Understanding Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence - Essay Example

UNDERSTANDING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE Rape is a very misunderstood crime. Common sense dictates that if "rape" is difficult for the justice system and society in general to define, then it will be very hard to understand. The definition of rape even varies from state to state and penal code to penal code. Some criminal codes explicitly consider all kinds of forced sexual activity to be rape, while some codes restrict rape only to instances where a woman is forced bodily by a man. If law enforcement can't even define it, then how is society expected to understand it Rape is defined by Webster as "the crime of engaging in sexual actswith a person who has not consented." Rape is defined "The carnal knowledge of a woman by a man (or vice versa) forcibly and unlawfully against her will. In order to ascertain precisely the nature of this offence, this definition will be analysed." (The 'Lectric Law Library's Lexicon, 1) There are many forms of rape in America's judicial system. There is rape, date rape, statutory rape, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, and sexual assault with intent to do injury. Instances of rape have surely been happening since the beginning of man. It's depicted in Jean M. Auel's novel "Clan of the Cave Bear" about prehistoric times and there are still movies and novels containing rape today. Before 1970 laws in most states required that a rape victim's testimony be corroborated by other evidence, (Linda Farstein, 1). Because this was before the days of DNA and forensics most cases didn't make it to the courtroom. Not to mention the fact that this was well before the "rape shield" laws, when victims were still cross-examined about the prior sexual history. Though rape shield laws also vary state to state and penal code to penal code. Some do the job they were designed to do, while others are insufficient to say the least. Some only protect victims of "on the job" sexual discrimination. Rape wasn't in the media until the early seventies. "The Accused" starring Jodie Foster was a movie based on a real life rape case. The defense lawyer and even the court seemed to portray the belief that since the girl was scantily clad, in a bar drinking and was sexually active with more than one partner, (evidence that was allowed in court), that she brought it on herself, or even deserved it. Sadly this is still an accepted wide-spread belief today. More recently in New Jersey a group of high school boys brutally raped a seventeen year old mentally ill female and the community expressed a "boys will be boys" attitude. The boys in question were not tried as adults, (as they could have been), and they served very little time for their crime. Raves started popping up in the late eighties/early nineties and immediately date rape drugs were being used and investigated. There were several instances before females were finally warned to watch their drinks at bars, clubs and parties. Yet there was still an attitude about the girls being responsible. Many in society were under the assumption that if girls don't want to have sex they wouldn't be out drinking and dancing, dressed sexy and looking for a "good time." One wonders how being forced to have sex against their will could be construed as a "good time." Then news hit about the Catholic church with priests raping young boys. It was soon discovered that the Catholic church was aware of these "indiscretions" and didn't report them, or try to get help for the perpetrators, they just relocated them to a different city with the admonition not to let it happen again. Most recently in the news are teachers raping students. While society has heard of these types of instances in the past, usually it was a male teacher and female student. More often than not in today's society female teachers are the perpetrators and male juveniles are the victims. In 2001 one out of ten reported rape victims were in fact men, (CDC, 2001). This could be due to the fact of the Catholic church fiasco and the latest trend of female teachers as perpetrators preying on young men. It seems that society does not understand rape, does not hold the attackers accountable or responsible for their actions in committing a crime, even a serious violent crime. If society doesn't find it wrong for strangers or acquaintances to commit rape, how would society ever find it wrong for a husband or boyfriend to rape his wife or girlfriend Even though 28% of victims were raped by their husband or boyfriend and 14% of married women are raped by their husband, with 70% of those husbands under the influence of alcohol or some other drug, (CDC, 1). If society doesn't find it alarming, how are the victims supposed to have the courage to stand up and demand justice The statistics on rape in general are a loose estimate as 61% of rapes are not reported to the police, (NCVS, 1). In 2001 only 39% of rapes were reported, that's less than one out of every three, (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1). 44% of victims are under 18 years of age, three out of twenty are under the age of 12, of those victims 93% know their attacker and 34.2% of those were a family member with 58.7% being an acquaintance. It's staggering to learn that in the United States, someone is being sexually assaulted every two minutes, (CDC, 1). A whopping 90% of all victims who do know their attacker do not report it. 40% of rapes occur at the victim's home, 20% at a friend's or relative's home, 10% on the street and 7% in a parking lot or garage, (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1). The average age of rapists is 31, 52% of them are white, in one out of three rapes the perpetrator was under the influence of drugs(4%) and/or alcohol(30%). 6% of rapes involve a weapon, half use a gun, and half use a knife, (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1). 61% of rapists never serve one day in prison, because the crime is not reported. For every rape reported there's a 50.8% chance that an arrest will be made. If that arrest is made there's an 80% chance of prosecution. If the rapist is prosecuted there's only a 58% chance of a felony conviction. If the rapist is convicted of a felony there's a 69% chance that the convict will some kind of time. So broken down that simply amounts to 39% of rapes being reported with only a 16.3% chance that the rapist will end up in prison, however if unreported rapes are factored in only 6% of rapists see the inside of a cell, or 15 out of 16 rapists walk free (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1). In 1993 the Senate Judiciary Committee met to do something about this rape misconception and problem. Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. said, "These finding reveal a justice system that fails by any standard to meet its goals." At that time statistics given stated that 98% of victims would never see their attacker caught, tried and imprisoned. Over half of all rape prosecutions were either dismissed before trial or resulted in an acquittal. Rape prosecutions were twice as likely as murder to be dismissed and a convicted rapist was 50% more likely to receive probation than a convicted robber. Senator Biden Jr also said, "Imagine the public outcry if we were to learn that one quarter of convicted kidnappers or bank robbers were only sentenced to probation or that 54% of arrests for those crimes never led to a conviction. Our system discounts the severity of rape; it normalizes it as mistakes of errant youth or negligent men." Senator Biden Jr. enacted the Violence against Women Act in 1990. His ideas were great. He wanted new laws to focus on the offender's conduct not the victim's character. He wanted new investments in local law enforcement in order to treat rape and family violence as a serious crime. He wanted to extend the "rape-shield" laws to civil and criminal cases, not just sexual harassment cases. And he also wanted new education programs in schools teaching about family violence and rape. Senator Biden Jr. did achieve some of this, maybe not all of it, and not like he wanted to, but he did accomplish a new step in the right direction, (U.S. Congress Report, 1). Despite the changing times, and Senator Biden Jr.'s attempts rape convictions in the United States are declining. In 1992 rape convictions were 2.4% compared with 1.1% in 2000, (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1). However in 1992 only 2.3% of those convicted were sentenced to life in prison and in 2000 2.5% were sentenced to life. And in 1992 those serving time for rape served half of their sentence, but in 2000 those convicted of rape served 65% of their time. In 1992 68% of those convicted of rape received some type of prison sentence, 19% received a jail sentence and 13% received only probation. In 2000 70% of those convicted of rape received some type of prison sentence, 20% received a jail sentence and 16% received only probation, (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1). This is hard to understand in a world where the population has grown considerably in the last fifteen years, and society has gotten more violent and more acceptable to violence, especially dealing with anything sexual in nature. Society has more of an "anything goes" philosophy today than ever before. The rape rate in the U.S. in 1998 was 34.4 per 100,000 and one out of five college women were forced to have sex against their will. 22% of all women say they've been forced into sex acts but only 3% of men admit to forcing women. Not surprising when one considers the phrase "it's all relative." Even if society or U.S. lawmakers don't understand what a horrible crime rape is, it's natural to assume they would understand the bottom line; the dollars and cents of it all. Besides "anything goes" being the new slogan of society, "show me the money" is still very much in play. With rape having the highest annual victim cost of any crime at 127 billion dollars (assault is 93 billion, with murder only 61 billion) it's surprising that law makers haven't tried harder to do something about it. Not only are rape convictions declining in the U.S. but the incidence of rape has declined 85% in the past 25 years, (D'Amato, 1). A Leighton professor of law has a strange theory on that. He feels that as pornography has become freely available to teens and adults, the incidence of rape has gone down. There are correlations and there are causal relationships and supposedly this professor of law did his research and found that "access to pornography is the most important causal factor in the decline of rape," (D'Amato. 1). Regardless of whether he's right or wrong, it's interesting to learn that in the four states with lowest per capita access to the internet (Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota and West Virginia) the incidence of rape did show as a small increase. He also compared the states with the highest per capita access to the internet (Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey and Washington) and found that New Jersey had experienced an almost 50% decline in rape incidences, Colorado and Washington showed a small decrease, but Alaska had increased in both internet access and incidence of rape. Nothing is absolute, but this private study had such surprising factors it would be beneficial to study this anomaly further. Maybe the incidences of rape have declined (as convictions have) due to internet access among other things however the fact that rape convictions are declining is still not good. Victims should be able to feel secure that the U.S. justice system will stand by them, arrest their attacker, try them in a court of law and imprison them if found guilty. One of the first things that needs to be done is change the number of reported rapes. Less than half of all rapes are reported. This is a huge problem. When the Kobie Bryant case went public more than 80% of Americans surveyed felt that the alleged victim was either lying, trying to make easy money or both. This attitude of the American public makes women stop and think before calling 911 to report a rape, experience the medical examination and retrieval of evidence and then the backlash from society; questions about her past history, the number of sexual partners she's had, what she was wearing, what she was doing out so late at night, etc. These questions hit rapid fire way before the case has a chance to go to trial. Of course the Kobie Bryant case was extremely infamous, and most victims' cases aren't. However, almost 80% of all rape victims know their attacker and sometimes it's even a family member. So even though CNN won't be beating down their door for interviews, they will still be disrupting many close family members and may be afraid that loved ones will blame her for the fallout of the family. There have been several case studies done on females who were raped by family members. Perpetrators can be a sibling, father, cousin, uncle, even a grandfather. There are even cases of females raping other female family members. Not many of these cases are reported. Most of the time they don't even "come out" unless the victim or the perpetrator or both were killed during or after the incident. If the attacker is not a family member, it's highly likely to be an acquaintance and society has "beat it into women's heads" that they may have been "asking for it." Maybe the victim liked this guy, flirted with him, even danced with him at a club. She may be too ashamed and afraid to call 911 because others will think she "asked for it" or was a "tease." These types of thought processes are the greatest hurdle to overcome in getting more rapes reported to the authorities so convictions can happen. And not only do these types of thought processes need to be eradicated, but women also need to understand the vital importance of collecting evidence. Evidence can only be collected in the first few days after the assault and the best evidence is collected earliest, (CDC, 1). Women also need to understand that times have changed. Most cities have a special rape unit with an evidence collector and counselor to help them through the embarrassing shameful ordeal. The "boys will be boys" mentality also needs to be eradicated. People who believe that if a woman has a couple alcoholic drinks, wears a skirt and dances in a bar means she wants to get raped need to sign up for a lobotomy. Sadly enough though, many people buy into this theory and they are out there walking talking and even serving jury duty. Lawyers need to be very careful in removing them from a rape case. In elementary schools children learn the 6 pillars, maybe they should learn the 7 pillars, add one that teaches them it is not okay to force someone to do anything against their will. When these children are a little older and ready for sexual education, make sure they learn about family violence and rape, make sure they learn the facts, what's right and wrong and what to do if they're raped or if a rape is attempted on them. Make sure adolescents know that if someone tries to do something to them without their consent it's okay to scream and holler and either run away or try to fight back if it gets to that point. Another hurdle to jump in order to halt the decline of rape convictions in the U.S. is the prison/jail population problem. Overcrowding has been a problem in the U.S. for quite some time now. It is partially to blame for convicted rapists getting only probation, less time, only jail time with community service instead of a harsher punishment. New prisons are being built in almost every state in this country, so the powers that be are doing what they can. But maybe things need to be taken to a new extreme. Maybe the death penalty should be a federal mandate in every state. Maybe a cheaper form of execution needs to be tried. Maybe those serving life sentences or sentenced to death should be used as crash test dummies, or for medical research, or to test shark cages. It sounds extreme but it would open up a lot of room in the existing prisons. Rape is a very misunderstood crime. The rape conviction rate in the U.S. was never too good, but now it is declining even further. This problem needs to be addressed and taken care of sooner rather than later. Senate Majority Committee did what they could in 1993, but the numbers don't lie and this hasn't helped much. There are a few things easily done to halt this decline, and a few things that need to be researched in order to halt this decline. Getting more percentage of the rapes reported is the first step and one of the most difficult. Changing the way victims feel is definitely an uphill battle. Getting them to understand that they must prosecute, that they must call 911, submit to an evaluation and exam no matter how embarrassing, and making them understand how vitally important their testimony would be is crucial to the problem. Having women understand how vital the evidence is for a conviction is the second step. Eradicating the belief that women "deserve it" is the third step. Society must cease the belief that women who have a past sexual history, dress in short skirts and low cut tops and go out on the town with friends deserve what they get. This is abominable and must stop. And finding somewhere to put the convicted, or finding something to do with the convicted is the last step. None of them are easy, but all are of the utmost importance in solving this dilemma. Bibliography Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1997 National Crime Victimization Survey Biden, Joseph R., Jr, Response to Rape: Detours on the Road to Equal Justice 1993, U.S. Congress Report, Majority Staff, Senate Judiciary Committee, May 1993 Couric, Katie. Rape Prevention Education and Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, 2000 Fairstein, Linda. On Rape, March 9 2007 D'Amato, Anthony. "Porn Up Rape Down" Leighton Professor of Law, Northwestern Law School, June 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc, "Drop in Domestic Violence Down No Reason to Reduce Efforts", Portland Press Herald, March 2007 Viner, Katherine; Guardian Unlimited, September 2004, retrieved on 1.05.2007 from http://www.guardian.com The 'Lectric Law Library's Lexicon; retrieved on 1.05.2006 from http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/q097.htm Read More