Sexual Offenses In The Criminal Justice System

Sex crimes are extremely serious among the criminal justice system. Sexual offenses are defined as criminal sexual acts such as when a person forces or threatens another individual to contribute in undesired sexual activities (FD, n.d.). Laws regarding sexual offenses have gone through necessary reforms to adapt to modern society norms. Although changes have been made, sexual offenses continue to be a problem in society and a challenge for the justice system to protect the people from sexual offenders. Sexual offenses can be classified in a variety of types and austerity. Sexual abuse is one of the most common forms of sexual offenses to the criminal justice system. Sexual abuse if a form of sexual offenses. It is defined as when an individual

On most occasions, victims will not report their abuse because of fear of rejection from society. Victims are afraid of many possible outcomes of confessing such as others will not believe their story, they may be blamed for being abused, or the victim becomes dependent on the abuse or abuser. They may be so worn down that mentally and emotionally they cannot fight their circumstances. It is also possible for victims to feel as though it is their fault because they did or could not fight back. Getting help and reaching out to overcome or deal with sexual abuse is important for a victim. There are many types of treatment such as therapy or support groups and they allow victims to tell their stories without interruption or judgement. Treatment is a necessity because it “creates an environment of safety and open communication to allow the victim the ability to discuss the abuse openly without judgment” (Pierucki, 2015). The belief of treatment is that if victims repeatedly talk about what happened to them, then overtime the victim can start to overcome the feelings brought by the memory of the incident and let go. Society can contribute to helping the battle against sexual abuse by teaching

Statistics taken on the matter are incorrect because most victims do not come forward about their attacks. Victims are encouraged to report their attack, but do not because of many fears such as dealing with the justice system. Future changes should be made starting with ensuring victims are treated with dignity and brought through the proper procedures. For example, authorities and medical officials should allow victims to give their statements without any interruptions. It should also be mandatory to immediately bring in a specialist to discuss with the victims because they are equipped to handle sexual abuse cases. Victims need to feel respected, understood, and told about their support system so that they do not feel alone. The next major change involving sexual abuse is accountability. Sexual offenders need to be responsible for the harm they have placed on victims with not only prison time, probation, or rehabilitation, but with personal activities to assist the victim to heal. For example, victims should get a limited amount of time to decide if they would like to involve the offender in their healing process. The healing process can involve monitored visits between the victim and offender talking about why the circumstances happened, doing things that the victim would want to do such as writing letters, and other productive activities that would not only help the victim to move on, but also help the offender realize