India: Can rehab for people convicted of a sex offense help combat sexual violence?

[theweek.in]

Sexual violence and the fear of sexual abuse has a profound and devastating effect on not only individuals, but entire communities. According to the 2019 annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 32,033 rape cases were registered across India; that is an average of 88 cases every day. Since the Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012, public outrage has led to more punitive measures to combat sexual violence, and keeping people convicted of a sex offense in prison for longer seems like an appealing resolve. However, in reality, this does not contribute towards reducing the risk of future reoffending and harm.

There are many factors associated with reoffending such as social and emotional isolation, unemployment or not having something meaningful to do in life. India has 134 central jails, and at the time of my prison research of convicted rapists, Tihar alone had around 400 males convicted of rape serving sentences that ranged from five years to life. While it is a bitter pill to swallow for the public when it comes to rehabilitating people convicted of a sex offense, the hardest fact that we must face is that the vast majority of people convicted of a sex offense will one day be released and we need to provide support for their reintegration to avoid reoffending and to reduce future victimisation.

Research has shown that rehabilitation of people convicted of a sex offense is more effective in the community than in prisons, and programmes like Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) have been quite effective. In Minnesota, the risk of reoffending and rearrests had reduced by 88 per cent for those who were a part of the CoSA programme.

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I guess if somebody really needs it I mean it helps people with drug and alcohol problems but leave it up to society and law enforcement agencies they say sex offenders can’t be rehabilitated so with that being said rehab would be useless and sex offenders will continue to be haunted down like dogs even after treatment

Good luck 🤢

So India with 100 million people that don’t have clean water or even toilets, that still use the woods and rivers as bathrooms, that have slums miles square, and people die of malnutrition, yet they are thinking rehab for sex offenders is a priority. Brilliant!

Why isn’t everyone rehabilitated in prison? What’s the point of prisons? A recent knife-wielding terror attack in France was supposedly committed by a woman “radicalized” in prison. Why was she radicalized toward evil in prison? Why do we hear about Bill Cosby being denied parole for failing to participate in rehabilitation programs, but not other types of criminals? What on earth are prisons for if not for rehabilitation of every soul who enters? Do we not think violent and serious property crimes betray a major moral flaw in individuals for which they owe some atonement and personal reparation? Or is such a proposition outlandish in a fully secular state? The uniqueness of sex crimes in the imagination of the public absolutely befuddles me.

The US has been the laughing stock of the world for decades regarding anything SEX. Our puritanical and hypocritical view on sexuality is completely unique when compared to the rest of the world. While any kind of sexual assault or molestation is socially repulsive, it can be said that criminalizing consensual sex for anyone over the age of 16 is nothing short of hysteria. As a nation we voice our outrage publicly while privately enjoying soft porn television shows and beauty pageants. We force feed this false sense of morality around the world by supplying huge amounts of cash to poor countries for criminal justice enforcement as long as the embrace the morality. I am certainly not advocating for any kind of assault or child sex but do believe we have lost our minds as a nation when it comes to sex. In the coming years sex crimes will be further defined and pathways for reforming previously convicted sex offenders will be created.