Sex Crimes

Social Problem

Sex crimes have been a problem from the beginning of time. Men and Women have desires and when those desires go unfulfilled they take actions into their own hands to get what they want. This is where the problem arrises. The ones in need of getting their “desires” fulfilled will go to any extent to get what they desire. Where this issue becomes a problem is when the other person is forced to do something that they are not willing to do. They are either pressured, forced, or threatened to do something that they do not consent on doing. 

In America someone gets raped every two seconds. “According to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey --there is an average of 207,754 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year.” (The Associated Press, 2009) These numbers are based on the population in America that has been recorded by the Department of Justice. The numbers are countless when we take the whole world into consideration.  Needless to say, this a problem that is effecting many people not only in America, but all around the world. This problem has been an issue as long as sexual predators have been around. These people are effected by this issue by sexual assaults that the predators unleash on them. The most common way that they are impacted is involuntary sex, otherwise known as rape. . Being forced to interact in sexual acts that they are not willing to do. 

Sex crimes are very costly. They cost the state over hundred thousand per inmate when it comes to putting them through the system. “The annual costs per offender topped out at $175,000 in New York and $173,000 in California, and averaged $96,000 a year, about double what it would cost to send them to an Ivy League university.”(The Associated Press, 2010) I can only imagine how much it cost the victims to get the help to get better after being attacked by one of these sex crimes. 

Sex crimes are  acts  that are  enjoyed by the one committing the crime. The offender that does the crime is the one benefitting from the sex crime. The sex offenders usually commit the crime to fulfill their sexual gratification and that is what leads them to rape someone. (Office of The AG, 2001) The predators do not have a specific category. Almost anyone can be a sexual predator. There are no specifics to what a predator looks like. It can be a male or a female. More and more crimes are being committed and reported against female offenders. So when someone says the word “sexual predator” you shouldn’t automatically assume that they are referring to the male gender. The sexual crimes are committed by both males and females. They commit these crimes to satisfy their thirst for sexual urges.  

Much has been learned from the past history of sex crimes. The system has learned throughout  studies conducted by researchers that a sexual predator is someone who will be a repeat offender. To minimize or to stop that from happening they have set up laws for people that have been convicted of sex crimes. These laws consist of monitoring these offenders after they have been released. The way they are monitored is by a tracking device, and sometimes they need to go and check in with whom ever they need they are assigned to. The criminals  have to register to be offenders so that the surrounding citizens are aware of the type of person that is living around them. The offender is not allowed to be near public parks or schools as well to other conditions upon being released back into society.  These are some of the measures taken by the system to prevent future crimes from occurring again. These are problems that occur in all levels of the system. It starts out as a local problem but gradually becomes a federal level problem. As stated earlier the measures are some of the ways they have tried to control sex crimes from happening. 

Sex crimes are something that we have been facing for a long time. We have made attempts to do something to lower the rates of the crimes by increasing the punishments of these crimes. These crimes are very costly for the system but more then the cost, they leave the victim traumatized if not scarred for life. This is an issue that we need to pay attention to because these crimes are very serious and violent. They can range from rape all the way to death. 

Citation

1.Associated Press. (2009). How often does sexual assault occur? . Retrieved from http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/frequency-of-sexual-assault

2.The Associated Press. (2010, June 22). Sex offender confinement costing states too much . Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-6605890.html

3.Office of The AG. (2001). Megan's law - facts about sex offenders . Retrieved from http://meganslaw.ca.gov/facts.htm