When you think of a sex offender, what do you think of? More likely than not, you are thinking of a male offender. Information suggests, however, that women and adolescent girls are sex offenders, although they represent the minority of sex offenders. There has been question as to whether this data really reflects an under-occurrence of female offenders, or if female sex offending is simply under-recognized. Studies show that both may be true, with various contributing external factors.
Much like all crime in general, males comprise the vast majority of all arrests, according to an FBI statistic from 2006. Because males are arrested and charged with crimes at a far higher number than women, there is little reason to believe that females would necessarily be responsible for a greater proportion of sex crimes. On the other hand, however, there is evidence that sex offenses initiated by women is likely to be under-identified, even more so than male perpetrated sex offenses. There are several reasons for this, including: societal and cultural stereotypes, professional biases, problems with research methods, among other influences.
Women arrests for sex crimes account for less than 10% of all sex crime cases, out of all adults and juveniles who come to the attention of the authorities (FBI, 2006). More specifically, arrests of women represent only 1% of all adult arrests for forcible rape, and 6% of all arrests for other sex offenses. For juvenile female offenders, females are responsible for 3% of forcible rape cases, and 5% of other violent sex offenses (19% for non violent sex offenses). While the number of arrests for adult women sex offenses has decreased in recent years, the number of adolescent girls coming to the attention for sex crimes has increased significantly. More specifically, between 1997 and 2002, juvenile cases involving female-perpetrated forcible rapes, other violent sex offenses, and non-violent sex offenses rose by 6%, 62%, and 42% respectively.
Sex offending has always been viewed as a male-only crime. This is in part due to society’s gender role stereotypes. Women are viewed at nurturing, caretaking individuals, not violent sex offenders. Women by nature, are seen as unlikely to engage in aggressive or harmful behaviors towards others. There are also sexist beliefs that depict males as controlling sexual encounters, and females as passive and submissive recipients. Misperceptions also exist about the ability of women to sexually victimize males. Because of the huge imbalance of cases between female and male offenders that are brought to attention, society remains unaware of the increasing numbers of female sex offenders.
References:
Center for Sex Offender Management.-Female Sex Offenders http://www.csom.org/pubs/female_sex_offenders_brief.pdf
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Can Sex Offenders Be Forgiven
Sex offenders are considered to be the worst of the worst in society’s view of criminals. With the rapid advancement of technology, there are countless ways to find sex offenders. Because it is public information, and because it is public information, there are little places for sex offenders to hide. With various online databases like Megan’s Law and e-mail notification systems, society’s awareness of local sex offenders is at an all time high. Does this mean, though, that sex offenders should be treated like monsters? Public awareness of sex offenders is controversial, and should be looked at from both perspectives.
Sex offenders have earned various titles such as the scum of the earth, perverts, pedophiles, garbage, etc. While some of these offenders may even deserve these titles, some of them do not. It is hard to separate the “bad” sex offenders from the “not-so-bad” sex offenders, when they are all grouped into one large group. The idea of acceptance or sex offenders may seem wrong for some, and the thought of forgiving sex offenders can seem near impossible.
As a college student, I live in an apartment complex that is also home to multiple sex offenders. While it made me nervous at first, I do not feel scared or threatened to live where I do. If I had not searched the Megan’s Law database before I moved in, I would not have ever known these men are convicted sex offenders. I have even had conversations with one of the “offenders” who lives by the mailboxes. This elderly man minds his own business, and takes his dogs for walks. When I see him, I offer a friendly hello, just as I would to any of my other neighbors. From a moral standpoint, who am I to judge someone who I do not know? Like I mentioned earlier, I do not know this man’s story, what caused him to commit these crimes, whatever the severity of them may be.
Looking at the issue from a different perspective, I can see the reasoning behind other people’s fear of living near a sex offender. Parents, for example, are often so scared to live close to a sex offender, and feel the need to protection their children. This fear is understandable, and it is a justified reason to feel threatened by an offender living in your neighborhood.
It is common for a neighborhood to try to run a sex offender out of a neighborhood, but the idea of forgiving or even accepting the offender is a much more difficult task. It is important to note that if sex offenders were not required to register, most of society would not be able to distinguish between who is or is not a sex offender. Society’s issues with living near sex offenders has caused great controversy, and has often led to offenders being treated like monsters, not like the human beings that they are.
Sex offenders have earned various titles such as the scum of the earth, perverts, pedophiles, garbage, etc. While some of these offenders may even deserve these titles, some of them do not. It is hard to separate the “bad” sex offenders from the “not-so-bad” sex offenders, when they are all grouped into one large group. The idea of acceptance or sex offenders may seem wrong for some, and the thought of forgiving sex offenders can seem near impossible.
As a college student, I live in an apartment complex that is also home to multiple sex offenders. While it made me nervous at first, I do not feel scared or threatened to live where I do. If I had not searched the Megan’s Law database before I moved in, I would not have ever known these men are convicted sex offenders. I have even had conversations with one of the “offenders” who lives by the mailboxes. This elderly man minds his own business, and takes his dogs for walks. When I see him, I offer a friendly hello, just as I would to any of my other neighbors. From a moral standpoint, who am I to judge someone who I do not know? Like I mentioned earlier, I do not know this man’s story, what caused him to commit these crimes, whatever the severity of them may be.
Looking at the issue from a different perspective, I can see the reasoning behind other people’s fear of living near a sex offender. Parents, for example, are often so scared to live close to a sex offender, and feel the need to protection their children. This fear is understandable, and it is a justified reason to feel threatened by an offender living in your neighborhood.
It is common for a neighborhood to try to run a sex offender out of a neighborhood, but the idea of forgiving or even accepting the offender is a much more difficult task. It is important to note that if sex offenders were not required to register, most of society would not be able to distinguish between who is or is not a sex offender. Society’s issues with living near sex offenders has caused great controversy, and has often led to offenders being treated like monsters, not like the human beings that they are.
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