Sex Paper Essay Research Paper The Criminal

Sex Paper Essay, Research Paper

The Criminal Justice System

How It Deals With Sex Offenders

kyle Shellabarger

Human Sexuality

Better that many guilty shall go free rather than one innocent should suffer. John

Adams (Biskup 1993).

The entire criminal justice system is built around John Adam s philosophy about a

criminal s rights. While our system is protecting the rights of the accused, the victim is often

deprived of his/her rights. Although the United States has the most fair and just justice system in

the world, sex offense cases create serious and substantial problems for the system. There are

three continual problems for the system: Making an arrest, establishing evidence for the case after

an arrest has been made, and often the punishment received does not fit the crime committed.

Every person accused of a criminal offense must go through the criminal justice system, but in sex

offense cases, the system often does not effectively punish the guilty.

The criminal justice system deals with all types of crimes ranging from assault to

trespassing to murder. The system begins when an arrest has been made and ends with parole and

discharge from sentence. After an arrest, the suspect must go through the court system. After a

conviction or a guilty plea, a sentence is given to the criminal. There are four types of sentencing,

but the decision is usually a choice between probation and prison time, depending on the severity

of the crime committed. The court may also give the death penalty or distribute fines for the

crime. Because the criminal justice system begins with an arrest, and it is very difficult to make an

arrest in a sex offense case, many sex crimes do not even make it into the system.

Getting an arrest in a sex offense case is difficult for two reasons: Women are often afraid

to come forward to the police for fear of a repeated sex crime, and when they do come forward it

is very difficult to identify the criminal because they are usually disguised when they committed

the crime. Women are often looked at as being flirts and teases, and because of this some people

believe that the women get what they ask for when they sexually assaulted. In these cases women

feel like it is their fault and will not come forward to the police. In sexual harassment cases,

without videos or tape recordings, it becomes the victim s word against the defendant s word.

Both men and women, but typically women, have learned to cope and deal with sexual harassment

without suing or even reporting it. Sexual harassment is a serious problem focused mainly in a

work place that is generally being controlled by men (Marks 1999). According to a former sheriff

deputy, Filing suit is a last resort because it can either end your career or make you life

intolerable (Marks 1999).

As difficult as it may be to prove sexual harassment, it is just as difficult to deal with child

molestation and rape cases. It is very painful for the victim to come forward and face what they

had to go through. In most cases, the vicim just wants to put the situation as far back in their

minds as they can, and try not to think about it at all. It was reported that four in ten victims of

rape were under the age of twelve. And in 90% of those cases the offender knew the child in

some way (no author 1999). One out of three girls and one out of seven boys, are sexually

abused by the age of eighteen. When you were abused, your boundaries, your right to say no,

your sense of control in the worlds, were violated. You were powerless. The abuse humiliated

you, gave you the message you were of little value (Bass & Davis 1988). It is very hard for

young children to tell on a family member or a family friend. All of these reasons make it

extremely difficult to arrest an accused sex offender, and even if the accused is identified and

arrested, the evidence is often not enough to get a conviction.

Another disturbing fact about child abuse cases is that there are over 700,000 false

reports of child abuse in America each year. False abuse allegations have become, arguably, the

most popular tactic in divorce cases today (Hechler 1988). That is just another deterrent for the

justice system to have to sift through to determine the guilt or innocence of people in the courts of

America.

Obtaining a conviction is the most difficult aspect in the trying of a sex offense case.

Women, the majority of the sex offense victims, are very afraid of it happening again, and some

are ashamed that it even happened in the first place. This makes it very difficult for women to

come forward and tell their story. Even if the woman has the courage and support to come

forward, her case has a significant chance to not even make it to trial because of the plea

bargaining process.

Plea bargaining is the way most sex offense cases are dealt with (Robin 1984). Plea

bargaining allows state misdemeanor and felony

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