Introduction:
This chapter will provide a general background on sex offending and the treatment available. A shift is then evident from discussing treatment of sex offenders to discussing the professionals’ roles and experiences in delivering the said treatment.
Background
The Sexual Offence Act (2003) distinguishes between rape and assault. Rape involves a person (person A) intentionally penetrating the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with the penis, whilst as previously stated, a sexual assault is when person A intentionally touches person B sexually. The two are similar in that person B gives no consent for the act and that content is sexual in nature (Sexual Offence Act, 2003).
It is an overly simplistic explanation to state that a person engages in sexual offending because s/he likes doing so (Spencer,
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Having a distorted belief that such pleasure cannot be obtained via other means
3. Having no concern or understanding of the repercussions the behaviour results in, to both victim and perpetrator
4. Lack of control over the desire to commit the act
Statistics
Research related to sex offending focuses on males as the perpetrators and females as the victims (Marks & Nelson, 1993; Pryor & McKinney, 1995). It is until recent years that research started focusing on females as the perpetrators (Wayne, Riordan & Thomas, 2001). Regardless, women as sex offenders are underrepresented, which could be due to the fact that female perpetrators are viewed more positively than male perpetrators (Baird, Bensko, Bell, Viney, & Woody, 1995; Gutek, Morasch & Cohen, 1983).
Crime statistics based on victimization reports show that in England and Wales, an average of 2.5% females and 0.4% males stated that they were victims of a sexual assault in the years of 2009 till 2012. This equates to around 473,000 adults falling victims of a sexual offence with 404,000 females and 72,000 males on average per year (Office for National Statistics, 2013).
Gender is predominating in the criminal justice system and sexual assault exemplifies the contrast found between the traditional and non-traditional justice systems employed over time. Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in 43400 victims across Australia and 13300 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the recent Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report. (ABS 2011, p. 40) There has also been an increase of sexual assault by 51% since 1995 with an average of 4% every year. (ABS 2010) Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one...
Francis Bennion has criticised the Act for this semantic ambiguity whilst acknowledging that too narrow a definition may tie the courts' hands in the application of the law. Sexual can be defined a simply 'of or pertaining to the sexual organs' which would render certain medical examinations sexual activities at the very least. Clearly the Act intended that in interpretation juries and judges would use the relevant cultural 'cache' in deciding the sexuality of an act. Intending to gratify oneself in a sexual manner seems to be closest thing to a criminal definition of 'sexual' yet neither gratification nor desire are mentioned anywhere in the relevant provisions.
Sexual assault is the act of sexual intercourse without consent of the other person according to New South Wales Consolidation Act of 1900 (Austlii 2011) and is also described by the Australian Standard Offence Classification as ‘non-consensual’ acts or intents of sexual nature (ASOC 2008, p. 31) has become one of the most predominate crimes creating social harm in Australia. Social harm is defined as the negative influence through consequences impacting from the individual to the living conditions of the surrounding public (Cain & Howe 2008, p. 26). Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in the 9000 victims across Australia and 1900 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report (ABS 2011, p. 40). This is supported by the victimization rate of all sexually assaulted victims between ages 10 to 14 being 4 times greater than all the other age groups (ABS 2010). Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one of the lowest prosecution rates with only 1 in 10 incidents able to prosecute the offender as guilty (Fitzgerald 2006, Pg. 1). The abundance of statistics and reports conducted all imply that sexual assault is still a predominate issue of crime within Australia.
“Sex offending is a somewhat unique crime, as it directly deals with one of society’s most taboo topics-sex and sexuality” ( Zilney & Zilney, 2009, p. iii).
According to RAINN, (2009) approximately 10 per cent of all victims of sexual assault and abuse are adult and juvenile males. In terms of the nature of assault, real figures include a compendium of reported incidents ranging from unwanted sexual touching to forced penetration. To qualify this statement, it must be understood that the percentage does not reflect a vast number of crimes that go unreported due to issues that will be discussed in the present paper.
Generally, the public views women as nurturers, motherly and incapable of harming a child. Research indicates that female sex offenders capable of committing such acts have serious psychiatric and psychological problems. In comparison, research indicates male sex offenders are more callous, more antisocial, and promiscuous, involved in the criminal justice system, and have more victims (Miccio-Fenseca, 2012, slide 7). The consensus is that men commit their acts for sexual pleasure while women commit their acts due to psychiatric and psychological problems. Law enforcement, juries, and judges tend to empathize more when there are additional mitigating factors, such as emotional or psychological problems.
•Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are assaulted in England and Wales alone every year, which is approximately 11 assaults (of grown-ups alone) every hour.
It is a common stereotype that all sex offenders have some form of psychopathy, and therefore they cannot be treated, however most sexual offenders do not have major mental illness or psychological maladjustment (Ward, Polaschek and Busch, 2006), therefore it is not impossible to treat them. Finkelhor’s (1984) precondition model was made with the assumption that the psychopathology of an individual will only take us so far in explaining sexually abusive behaviour, Finkelhor states that 4 stages of preconditions must exist before sexual abuse can take place, these are; Primary motivation to abuse a child sexually, overcoming of internal and external inhibitions and dealing with a child’s resistance to sexual abuse, for each subsequent precondition to occur the previous one must be achieved. Finkelhor argues th...
The offender in both situations fantasizes, schemes, and determines how they are going to commit the crime all the while getting a great excitement from the whole process, from the planning to actually going through with the crime itself. He also states that for a rapist, “He spots his target,
The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network state that every two minutes, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. In 2007 there were 248,300 victims of sexual assault (US department of Justice).
There are many topics nowadays that are still hard to talk about openly. Though we’ve opened the door on many controversies, some of the simplest parts of life can be the hardest to discuss. For most of us, sex in particular can be a taboo topic, which may be the reason why so many children and teens are misinformed on the inner workings of sexual relationships and how they develop as we grow and mature. For some adolescents, this can lead to an unhealthy fixation on the concept of sex, and in some cases, lead them to take action on a situation they do not fully understand. Sexual offenses are perceived as some of the most heinous crimes, but how could our views be affected if those acts were performed by a teenager? We may sometimes consider that they are the same as adult sex offenders; however our judgment can often be clouded by our lack of understanding. Adolescent sex offenders are different from adult sex offenders, are treated in a different way, and often have very different circumstances of their crime.
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
Victims of sexual assault include men, women, children, heterosexuals, and homosexuals. It can happen to anyone. However, women are the most commonly victimized. One in four women and one in sixteen men are victims of assault (1). From 2003 to 2004...
The 2003 Act also changes the law on consent and belief in consent. Convicting a person of rape is defined under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s1, it is as follows; “A person (A) commits an offence if: he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with his penis, if person (B) does not consent to the penetration and if person (A) does not reasonably believe that (B) consents”.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Sexual deviance is any behavior with a sexual act that goes against the expectations of the society in which the act was performed. To be considered deviant, there are usually consent issues, the people or things involved create a deviant combination, the specific sexual act and anatomy is outside the realm of socially acceptable, or the place involved is unacceptable (Ritzer, 2007). In American society, it appears according to media accounts, billboard advertisements, and daily observation of the people passing by, sex is bought, sold, and traded in the open market; however, just because we see it everywhere, does not mean that it is socially acceptable. As we learned in the Tittle and Paternoster (2000) article, indiscretion is the deviance