9/13

Today in class we went over a lot of statistics on rape, return rapists, inmate programs, and cases at universities. Some of the chapters didn’t have a lot of information, but what we went over was very interesting and gave a lot of information on life after punishment for rapists.

Chapters 11 and 12 were not discussed, as class was somewhat empty and nobody from this group was present. Chapters 13 and 14 focused on what causes cases to go dead, (as happened to a few of the people in the story), and how evidence plays a role. Cases can be diminished when there isn’t enough evidence present to convict someone. Cases can also change based on evidence provided, either turning the case against the victim, or convicting the assailant for something other than rape.

Chapters 15 and 16 really got into title 9 laws and how rape cases play out in the real world. We learned that 90% of criminal cases end in a plea bargain; however, only 30% of rape cases end in plea bargains. This is interesting because there are a couple different reasons for why the number of rape cases that end in plea bargains in significantly lower. A couple examples are: the victim wants the rapist to get the maximum punishment, one (or both) parties don’t agree with the plea, or the lawyer believes the case would be successful in trial. Title 9 argues that “it is more likely than not that sexual harassment/violence occurred” and that the victim should be believed. After many cases, athletes were coming back and suing the schools/court systems/etc. for receiving “discrimination in trial because they are athletes” and actually WINNING these cases. What a joke! Taking this to WSU, we learned there are 3-5 open cases per year typically; however, theoretically there are 35 cases a year that happen. This leaves us wondering, what happened to the other 30 cases? Did they go unnoticed? Unheard? Unreported? This leaves us wondering so many questions that go unanswered. Unfortunately, most reports don’t require giving a name, but just the fact that an incident occurred and what that incident was. This also leaves us wondering, is there a profile of a rapist? And would a rapist who was kicked out of school for raping someone want to go back to that school? Chapters 15 and 16 left me feeling like I had a million unanswered questions, and really got my mind running on what the answers could be.

Chapters 19 and 20 also had a lot of important information statistically. From the Bureau of Justice Statistics, we learned that on 9,600 sex offenders tracked for 3 years after release in 15 states, they found within those 3 years, 5.3% were rearrested for another sex crime. On average, they served only 3.5 years of 8-year sentence. Compared to non-sex offenders, early released sex offenders were 4x more likely to be arrested again. There are also jobs that convicted rapists cannot work, such as jobs with: access to potential victims, positions of power, where the location is (can’t be near schools, playgrounds, etc.), and making sure supervision is present at all times. Another interesting fact is a steady, full time job keeps rapists from being reconvicted. The last really interesting fact I learned from today was that the US has the highest incarceration rate by far: out of every 100,000 people in an area, most countries incarcerate 100; however, the US incarcerates 500.