colleges in the USA. Most of the male college students restrict their activities other than the activities of intercourse. College men who are involved in raping usually get raped by other men. The exact information of rapes and the rapists could not be gathered due to unreported cases. Even to date existing national data collection systems fail to gather the information in this respect. Moreover, the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is helpless in providing the exact data on male rape victims. This gap needs to be filled up with the survey date which suggests that 10 percent of acquaintance rape victims suffered at the hands of known persons (Bloom, 2003). The United States of America is nowadays facing acute health problems as far as the problem of children and the adults who become victims at the hands of rapists. It is agreed by all segments of society that repercussions of sexual assault on children are immediate and long-term due to its devastating effects. As per the statistics, around 20 percent American women and 10 percent men had received some form of sexual abuse in their childhood. Further, more than six persons out of ten persons fall prey to sexual abuse well before reaching the age of 18 years and 29% coercive rape appeared before the age of eleven. This age group that ranges from 12 to 17 is open to attack for serious sexual offences. The survey conducted the other day, shows that in future at least 12.1 million American women will be the victim of coercive rape in their life time (Harper & Harris, 2010). Researchers are united on this point that only college rape prevention programs are not sufficient to address the ongoing issue. Unreported incidents indicate that the college administration hardly reports such cases to the police to book the culprits. Further, reporting of such cases to the police department may lead to investigation and bring bad name to the college/university’s administration and the institution as well. Therefore, parents will be reluctant to get their wards admitted in ill famed college/university (Bogle, 2008). Degree of Shared Responsibility to Each Sexual contact can be categorized as a) coercive b) willing. In majority rape cases friends, classmates, co staff, neighbors and of course nearest relatives were involved. The effective tools of a rapist are: a) physical aggression b) threats of force and c) emotional blackmailing (Lamb, 1999). Amongst other things, rape is the most common and violent crime in American college and university campuses today.  It narrates the problems that emanates from acquaintance rape of college student, addressing its limitation, causes and contributing factors. Identified methods can only examine the response effectiveness. With the available information, police and public safety officers can counter the problems effectively (Bogle, 2008). Acquaintance rape is another form of problem which relates to sexual assaults of college inmates. Only the well thought out strategy will address the problems as mentioned here under in seriatim: a) stranger rape b) drug influenced rape c) sexual battery d) verbal coercion to obtain sexual intercourse e) indecent exposure f) obscene phone callers g) sexual harassment and h) sexual victimization (Tangney & Dearing, 2002). The Women in the age bracket of 16 to 24 experience rape threat four times higher than the assault rate of other women. Therefore, their initial years in school and college may pose a constant threat to the chastity of women students. Therefore, the college women are more vulnerable than those women who are not admitted in any college or university. As per the data gathered by the research institutions, almost 25 percent of college women are under constant threat of rape and attempted rate since their age of puberty. Rape rates vary from institution to institution, place to place and region to region. It has further been observed that certain schools and certain places are more rape prone than others. Frequent parties, easy access to wine, single living students and the availability of private rooms are the reasons of high rape rates of female college students (Tangney & Dearing, 2002). Victim-Blaming or Victim-Defending Tendencies of the Criminal Justice System Rape being a stigma of society should not be nurtured since it brings bad name to the victim’s reputation. Further, the victim has to live in isolation due to various reasons, disowning by family and friends, prohibition for marrying, divorce if married and gruesome murder at the hands of family members. We have seen that after sexual assault, student has to face the abusive language of paramedics, classmates and the coworkers of an institution and the organization. The term victim is used to blame the victim who is responsible for a partial or the whole crime. It reflects the attitude of certain victims of rape. In extreme cases, victims are always blamed to have asked for it (Sampson, 2002). However, People who believe in justice and fair play may find it difficult to accept a scenario in which, a person hurts another person for no fault of his or her own. In the mentioned scenario, the victim has to strive hard to keep him respectfully alive. According to alternate theory, it needs to protect someone from physical assault. Believers feel that proactive approach to counter this curse is the safest way. A recent research conducted by the Global Forum for Health Research indicates admissibility of victim blaming concepts by many countries around the world. According to Dr Roxanne Agnew, who is an expert of clinical psychology, victim correlates blaming with fear. Hence, it is not surprising if number of victims blame themselves. It is the moral duty of a female juror to look at the victim woman in the witness box and decide what has happened to her. It is to be investigated whether the wrong done to her was under the influence of alcohol or not. So the jurors can easily understand situation in order to come to a conclusion (Sampson, 2002). Last three decades, witnessed overwhelming effects on the body and soul of victims of child abuse. It is fact that the Trauma Theory is a comprehensive psychosocial and philosophical model to understand the consequences. The trauma suddenly changed the course of life of a victim for a longer period of time or till such time; a victim comes out of trauma. All these factors are deep rooted in terms of psychobiological development. Evidence leads us to the nature and extent of psychobiological changes, associated with sexual assault (Harper & Harris, 2010). Now the science has come to that stage where one can easily gauge negative stress on a human body in a number of ways. The body of a sexually assaulted grows up in a disturbing way. This sort of disturbance affects the children’s biological development and adult function if sexual assault occurs. Multiplication of the problem amounts to re-victimization. Child sexual abuse survivors may have an experience of force rape (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2008). Available Support Services We find lacking in American laws and policies in terms of keeping an eye on the perpetrators. There should be concrete measures that prevent others to fall prey. Taking revenge with the rapist is not the solution of the problem. Further, government should focus on this menace and educate parents on how they prevent their children from sexual abuse. Effective strategies help those at risk committing sexual abuse by confronting attitudes and behaviors that contribute to exploitation of children. The government should devise effective strategies for the victims, focusing on productive and trustful relationship with family and community members (Tangney & Dearing, 2002). To cope up with the mentioned scenario, the other day few states of America have convened the meetings of Sex Offender Management Boards (SOMBs). The Board in question comprised professionals and experts from child protective agencies, law enforcement agencies and youth saving programs to work in collaboration with to examine the current policies and their efficacy to deal with the situation so as to advise the law makers and other policy makers to draft effective bills that reduce such cases in the days ahead (Tangney & Dearing, 2002). Service Availability and Improvement As far as the youth who had gone through the sexual abuse may be brought for counseling to the mentioned board (SOMB) in order to build their trust and help them to come out of the trauma, which is necessary to lead a peaceful life. These measures will be of great help for a child to return to a normal life. Yes, of course, therapeutic process may have its positive role in healing up the wounds of body and soul of a child (Bloom, 2003). There are numerous books and articles on children and adults touching upon the subject in details. Therefore, the American professionals and experts recommend the parents to visit thoroughly such type of books and articles before sharing their thoughts with youth. Such books are important in handling the issues of a child whose personality has been ruined at the hands of a rapist. The parents of the effected child if trained under the child sexual abuse may help others to keep themselves aloof from suspected sexual abuse (Bloom, 2003). Conclusion A thorough study of the articles written by number of authors on the subject matter reveals that the women and children are more vulnerable than their counter part. Today law enforcers and the prosecutors are well equipped with the art of moving cases towards its logical conclusion. Yet despite so many reforms, the number of reported rape cases is on the verge of increase. What to talk about unreported cases. With the increase of rape cases, the arrest of rapists is also on the increase. If we compare the figure of 2010 with the figure of 1970, we observed that the arrests in respect of rape cases were around 24 percent, exactly the same figure of arrests as it was shown in late 1970s. Further, there are number of cases in USA which either not reported or properly investigated due to one reason or the other (Tofle, 2012). In many Reported rape cases, involvement of known persons was found. Sometimes the victim of rape misguided the law enforcers with the fear of tarnishing their respect in the society. Further, cumbersome procedure is one of the reasons to get justice. When the cases are not speedily disposed off, there will be more cases to be piled up in the pipe line for disposal. References Bloom, S. (2003). Understanding the impact of sexual assault:  the nature of traumatic experience. Retrieved from http://www.sanctuaryweb.com/PDFs_new/Bloom Understanding impact sexual assault.pdf [Accessed 12 Nov 2012]. Bogle, Kathleen A. (2008). Hooking up: sex, dating, and relationships on campus. New York: NYU Press. Child Welfare Information Gateway (2008).Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/long_term_consequences.cfm#factors [Accessed: 12 Nov 2012]. Dominguez, Renee Z., Nelke, Connie F. & Perry, Bruce D. (2006). Sexual Abuse of Children. [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.aaets.org/article124.htm [Accessed: 13 Nov 2012]. Harper, Shaun R. & Harris, F. (2010). College men and masculinities: theory, research, and implications for practice. New York: John Wiley and Sons.  Lamb, S. (1999). The Trouble with Blame: Victims, Perpetrators and Responsibility. Harvard: Harvard University Press. National Center for Victims of Crime (1998).Network of Victim Assistance (NOVA) Victim Services Crime Information - Acquaintance Rape. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.novabucks.org/acquaintancerape.html [Accessed: 12 Nov 2012]. Sampson, Rana. (2002). Acquaintance Rape of College Students. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/rape/ [Accessed: 12 Nov 2012]. Tangney, June P. & Dearing, Ronda L. (2002). Shame and Guilt. London: The Guilford Press. Tofle, S. (April 9, 2012). A Needed Revolution: Rape and U.S. Justice. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/09/a-needed-revolution-rape-and-u-s-justice.html [Accessed: 13 Nov 2012]. Read More