Management of Sexual Assault: Victim and Offender Intervention

This document discusses the management of sexual assault, focusing on the importance of interventions for both victims and offenders. It explores the prevalence of sexual assault among women, the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy, the role of behavior therapy in treating victims and offenders, the need for monetary relief for victims, the significance of social support and advocacy, and the potential benefits of reparative and transformative justice.

Running header: SEXUAL ASSAULT
Joyce Chellah
NorQuest College
ENGL2550
Taylor Scanlon
Assignment 2a:
Date: March 21, 2019

SEXUAL ASSAULT 2
Introduction
Introductory Statement: Sexual assault is enduring and persistent social evil that has long been
considered a serious problem and impart a significant impact on the victim. The researchers,
psychologist and sociologists have offered numerous treatment and intervention plan to reduce
the risk and impact of sexual assault.
Thesis: The management of victim is not merely enough to control the obnoxious consequences
rather the intervention of the sexual offenders is equally important.
Summary of the Main Ideas:
• Sexual assault is more prevalent among women as compared to men.
• Cognitive behaviour therapy is an effective way to manage sexual victims and offenders.
• The behaviour therapy is also effective to treat the victim and offenders.
• Monetary relief is imperative for recovery of the assault victim.
• Social support, care and advocacy are significant and advocacy for sexual assault
survivors.
• Reparative and transformative justice for offender might help maintain the fabric of the
society.
Main idea # 1
Claim: Sexual assault is more prevalent among women as compared to men.
Evidence:
• A comprehensive report by the department of justice suggested that around 25% female
and 6% of males experience sexual assault (Habigzang, et al. 2009).
• The majority of sexual assault victims comprised of females. One female among every
five experience sexual assault which s human right of a human right problem (Amenu &
Hiko, 2014).
• According to the Recent national data, among women reporting a history of rape, 40%
women reported themselves as a rape victim before the age of 18 and 38% women were
being raped between 18 to 24 years of age (Breiding, et al. 2014).
Significance
Sexual assault is pervasive worldwide and spoiling the fabric of every society. Both
gender male and females of all ages experience sexual assault in their lives. The literature

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depicted that the ratio of sexual assault is more prevalent among females as compared to
males. The female found to be more victim of rape, sexual violence and assault.
Main idea # 2
Claim: Cognitive behaviour therapy is an effective way to manage sexual victims and offenders.
Evidence:
• Habigzang, et al. (2009) conducted a study to assess the impact of cognitive behaviour
therapy on the victims of sexual abuse. The nine to 16 years old children, female and
transgender were randomly selected in the study. The results of the study indicated that
the group of people who were given intervention reported reduced symptoms of anxiety,
depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.
• Dolan (2009) concluded through a meta-analysis that cognitive behaviour therapy and
relapse prevention are a very effective treatment for sex offenders. They also proposed
that neuro-cognitive anatomy of the brain also plays a significant role in reducing the
symptoms violence. The literature also recommended the effectiveness of
pharmacological treatment.
• The cognitive behaviour treatment oriented therapies and treatment lower and moderate
the risk of sexual offenders. The Literature based study concluded that various therapies
of CBT are an effective treatment modality to prevent offence recidivism of sexual
offenders (Mpofu, Athanasou, Rafe, & Belshaw, 2018).
• Sleep disturbance is highly prominent among sexual assault victims, and cognitive
behaviour therapy is effective in treating the sleep oriented disturbance. Belleville, Dubé-
Frenette, & Rousseau (2018) suggested that nightmare symptoms can be reduced among
sexual assault victims through the effective techniques of cognitive behaviour therapy.
Significance
Cognitive behaviour therapy plays an important role in the management of victims of
sexual abuse. It effectively treats not only female and transgender but also showed it efficiency
on children to reduce their anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder’s symptoms. Its
effective techniques also condense the sleep disturbance symptoms that mostly sexual assault
victims reported. After getting treatment, the victims are satisfied with their sleep disturbance
and nightmare symptoms. Therapeutic techniques of cognitive behaviour therapy successfully

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treat the sexual offenders and lower down their offending behaviour at its moderate level so that
the symptoms of violence can be controlled.
Main Idea # 3
Claim: The behaviour therapy is also effective to treat the victim and offenders.
Evidence:
• The symptoms of PTSD among sexual assault victim were reduced through Dialectic
behaviour therapy. (Steil, et al. 2018). The improvement for PTSD and borderlines
personality disorder were found to significantly reduced among the victims.
• Hoffmann (2017) signifies that the behaviour therapies, in particular, pavlovian
conditioning demonstrated a successful treatment for maladaptive sexual function either
for the victim or the offenders. According to the Hoffmann (2017), the sex offenders
sometimes found to be associated with psychopathologies and through conditioning their
learned behaviour can be unlearned. He proposed two types of conditioning to control the
sexual arousal of the sex offender’s aversive conditioning and masturbatory
reconditioning.
Significance
Dialectic behaviour therapy effectively treats and reduce the symptoms of posttraumatic
stress disorder and borderline stress disorders, and it gives efficacy to reducing the symptoms of
victims. Behaviour therapies support the treatment of both sexual victims and sexual offenders
by conditioning their behaviours. It plays an important role in unlearning the behaviour of sexual
offenders. Aversive conditioning and masturbatory reconditioning are the two important
conditioning by which it can give treatment to the sexual offenders successfully.
Main idea # 4
Claim: Monetary relief is imperative for recovery of the assault victim.
Evidence:
• The sexual assault victim does not merely need emotional support but the monetary relief
and compensations as well (van Dijck, 2018). The sex victim does not merely need
emotional support, but the monetary relief and compensation should be provided for the
social, emotional and psychological suffering of the victims (van Dijck, 2018). “Trot
Law” has also signified by the author to highlight the importance of payback for personal

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damage of the victim and in this way the victim can use monetary assistance and
compensations in more productive ways (van Dijck, 2018).
• According to Geneva, (2013) the women experience sexual; assault from their suppose or
intimate partner. Due to such difficulties, they have different needs and support. The
medical, social, personal and monetary assistance can produce better results among
sexual assault victims.
Significance:
The equal rights and respect in the intimate relationship are the essences. The literature
suggested that women experience substantial difficulties in the forms of sexual assault
adversely affect their mental and physical health. Trot law relives the sexual victims from
their damage and gives compensation and relief to their social, emotional and psychological
suffering of the victims. Monetary assistance reduces the symptoms of the women as when
women experience sexual assault from their spouse their medical, social, personal symptoms
were reduced by this treatment.
Main idea # 5
Claim: Social support, care and advocacy are significant and advocacy for sexual assault
survivors.
Evidence:
• The social support and care should be the first priority of the sexual assault survivors as
compared to the punishment of the offenders (Quinlan, Clarke, & Miller, 2016). The
advocacy is secondary support for the victim, but social support can enhance the self-
esteem of the victim.
• Littleton (2010) recommended that social support is an important factor in the post he
traumatic effect of sexual assault. In study 76, women victim of sexual assault followed a
six month follow up session of social support, and the result indicated a clear reduction in
symptoms of grief and trauma.
• The social support plays an imperative role in the recovery of the sexual assault victim.
The psychological condition and the adjustment improve with social support
(Sigurvinsdottir & Ullman, 2015).
Significance:

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Social support in the form of care and advocacy is an important way for the recovery of sexual
assault victims. The recent data suggested that social support is a more significant element as
compared to advocacy. While some other studies indicated that, the consecutive sessions of the
social support helps in healthy psychological, emotional and behavioural symptoms of the sexual
assault victim. Furthermore, it also enhances the psychological adjustment of the victim in the
broader spectrum. The social support for all domains such as emotional, psychological and
behavioural aspect can assist the victim to cope up with the traumatic experience. If this
traumatic reaction could not be treated could leave a more negative impact on the health and
condition of the victim.
Main idea # 6
Claim: Reparative and transformative justice for offender might be helpful in the management
of sexual assault victims.
Evidence:
• The reparative and transformative justice are helpful to reduce the risk of repetitive acts
of sexual assault by sex offenders (Boutilier, & Wells, 2018). This article recommended
that that capital punishment for offenders found to be best t way for treating the sex
offenders (Boutilier & Wells, 2018). It signifies me to the movement that can expose the
sex offenders, but unfortunately the name of the victim as well, which is not pretty well
for the recovery of the victim. Therefore, the effective way to reduce the sex offender
action is reparative and transformative justice. Law and order in any society can maintain
the fabric of the society by protection and justice to the victims.
• Armata (2018) suggested that transformative justice is the finest example of the feminist
anti-violence movement. Amrata (2018) postulated the successful cases of transformative
justice concerning the treatment of offenders and the victims as well. In a punitive
culture, transformative justice provides support to the sex victim by providing equal
rights to men and women.
Significance:
The justice, law and order in any culture are vital to maintaining the fabric of the society.
Law and order can protect the sex victim from the misery, psychological, emotional and social
grief. According to literature, the most effective laws are transformative and reparative justice
that can provide an atmosphere of equality to both the victim and the offenders as well.

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Conclusion
Resentment argument: New intervention approaches, law and order should be implemented for
the management of the sexual assault victim and the survivors.
The significance of the main points: The social, psychological, and laws oriented approaches
are imperative to reduce the sexual offenders as well as psychological, behavioural and
emotional symptoms among the victims. Furthermore, the symptoms should be treated aptly
considering the relapse preventions as well.
Concluding Statement: It is imperative to assist the sexual assault victim to provide social,
emotional and psychological relief. The behaviour, cognitive, monetary, transformative and
reparative aids are mandatory for the treatment of the offenders as well as for the victims.

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