Posted by Scott on May 6th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
Galen Eagle writes about the rehabilitation of sexual offenders. I include an excerpt:
[…]Haley only works with those willing to be held accountable and willing to take treatment. The courts can’t force an offender to take therapy, so they must do so willingly if there is any hope for rehabilitation, Haley said.
“I help counsel them on taking full responsibility for what they have done. The only way these guys can get help and I know our community will be safe is if they take 100 per cent responsibility for what they have done and take the treatment,” he said. “I have no time for an offender who makes excuses.”
Every sexual offender who enters the federal prison system - those serving two years or more - is initially herded through the assessment unit at Millhaven Institution near Kingston.
There they go through a sexual offender risk assessment to determine their level of risk and their treatment needs. They are then dispersed to various regional facilities.
Those who are sent to the Warkworth Institution, as many Peterborough offenders are, come under the watch of Dr. Ed Peacock, a psychologist who has treated sexual offenders for the past 15 years.
With the right treatment, Peacock said Corrections Canada has had high success rates with sexual offenders. The popular notion that pedophiles, molesters and rapists can’t be helped, that they are destined to re-offend, is not what the statistics suggest, Peacock said.
“I would say it is largely a myth. The known re-offence rates or the rates of sexual recidivism are much lower than most people think,” he said.
Read entire article by Galen Eagle.
I like hearing that we can successfully rehabilitate more sexual offenders than often thought. It makes me hopeful.
Of course, we need to actually do it.
Unfortunately, many prison systems throughout the world (especially in my home country, the USA) fail to work effectively. They just throw offenders in cells and let them live with criminals for a certain number of years before releasing them back into the public. If anything, violent offenders come out of prison more dangerous than when they went into prison.
Additionally, these inefficient and dysfunctional incarceration systems get bogged down and overcrowded by high populations of non-violent offenders arrested for victimless crimes. Let’s stop wasting resources on non-violent druggies, prostitutes and such! Instead, let’s focus our resources on rehabilitating victimizers, such as sexual offenders, murders, thieves, and such. That way we actually protect people.
Also, I don’t agree with maximum sentences. Regardless of what violent crime these violent criminals committed, let’s keep them in jail until - if ever - they have been rehabilitated. I’d rather have a completely rehabilitated murderer walking the streets than a unrehabilitated mugger.
I see money as the only justifiable obstacle. However, we would have much more funding to spend on jailing and rehabilitating victimizers if we stopped wasting it on enforcing victimless crimes. Also, I suggest billing convicted criminals for the costs associated with investigating them, arresting them, convicting them, jailing them, and any other costs resulting from their crime and the punishment thereof. Why bill innocent tax-payers for the crimes of somebody else?
What do you think? Can we rehabilitate sexual offenders?
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Posted by Scott on April 12th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
Chelsey Tulgren recently sent me a message informing about a petition regarding an incident that happened at her school, the University of Minnesota. The incident involved 3 football players who allegedly raped an 18-year-old woman. The petition expresses outrage over the blind support given to the football players by coaches, teammates, and fans, and the allowance of such support by the University. Additionally, the petition calls for more support for victims of rape and sexual assault. I signed the petition, which you can find at petitiononline.com/2endrape/petition.html. Read it, and if you also agree sign it.
I understand the danger of false accusations. We all agree in treating accused people as innocent until proven guilty. However, athletes - both student and professional - get extra immunity. Our society and schools have a noticeable tendency to excuse athletes’ bad behavior for irrelevant reasons such as the athletes popularity. In the same way schools have notoriously given student-athletes good grades despite poor academic performance, athletes get a legal pass on inexcusable behavior. We need to stop all rapists, not just the rapists who cannot play a good ball game.
When it comes to legal investigations for violent crimes such as rape, we cannot afford to give athletes extra breaks or blind support. Let’s judge people by their guilt, not by their athletic ability.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on March 18th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
Women’s Health News reports on recent research of sexual victimization:
Sexual victimization can mean several things — verbal coercion to have sex with an intimate partner, rape by a stranger, a woman fondled in a bar or forced intercourse when a woman is too intoxicated to consent or object.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions report that 18 percent of young women recruited into a study experienced sexual victimization in a two-year period. Victimization was defined as unwanted sexual contact, verbally coerced sex, rape or attempted rape. Among this group, the majority (approximately 66 percent) stated that their victimization was perpetrated by an intimate partner.
Importantly, it was found that sexual victimization of women by intimate partners and non-intimate partners are two completely separate phenomena. Two different sets of risk factors exist for victimization by two different types of perpetrators.
The factors that predicted victimization from intimates were different than the factors that predicted victimization from non-intimates. Predictors of intimate partner victimization included being married or living together, prior intimate partner victimization and difficulty refusing a partner’s request for sex. Thus, women who experience this type of sexual victimization are at risk of experiencing it multiple times, by virtue of remaining in relationships with sexually aggressive men.
A predictor of victimization by a non-intimate perpetrator was binge drinking. “One explanation for this may be that a perpetrator who is not intimately acquainted with a victim is more likely to take advantage of a woman’s intoxication as a way to facilitate having sex with her,” according to Testa. “Women who are heavy drinkers or binge drinkers typically drink outside the home and in the presence of others who are drinking, reflecting a lifestyle that poses greater risk from men they don’t know.”
Another predictor of victimization by a non-intimate perpetrator was engaging in sex with a greater number of sexual partners. This behavior also increased risk for subsequent sexual victimization due to exposure to a greater number of potential perpetrators.
Read entire article.
Many times women get drunk, choose to have sex, regret it later, and then blame the person with whom they had sex by calling it sexual victimization. I do not see that as sexual victimization. I highly recommend to all people: Don’t drink so much that you make bad decisions you wouldn’t otherwise make; If you do, blame yourself.
Statistics show that when using objective criteria (i.e. how much the person drank), men get “taken advantage of” just as much as women.
I doubt the accuracy of studies that rely on the allegedly victimized person’s definition of victimization - because this definition varies from person to person. In other words, a study that simply asks women if they have been victimized won’t get accurate numbers.
Nonetheless, predators do prey on easy targets such as drunk people. Additionally, women who party often obviously have more of a risk of victimization from a stranger than women who do not party as much.
Women need to take precautions to avoid sexual victimization, such as staying with trusted friends, not drinking too much, and taking self-defense classes. Society needs to reduce the threat to women by taking active steps to stop sexual victimization, which it can do by such methods as increasing awareness and jailing victimizers and assailants. Hosts of parties can ensure the safety of their guests. Other people, including men, can ensure the safety of their female friends (and any woman for that matter) by keeping an eye on them and making sure they have a safe way home.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on March 6th, 2007 — Posted in Domestic Abuse, Rape & Sexual Assault
I had the following book about domestic violence and sexual victimization recommended to me:
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The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker
“Each hour, 75 women are raped in the United States, and every few seconds, a woman is beaten. Each day, 400 Americans suffer shooting injuries, and another 1,100 face criminals armed with guns. Author Gavin de Becker says victims of violent behavior usually feel a sense of fear before any threat or violence takes place. They may distrust the fear, or it may impel them to some action that saves their lives. A leading expert on predicting violent behavior, de Becker believes we can all learn to recognize these signals of the “universal code of violence,” and use them as tools to help us survive. The book teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before it becomes life threatening. The case studies are gripping and suspenseful, and include tactics for dealing with similar situations.” -Amazon
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What do you think?
2 Comments »
Posted by Scott on March 2nd, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
Sexual assault and rape still plague our society. Use the following self-defense tips to protect yourself, and share these tips with your loved ones.
These are tips for women to avoid sexual assault and rape (womenshealth.org):
If you live alone, only use your first initial and your last name on your mailbox.
There is safety in numbers, travel in groups whenever possible.
Take a self-defense course for women and learn how to resist an assailant.
Keep in mind that any date can turn into a date rape.
Know the name of the men that you date, and be reserved on the first day. Perhaps offer to pay for yourself so that you don’t ‘owe’ anything.
If you’re going home with a man that you don’t know very well, make sure that someone else knows, and let the man know this as well.
If you begin to feel uncomfortable let him know right away that he’s gone too far. Look for a way to leave.
Never feel that you have to give in to sexual intercourse. If you feel pressure, leave.
Use drugs and alcohol with caution.
These are things to do in the situation (womenshealth.org):
Make a loud noise - Carry a whistle or scream “police” to attract attention
Stall - Speak calmly and rationally. Try not to plead, cry or show that you’re scared, this may be the reaction that he’s going for.
Urinate or vomit - Do anything you can to repulse the assailant. Tell him that you have a STD or AIDS.
Keep alert - Even though it will be difficult, try to pay attention to as many details as possible, so that you can identify your assailant.
Get help - Call 9-1-1 as soon as possible. Police are becoming more willing to help victims of rape. You are not obligated to press charges or go to court.
Collect evidence - Do not bathe, shower, or douche. If you change clothes, put the clothes you were raped in into a bag and seal it.
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Posted by Scott on February 18th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
Rekha Basu writes recently wrote an article about violence against women:
Sexual assault is the most under-reported crime of any indexed by the federal government’s crime statistics. The closer the victim-offender relationship, the less likely it is to get reported.
Because of that, according to experts, most people don’t realize how prevalent it really is.
Read entire article by Rekha Basu.
I highly recommend reading the above article by following the link above. In it, Rekha Basu explains many of the misconceptions about sexual victimization, and also explains some of what society needs to do to stop these serious social ill.
To help increase the reporting of rape, I can think of two major suggestions. First, we need to educate potential victims about what constitutes a sexual crime, and the importance of reporting incidences of it. Second, court-enforced privacy during trials regarding sexual victimization would help, because many victims do not press charges because they do not want to deal with a trial and testifying.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on February 6th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
In the following video, Kendra Urdang performs her poem, To Every Man Who Never Called Himself a Feminist.
Great spoken word poem! This is why I’m a fan of spoken word, which you can find out more about at SpokenWordArt.com.
What do you think?
1 Comment »
Posted by Scott on February 5th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary, Rape & Sexual Assault
Kathleen Miller recently wrote an article about a new bill proposal that could make Wyoming’s rape case policy a model for the nation.
Wyoming could become a “model for the nation,” a national feminist organization said, if the Senate approves a measure to amend the state’s rape shield law.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson, unanimously passed the House of Representatives. It would ban most of a victim’s sexual history from becoming a part of the trial. Current Wyoming law calls for “judicial discretion,” which means it’s up to a judge to decide what parts of a rape victim’s sexual past can be discussed in the courtroom.
“Judicial discretion is a scenario in which a woman bringing a rape case is rolling the dice as to how much information about herself and her sexual past will be brought into trial,” Justine Andronici, legal adviser for the Feminist Majority, said. “Anything that we can to do prevent unnecessary, embarrassing and irrelevant information from being brought into a rape trial is good.”
Read entire article by Kathleen Miller.
Shielding alleged victims as such can cause more women to press charges against rapists and sexual assiliants. Unfortunately, an estimated two-thirds of sexual assault victim don’t report the incidents. This means that rapists continue to walk the streets, most likely leading to the victimization of more innocent people.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on February 2nd, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
Jessica Bronson recently sent the following letter to the Alligator, an independent newspaper in Florida.
Regarding Friday’s article “Rape rate low, press hype high”: While the media coverage of the recent rapes in Gainesville can be viewed as overly sensational, perhaps there has been too little coverage in the past. Residents shouldn’t live in a state of fear, but anything that brings attention to personal safety and rape prevention is ultimately beneficial.
Even one incidence of rape is too many, and the first defense is awareness and prevention. The article reports that two rapes were by strangers and two were acquaintance rapes. It’s often the first frightening scenario that keeps people awake at night. But the vast majority of rapes reported are acquaintance rapes. By creating a public awareness and discourse, we can seek to diminish the social stigma that keeps many victims from reporting their attacks.
I agree with Jessica Bronson. The melodramatic media tends to over-exaggerate or overemphasize the danger of anything they report, for the sake of ratings. However, in the case of rape, the sensational reporting helps raise awareness about this serious and preventable problem.
Of course, the media fails to follow up their reports on rape with constructive ideas to systemically reduce the prevalence of rape and sexual assault. The media fails to do that, because the media only cares about ratings, which they get by putting the public in non-constructive panics. In addition to the media’s reports, society needs non-governmental organizations which actually works to plan and enact ways to reduce the prevalence of rape and sexual victimization.
We can do that. Society has the ability to drastically and systemically reduce rape and sexual assault. For example, we could stop wasting resources tracking down and jailing people for “victimless crimes”. Then, we could use the saved resources to stop rapists and sexually assailants from victimizing innocent people. We can put these victimizers in jail, and keep them under professional supervision until they are rehabilitated and no longer pose a threat to innocent people.
Get lights on the streets. Get security cameras in the buildings. Get potential victims in self-defense classes. Put an end to rape and sexual assault!
What do you think?
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