Running head: PENALTIES AND SENTENCES FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OFFENDERS
Penalties and Sentences for Sexual Abuse Offenders
Student Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
1
2
Penalties and Sentences for Sexual Abuse Offenders
Introduction
Sexual abuse by definition is the undesired sexual behavior or advances by an individual.
There are various forms of sexual abuse and harassment (Sample & Kadleck, 2008). Sexual
assault is the case whereby force is used in conjunction with sexual behavior that is unwarranted.
Sexual abuse affects any age group so long as there is no consent for sexual deeds (Sample &
Kadleck, 2008).
Most of the sexual abusers and molesters target children. Child sexual abuse is whereby
an individual below the age of consent is used for sexual activity. Many individuals are
susceptible to sexual abuse due to their vulnerable states (Patrick & Marsh, 2011). The elderly,
people with dementia, people with disabilities and individuals with mental disabilities are at an
increased risk of suffering sexual abuse.
Sexual abuse is treated with very serious concern in the United States. Victims of rape
and other sexual offences are accorded the highest medical care in the emergency department.
Several procedures to ensure evidence to aid in prosecution of attackers is collected are
conducted by trained medical personnel (Sample & Kadleck, 2008). Specimens are collected for
DNA testing and the victim is given treatment. The treatment includes drugs to act as
prophylaxis against HIV infection and emergency contraception. The victims are also given
much needed psychiatric care which includes therapy sessions.
The law is very clear on the sexual offenders’ penalties and sentences. Sexual offenders
are liable to punishment such as imprisonment, probation, being labelled as a sexual offender and
for minor sexual harassment cases the offenders may be fined. More stringent penalties such as
3
life imprisonment target repeat offenders. The death penalty has been suggested severally as a
mode of punishment especially for repeat offenders such as serial rapists but it hasn’t been
passed into law in any state (Kassin & Kiechel, 1996).
The introduction lacked information on what you would be presenting throughout your research.
Do not focus so much on sexual abuse and what it is. The focus in your introduction should be
on what you will be researching. Some sources are outdated, keep information fresh.
The effectiveness of the current correction modalities of sexual offenders is not clear.
There is a debate on whether sentences and penalties serve the purpose of correcting sexual
offenders’ behaviors. Many of the sex offenders complete their sentences and end up in the
general public hence it is important to ensure the correction facilities serve their purpose (Sample
& Kadleck, 2008). The role of psychological interventions in the correction of sexual offenders
is very important.
There are various psychological interventions used on inmates to ensure they change their
way of life. Psychotherapies are incorporated in prison life to ensure the underlying factors for
criminal behavior are dealt with. The most effective way of dealing with crime is sorting out the
root cause. Most of those individuals facing incarceration have motivators for their criminal
deeds. The routine theory suggests that for a crime to be committed there should be an available
target, a motivated offender and a lack of guardians.
Keep the highlighted section above
Theory
The psychological theory states that the criminal activities of an individual serve to
highlight the underlying mental issues. Personality theorists believe that criminal behavior stems
4
from defective personality or personality traits. Sexual abuse offenders such as rapists hence
have underlying issues that influence their behavior.
The role of psychological interventions in correction facilities especially for sex
offenders is very important. Psychotherapies main role is to deal with the underlying factors that
contribute to criminal tendencies. However, there is clear indication for tougher measures to deal
with sexual offender than only the use of psychotherapy.
Hypothesis
The null hypothesis for this research is that psychological interventions do not improve
the outcome of sexual offenders serving sentences and penalties in state correction facilities. The
alternate hypothesis states that psychological interventions improve the outcome of sexual
offenders serving sentences and penalties in state correction facilities.
The Hypothesis should only be one sentence, you do not need to include a null hypothesis
Literature review
Sexual abuse is one the most rampant crimes that occurs across the world. Many
individuals especially women have had an incident of sexual harassment or assault. Rape is a
form of sexual abuse in which an individual causes penetration of the vagina with the penis or
any object without consent. The most important aspect is the lack of consent since laceration or
ejaculation do not have to occur to call the forceful penetration rape.
There are many victims of rape cutting across social status and age. The victims suffer a
lot and many of them tend to hide their tribulations hence the offenders go free. Many rapists
tend to carry weapons which they use to intimidate their victims.
5
There is a high number of rapes that occur in cases whereby the victim knows the
attacker well. In such cases the attacker can be a close relative or friend whom the victim is very
familiar to. In addition, there is the rape that occurs by spouses or boyfriends. Rape is
devastating no matter the circumstances (Santos et al., 2007).
The victims of rape undergo so much emotional and psychological torture in addition to
physical injuries that occur during the deed. There is a huge percentage of rape victims who fall
into depression due to the ordeal (Nobiling et al., 1998). The depression can be so severe such
that they have suicidal ideations. The victims can suffer the damaged goods syndrome whereby
they see themselves as worthless therefore end up being promiscuous. Such individuals do not
value their bodies any more because of the defilement from rape (Patrick & Marsh, 2009). They
put their bodies out there to be used but still end up being hurt more and more. In the worst-case
scenario, the victims end up committing suicide since they find no value in continuing to live.
The consequences of rape health wise are many. There is an increased risk of acquiring
sexually transmitted infections after a rape incident. The ordeal causes trauma to the genitalia
and this increases the likelihood of infections (Marsh & Hofpenbeck, 2007). The most
devastating infection is HIV which has no cure. There is also an increased chance of unwanted
pregnancy. Mothers who got pregnant as a result of rape have an increased risk of developing
postnatal depression (Robertson, Celasun, & Stewart, 2008). Postnatal depression has many
consequences to the mother and the well being of the infant. The mother can end up neglecting
the child due to the pain she feels from the rape incident (Milgrom et al., 2015). There are cases
of infanticide as a result of severe postnatal depression (Johnson et al., 2015).
6
In some cases, rapists end up murdering their victims so as to cover up their tracks.
There are numerous cases in which a woman is raped then killed and her body dumped
somewhere (McCormick, 1998).
As stated before your literature review should focus specifically on what you plan to research
and test.
Sex offenders are viewed as dangerous because they are more objectionable and less
treatable. There is a high risk of repeat offences by sex offenders. There are various punishment
modalities for sex offenders. The most common form of punishment is prison sentences
(Schlager & Robbins, 2008). The sex offenders are usually given long prison sentences with
hope that they will reform their ways. The long sentences also serve to keep them away from the
general public.
Another form of punishment is fines and being labelled a sex offender. The offenders can
also be put under probation. The form of punishment depends on characteristics of the offender,
characteristics of the crime committed and characteristics of the victim (Crow, 2008). Most of
the offenders are labelled sex offenders and this may have negative effects especially on
recidivism.
The outcomes from the current penalties and sentences given to sex offenders show low
effectiveness. There is an increased need of including psychological interventions in the prison
sentences of sexual offenders as this will have an increased effect on good outcome of inmates
(Loza, 2007).
Research design
7
The study design will be a cohort study which will be used to study the effect of
including psychological interventions in correctional facilities for sex offenders. In this study
design, one cohort in a particular correction facility will only be subjected to the normal prison
life whereby they will serve their sentence. The other cohort will serve their prison sentence
while undergoing psychological interventions by trained psychiatrists and psychologists in
collaboration with correction officers.
The inclusion criteria for participation in the study will include:
•
Be an inmate at the chosen correction facility
•
Be a sex offender
•
Be serving a sentence of not less than two years
•
Give consent to participate
The exclusion criteria for the study will be:
•
In case one is not an inmate
•
In case one is not in prison because of a sex offense.
•
If an individual is serving a sentence of less than two year
•
Whether one denies consent to participate in the study.
Research design should be 1 or 2 paragraphs. Where will your study take place (City or State)?
How long will you test your subjects? Permission? Disclosure? Informed Consent?
Confidentiality Agreement? Is it IRB- Approval?
Data collection
8
Data will be collected by use of well-structured questionnaires which will include openended and closed questions. The questions will be administered to the participants of the study at
the start of the study and at the end. The questionnaires will assess the various aspects of
behavior in the inmates.
Do you have examples of the question?
Data analysis
For every interview the participant will be required to answer all the questions in the
questionnaire. The questionnaire will be checked for completeness before the data can be
recorded in a database Data will be analyzed using SPSS software and any other statistical
software necessary for the study. The trends got from the valid questionnaires will determine the
findings of the research on whether incorporation of psychological interventions is useful to
sexual offenders’ prison sentence (Petrunik, 2008).
Findings
The findings of the research will be recorded in tabulations and using graphs. The
discussion on the results will be provided to give the important details on what will be different
in the two cohorts. A thorough comparison of the outcomes in the two cohorts will be analyzed
and detailed so as to determine if the incorporation of psychological interventions is useful for
sexual offenders in state correction facilities.
9
References
Crow, M. S. and Gertz, M. 2008. Sentencing policy and disparity: Guidelines and the influence
of legal and democratic subcultures. Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(4): 362–371
Johnson, A. R., Edwin, S., Joachim, N., Mathew, G., Ajay, S., & Joseph, B. (2015). Postnatal
depression among women availing maternal health services in a rural hospital in South
India. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 31(2), 408–413.
https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.312.6702
Kassin, S. M., & Kiechel, K. L. (1996). The Social Psychology of False Confessions:
Compliance, Internalization, and Confabulation. Psychological Science, 7(3), 125–128.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00344.x
Loza, W., MacTavish, A. and Loza-Fanous, A. 2007. A nine-year follow-up study on the
predictive validity of the self-appraisal questionnaire for predicting violent and nonviolent
recidivism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22(9): 1144–1155.
Marsh, R., Patrick, S. & Hopfenbeck, T. (2001–2007). Reports on prosecution of child sexual
abuse
McCormick, J. S., Maric, A., Seto, M. C. and Barbaree, H. E. 1998. Relationship to victim
predicts sentence length in sexual assault cases. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13(3):
413–420
Milgrom, J., Gemmill, A. W., Ericksen, J., Burrows, G., Buist, A., & Reece, J. (2015). Treatment
of postnatal depression with cognitive behavioural therapy , sertraline and combination
therapy : A randomised controlled trial. Treatment of Postnatal Depression with Cognitive
10
Behavioural Therapy, Sertraline and Combination Therapy: A Randomised Controlled
Trial. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867414565474
Nobiling, T., Spohn, C. and DeLone, M. 1998. A tale of two counties: Unemployment and
sentence severity. Justice Quarterly, 15(3): 459–485.
Patrick, S., & Marsh, R. (2011). Sentencing outcomes of convicted child sex offenders. Journal
of Child Sexual Abuse, 20(1), 94–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2011.541356
Patrick, S. and Marsh, R. 2009. Recidivism among child sexual abusers: Initial results of a 13
year longitudinal random sample. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 18(2): 123–136
Petrunik, M. and Deutschmann, L. 2008. The exclusion–inclusion spectrum in state and
community response to sex offenders in Anglo-American and European jurisdictions.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52(5): 499–519.
Robertson, E., Celasun, N., & Stewart, D. E. (2008). Chapter 1: Risk Factors for Postpartum
Depression. Maternal Mental Health & Child Health and Development, 63. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/mmh&chd_chapter_1.pdf
Sample, L. L., & Kadleck, C. (2008). Sex Offender Laws. Criminal Justice Policy Review.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403407308292
Santos, I. S., Matijasevich, A., Tavares, B. F., Barros, A. J. D., Botelho, I. P., Lapolli, C., …
Barros, F. C. (2007). Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in a
sample of mothers from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Cadernos de Saúde Pública,
23(11), 2577–2588. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2007001100005
Schlager, M. D. and Robbins, K. 2008. Does parole work?-revisited: Reframing the discussion of
11
the impact of postprison supervision on offender outcome. The Prison Journal, 88(2): 234–
251
Overall,
There is a lot of work that needs to be done. My advice would be to focus on a topic that you are
able to adequately research. You lacked focus on what you would be researching, you
expounded on what sexual abuse was rather than what you would be looking for. Did you
review the sample that was sent out because there were several key factors missing? Please
address the changes and come back to see me remember, I’ll be here every step of the way. Do
not get discouraged or procrastinate.
Best Wishes,
J. Anderson
Recommendations
What needs to be removed
What you should keep
Running head: PENALTIES AND SENTENCES FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OFFENDERS
Penalties and Sentences for Sexual Abuse Offenders
Student Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
1
2
Penalties and Sentences for Sexual Abuse Offenders
Introduction
Sexual abuse by definition is the undesired sexual behavior or advances by an individual.
There are various forms of sexual abuse and harassment (Sample & Kadleck, 2008). Sexual
assault is the case whereby force is used in conjunction with sexual behavior that is unwarranted.
Sexual abuse affects any age group so long as there is no consent for sexual deeds (Sample &
Kadleck, 2008).
Most of the sexual abusers and molesters target children. Child sexual abuse is whereby
an individual below the age of consent is used for sexual activity. Many individuals are
susceptible to sexual abuse due to their vulnerable states (Patrick & Marsh, 2011). The elderly,
people with dementia, people with disabilities and individuals with mental disabilities are at an
increased risk of suffering sexual abuse.
Sexual abuse is treated with very serious concern in the United States. Victims of rape
and other sexual offences are accorded the highest medical care in the emergency department.
Several procedures to ensure evidence to aid in prosecution of attackers is collected are
conducted by trained medical personnel (Sample & Kadleck, 2008). Specimens are collected for
DNA testing and the victim is given treatment. The treatment includes drugs to act as
prophylaxis against HIV infection and emergency contraception. The victims are also given
much needed psychiatric care which includes therapy sessions.
The law is very clear on the sexual offenders’ penalties and sentences. Sexual offenders
are liable to punishment such as imprisonment, probation, being labelled as a sexual offender and
for minor sexual harassment cases the offenders may be fined. More stringent penalties such as
3
life imprisonment target repeat offenders. The death penalty has been suggested severally as a
mode of punishment especially for repeat offenders such as serial rapists but it hasn’t been
passed into law in any state (Kassin & Kiechel, 1996).
The effectiveness of the current correction modalities of sexual offenders is not clear.
There is a debate on whether sentences and penalties serve the purpose of correcting sexual
offenders’ behaviors. Many of the sex offenders complete their sentences and end up in the
general public hence it is important to ensure the correction facilities serve their purpose (Sample
& Kadleck, 2008). The role of psychological interventions in the correction of sexual offenders
is very important.
There are various psychological interventions used on inmates to ensure they change their
way of life. Psychotherapies are incorporated in prison life to ensure the underlying factors for
criminal behavior are dealt with. The most effective way of dealing with crime is sorting out the
root cause. Most of those individuals facing incarceration have motivators for their criminal
deeds. The routine theory suggests that for a crime to be committed there should be an available
target, a motivated offender and a lack of guardians.
Theory
The psychological theory states that the criminal activities of an individual serve to
highlight the underlying mental issues. Personality theorists believe that criminal behavior stems
from defective personality or personality traits. Sexual abuse offenders such as rapists hence
have underlying issues that influence their behavior.
The role of psychological interventions in correction facilities especially for sex
offenders is very important. Psychotherapies main role is to deal with the underlying factors that
4
contribute to criminal tendencies. However, there is clear indication for tougher measures to deal
with sexual offender than only the use of psychotherapy.
Hypothesis
The null hypothesis for this research is that psychological interventions do not improve
the outcome of sexual offenders serving sentences and penalties in state correction facilities. The
alternate hypothesis states that psychological interventions improve the outcome of sexual
offenders serving sentences and penalties in state correction facilities.
Literature review
Sexual abuse is one the most rampant crimes that occurs across the world. Many
individuals especially women have had an incident of sexual harassment or assault. Rape is a
form of sexual abuse in which an individual causes penetration of the vagina with the penis or
any object without consent. The most important aspect is the lack of consent since laceration or
ejaculation do not have to occur to call the forceful penetration rape.
There are many victims of rape cutting across social status and age. The victims suffer a
lot and many of them tend to hide their tribulations hence the offenders go free. Many rapists
tend to carry weapons which they use to intimidate their victims.
There is a high number of rapes that occur in cases whereby the victim knows the
attacker well. In such cases the attacker can be a close relative or friend whom the victim is very
familiar to. In addition, there is the rape that occurs by spouses or boyfriends. Rape is
devastating no matter the circumstances (Santos et al., 2007).
5
The victims of rape undergo so much emotional and psychological torture in addition to
physical injuries that occur during the deed. There is a huge percentage of rape victims who fall
into depression due to the ordeal (Nobiling et al., 1998). The depression can be so severe such
that they have suicidal ideations. The victims can suffer the damaged goods syndrome whereby
they see themselves as worthless therefore end up being promiscuous. Such individuals do not
value their bodies any more because of the defilement from rape (Patrick & Marsh, 2009). They
put their bodies out there to be used but still end up being hurt more and more. In the worst-case
scenario, the victims end up committing suicide since they find no value in continuing to live.
The consequences of rape health wise are many. There is an increased risk of acquiring
sexually transmitted infections after a rape incident. The ordeal causes trauma to the genitalia
and this increases the likelihood of infections (Marsh & Hofpenbeck, 2007). The most
devastating infection is HIV which has no cure. There is also an increased chance of unwanted
pregnancy. Mothers who got pregnant as a result of rape have an increased risk of developing
postnatal depression (Robertson, Celasun, & Stewart, 2008). Postnatal depression has many
consequences to the mother and the well being of the infant. The mother can end up neglecting
the child due to the pain she feels from the rape incident (Milgrom et al., 2015). There are cases
of infanticide as a result of severe postnatal depression (Johnson et al., 2015).
In some cases, rapists end up murdering their victims so as to cover up their tracks.
There are numerous cases in which a woman is raped then killed and her body dumped
somewhere (McCormick, 1998).
Sex offenders are viewed as dangerous because they are more objectionable and less
treatable. There is a high risk of repeat offences by sex offenders. There are various punishment
modalities for sex offenders. The most common form of punishment is prison sentences
6
(Schlager & Robbins, 2008). The sex offenders are usually given long prison sentences with
hope that they will reform their ways. The long sentences also serve to keep them away from the
general public.
Another form of punishment is fines and being labelled a sex offender. The offenders can
also be put under probation. The form of punishment depends on characteristics of the offender,
characteristics of the crime committed and characteristics of the victim (Crow, 2008). Most of
the offenders are labelled sex offenders and this may have negative effects especially on
recidivism.
The outcomes from the current penalties and sentences given to sex offenders show low
effectiveness. There is an increased need of including psychological interventions in the prison
sentences of sexual offenders as this will have an increased effect on good outcome of inmates
(Loza, 2007).
Research design
The study design will be a cohort study which will be used to study the effect of
including psychological interventions in correctional facilities for sex offenders. In this study
design, one cohort in a particular correction facility will only be subjected to the normal prison
life whereby they will serve their sentence. The other cohort will serve their prison sentence
while undergoing psychological interventions by trained psychiatrists and psychologists in
collaboration with correction officers.
The inclusion criteria for participation in the study will include:
•
Be an inmate at the chosen correction facility
•
Be a sex offender
7
•
Be serving a sentence of not less than two years
•
Give consent to participate
The exclusion criteria for the study will be:
•
In case one is not an inmate
•
In case one is not in prison because of a sex offense.
•
If an individual is serving a sentence of less than two year
•
Whether one denies consent to participate in the study.
Data collection
Data will be collected by use of well-structured questionnaires which will include openended and closed questions. The questions will be administered to the participants of the study at
the start of the study and at the end. The questionnaires will assess the various aspects of
behavior in the inmates.
Data analysis
For every interview the participant will be required to answer all the questions in the
questionnaire. The questionnaire will be checked for completeness before the data can be
recorded in a database Data will be analyzed using SPSS software and any other statistical
software necessary for the study. The trends got from the valid questionnaires will determine the
findings of the research on whether incorporation of psychological interventions is useful to
sexual offenders’ prison sentence (Petrunik, 2008).
Findings
8
The findings of the research will be recorded in tabulations and using graphs. The
discussion on the results will be provided to give the important details on what will be different
in the two cohorts. A thorough comparison of the outcomes in the two cohorts will be analyzed
and detailed so as to determine if the incorporation of psychological interventions is useful for
sexual offenders in state correction facilities.
9
References
Crow, M. S. and Gertz, M. 2008. Sentencing policy and disparity: Guidelines and the influence
of legal and democratic subcultures. Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(4): 362–371
Johnson, A. R., Edwin, S., Joachim, N., Mathew, G., Ajay, S., & Joseph, B. (2015). Postnatal
depression among women availing maternal health services in a rural hospital in South
India. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 31(2), 408–413.
https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.312.6702
Kassin, S. M., & Kiechel, K. L. (1996). The Social Psychology of False Confessions:
Compliance, Internalization, and Confabulation. Psychological Science, 7(3), 125–128.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00344.x
Loza, W., MacTavish, A. and Loza-Fanous, A. 2007. A nine-year follow-up study on the
predictive validity of the self-appraisal questionnaire for predicting violent and nonviolent
recidivism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22(9): 1144–1155.
Marsh, R., Patrick, S. & Hopfenbeck, T. (2001–2007). Reports on prosecution of child sexual
abuse
McCormick, J. S., Maric, A., Seto, M. C. and Barbaree, H. E. 1998. Relationship to victim
predicts sentence length in sexual assault cases. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13(3):
413–420
Milgrom, J., Gemmill, A. W., Ericksen, J., Burrows, G., Buist, A., & Reece, J. (2015). Treatment
of postnatal depression with cognitive behavioural therapy , sertraline and combination
therapy : A randomised controlled trial. Treatment of Postnatal Depression with Cognitive
10
Behavioural Therapy, Sertraline and Combination Therapy: A Randomised Controlled
Trial. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867414565474
Nobiling, T., Spohn, C. and DeLone, M. 1998. A tale of two counties: Unemployment and
sentence severity. Justice Quarterly, 15(3): 459–485.
Patrick, S., & Marsh, R. (2011). Sentencing outcomes of convicted child sex offenders. Journal
of Child Sexual Abuse, 20(1), 94–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2011.541356
Patrick, S. and Marsh, R. 2009. Recidivism among child sexual abusers: Initial results of a 13
year longitudinal random sample. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 18(2): 123–136
Petrunik, M. and Deutschmann, L. 2008. The exclusion–inclusion spectrum in state and
community response to sex offenders in Anglo-American and European jurisdictions.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52(5): 499–519.
Robertson, E., Celasun, N., & Stewart, D. E. (2008). Chapter 1: Risk Factors for Postpartum
Depression. Maternal Mental Health & Child Health and Development, 63. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/mmh&chd_chapter_1.pdf
Sample, L. L., & Kadleck, C. (2008). Sex Offender Laws. Criminal Justice Policy Review.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403407308292
Santos, I. S., Matijasevich, A., Tavares, B. F., Barros, A. J. D., Botelho, I. P., Lapolli, C., …
Barros, F. C. (2007). Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in a
sample of mothers from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Cadernos de Saúde Pública,
23(11), 2577–2588. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2007001100005
Schlager, M. D. and Robbins, K. 2008. Does parole work?-revisited: Reframing the discussion of
11
the impact of postprison supervision on offender outcome. The Prison Journal, 88(2): 234–
251
Purchase answer to see full
attachment