Essay on Sexual Assault and the Criminal Justice System

This essay discusses the victimization of sexual assault victims by the criminal justice system and the reconceptualization of sexual abuse that has led to significant changes in the treatment of victims. It explores the reasons why victims are often victimized again by the criminal justice system, such as poor treatment, non-conviction of perpetrators, and lenient sentencing. The essay also discusses the reforms that have been made to the criminal justice system to enhance its effectiveness and provide advocacy and psychological support to victims.

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Essay on Sexual Assault
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Essay on Sexual Assault
It has been said that sexual abuse victims are often victimized again by the Criminal Justice
System. What does this mean? Explain how the reconceptualization of sexual abuse has been
reflected in significant changes in the treatment of victims.
The cases relating to sexual assault such as rape have been decriminalized in the society
and this is attributed to a variety of reasons. Such reasons entail, the poor treatment of the
survivors, the non-conviction of the different perpetrators and also the lenient sentencing of the
individuals who commit such crimes in the community. According to recent statistics, it was
found out that most of the victims of sexual assault have had an adverse experience of the
criminal justice system. A bigger percentage of the sexual assault cases are never reported
against the perpetrators and a study conducted indicated that over 70 percent of the victims fail to
report some of the nasty experiences to the police (Venema, 2016). There are several reasons
attributed to the non-reporting of such experiences.One of the reasons is fear among the victims.
There is often the fear of being let down by the criminal justice system, of disbelief, of re-
traumatisation and that of the unjustified blame. Most of the time, the criminal justice system
tend to assume the nasty part of the minds of the sexual assault victims since such victims do not
want to go through the different stages involved in providing justice.
The other challenge which a variety of sexual assault victims experience in relation to the
criminal justice system occurs during the trials of the case. Often the cross-examination part of
the trial tends to result in re-traumatisation (Smith, 2015). The victims also provide evidence by
providing a testimony and this is typically the primary center of focus of attack by the defense
team. The credibility and reliability of the evidence tabled by the victim can be undermined
through accusations of fabrications and lies. Such a detailed questioning of the evidence of the

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particular victim could result in terror and powerlessness of the initial assault and such a
situation is referred to as the secondary victimization. The secondary victimization can lead to
negative consequences on the victims’ well-being and also mental health.
Also, in the courts during the trials, the victims of sexual assault are often compelled to
provide details of the event which transpired and this has had psychological outcomes such as
the post-traumatic stress disorder (Goody, 2017). The post-traumatic stress disorder entails
certain features such as negative thoughts and assumptions about oneself, feelings of blame and
also certain difficulties with the memory. The defenses in the court who act on behalf of the
sexual assault perpetrators use such psychological outcomes of the sexual violence in
undermining the claims provided by the victims and this makes it difficult to prosecute the
criminal offenders.
The other reasons attributed to the fact that the sexual assault victims are often victimized
by the criminal justice system is based on the first contact of the survivors and the police. A
study which was conducted in the last two years indicated that the first encounter of the victims
with the police was often bad and thus most of them became reluctant to look for more help in
relation to the prosecution of the sexual assault perpetrators. Most of the police officers have
been accused of treating the victims with a lot of sensitivity.
The criminal justice system also often victimize the victims twice and this is based on the
type of treatment given to the survivors of sexual assault such that they are treated as liars based
on the details they provide until proven in a court of law (Koss, 2018). Further, during the trials
regarding the cases of sexual assault on the particular victims, the survivors undergo through a
lot of breach of their privacy and this has deeply affected their self-esteem. The criminal justice

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system therefore only victimize the victims instead of helping them and hence no trust in the
criminal justice system.
According to Stanko (2017), most of the victims of sexual assault have also said that they
do not report such cases of sexual assault to the police because of the particular structure of the
criminal justice system. Such a structural justice system makes the whole prosecution process
lengthy which has made it difficult for the victims to endure. The criminal justice system also
bullies the victims by the delays in handling such matters and therefore it is a let down to the
sexual assault victims all over the world.
The reconceptualization of sexual abuse has been reflected in significant changes in the
treatment of victims in a variety of ways. For example, there have been reforms which have been
made in the criminal justice system with a lot of focus on the enhancing its effectiveness rather
than making certain increases in the sensitivity of the variant needs of the victims (Day, 2016).
Based on such reforms, the victims are now being given attention and hence listened to in order
to establish their specific needs and also some of the changes the sexual assault victims should be
made in the legal system.
Sexual abuse has been considered a serious matter which should not be taken for granted
when a case relating to it has been reported to the criminal justice system. This is unlike in the
past where such matters were taken lightly because a section of the victims was considered to be
lying and thus providing false information. The sexual abuse has also been reconceptualised in
the sense that the various victims of sexual abuse are being provided with both advocacy and
psychological support (DeSorcy, Olver & Wormith, 2016). All the victims are now given a
separate legal representation during the court trials thus raising their level of satisfaction with the
whole process which leads in the prosecution of the particular perpetrators. Such an advocacy

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support, therefore, ensures that the key victims do not undergo negative treatment by the police.
Additionally, they can easily access medical care after such a malicious ordeal of sexual abuse.
There are also certain organizations which have been formed by both the government and
non-governmental organizations whose primary aim is to help the survivors of sexual abuse to
get justice. Such an initiative was taken upon the realization that the current criminal justice
system had no capacity to help convict the different suspects who had committed criminal
offenses relating to sexual abuse (Messerschmidt & Tomsen, 2018).
Apart from the reforms being made, the sexual abuse has been reconceptualised such that
certain systems have been introduced to aid in the prosecution of the perpetrators of sexual
abuse. A key system is the establishment of an inquisitorial system which entails the
investigation of the sexual abuse event including the key perpetrators of the crime (Pflugradt,
Allen & Marshall, 2018). Such a system has helped in the determination of the truth about the
event of sexual abuse which had transpired. The other system is referred to as the adversarial
system which was established with the intention of attaining justice for the accused individual
and not the particular victim (Schultz, 2018). The above system was developed since there are
certain individuals who never the crime of sexual abuse but failed to receive justice and ends up
being imprisoned for offenses they never committed.
Conclusion
In summary, sexual abuse victims are often victimized again by the Criminal Justice
System and this is due to a number of reasons. Some of the reasons entail, the poor treatment of
the survivors, the non-conviction of the different perpetrators and also the lenient sentencing of
the individuals who commit such crimes in the community. Sexual abuse has also been

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reconceptualised such that certain reforms have been made including the establishment of a
certain system to aid in the provision of justice.

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References
Day, D. (2016). Program Analysis of an Adult Sex Offender (ASO) Treatment Group.
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