Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is the most damaging form of abuse. This infectious and savage act should be forced to stop all together. A crime this emotionally damaging should not be taken lightly. Enforcement of the law does not adequately address the crime at hand and for this reason many guilty people walk free. On these grounds, numerous victims stay quiet about their assault. The after effects of sexual assault are both emotional and physical, leaving survivors scared for life. Sentencing to people guilty of this crime should be handed out in equality to second or third degree murder. The laws on rape as they are, are satisfactory, however, the enforcement of these laws is less than such. The sentencing ruled by most judges is far too light and does not sufficiently punish the assaulters. The Criminal Code of Canada does not seriously impose all penalties when an assault is sexual. Section 271 of the Criminal Code of Canada states that "a person commits a rape or sexual assault when that person commits an assault a) without the consent of another person, he applies force intentionally to that other person, directly or indirectly; b) he attempts or threatens, by an act or gesture, to apply force to another person, if he has, or causes that other person to believe upon reasonable grounds that he has, present ability to effect his purpose; or c) while openly wearing or carrying a weapon or an imitation thereof, he accosts or impedes another person or begs; of a sexual nature or with sexual overtones" (Greenspan, 2002, p. cc-503). People who commit crimes knowingly by forcing themselves upon another person deserve the maximum punishment possible. According to section 151 of the Criminal Code of Canada, "every person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of fourteen years is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction" (Greenspan, 2002, p. cc-250). Section 152 states that "every person who, for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or incites a person under the age of fourteen years to touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, the body of any person, including the body of the person who so invites, counsels or incites and the body of the person under the age of fourteen years, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction" (Greenspan, 2002, p. cc-252). In section 153, it is stated that "every person who is in a position of trust or authority towards a young person or is a person with whom the young person is in a relationship of dependency and who a) for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of the young person, or b) for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or incites, a young person to touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, the body of any person, including the body of the person who so invites, counsels or incites and the body of the young person, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction" (Greenspan, 2002, p. cc-253). Each of these sections states that rape may be punishable as a summary conviction offence. Rape is far too serious an offence to be considered anything less than indictable. Too consider it anything less should be considered a crime in itself. Though the idea of the consequences may be improving to meet the seriousness of the crime, they are not fairly enforced. According to Stats Canada, "there were 24, 049 rapes committed in the year 2000, in Canada". "720f these rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Those rapists, of course, never serve a day in prison. If the rape is reported to police there is a 50.8hance that an arrest will be made. If an arrest is made, there is an 80hance of prosecution. If there is a prosecution, there is a 58hance of a felony conviction and if there is a felony conviction, there is a 69hance the convict will spend time in jail" (RAINN, 1999). So, even in those 280f rapes that are reported to the police, "there is only a 16.3hance the rapist will end up in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, about 50f rapists will ever spend a day in jail and the other 95% will walk free" (RAINN, 1999).
With such little enforcement of the law being pit in place against people guilty of sexual assault, it gives few victims the incentive to report the crimes committed against them. According to Dr. Philip S.L. Beh, author of the report Rape- Why Are Victims Not Reporting?, many victims feel that the crime is too trivial and unimportant, that there is nothing the police would or could do about it or that there is a lack of evidence linking the attacker. Also there are factors coinciding with the legalities that follow the report, such as going to the hospital, testifying and identifying the assaulter, as well as dealing with the publication of being a sexual assault victim. This can be thought of as a social taboo. Dealing with the psychological and physical effects is often thought of as enough, without dealing with the actions of seeking justice. A raped victim, who has not even begun to recover psychologically, may be faced with the knowledge that their assaulter is being released back into society. Even worse, to know that the assaulter was never sent to prison in the first place.
Every survivor of sexual assault must face the emotional baggage that is left by the assaulter. Rape is not a crime of lust, but rather a crime of violence, aggression and anger. "It is the imposition of power over another person, involving no consent from the victim" (The young women's project, 2001, par 1). According to Rape: What Would You Do If... authored by Diane Booher, common reactions to sexual assault are severe and can put a person into a state of emotional shock. Many survivors many feel numb to the situation at hand and are confused by their lack of emotion. Fear is a factor in a survivor's decision of wither of not he or she wishes to report the case. Many victims are in fear of society's reaction given that a large number of survivors are often blamed for the assault and subject to social reprisals or accusations of the validity of their story. In addition to these reservations, victims are also subjected to fears caused by trauma endured during the assault, such as pregnancy and STDs. Long term lingering fears of being intimate and maintaining a relationship also exist. In addition to fear, feelings of guilt stay with the victim long after the sexual assault took place. Victims may internalize that the sexual assault was somehow their fault and that they might have been capable of preventing it, or that they may have provoked it. All of these feelings may stay with the victim their whole lives, taking away from the person's experience as a human being. One cannot imagine the depth of the pain caused by a rape. Measurement of psychological damage is difficult. Even with therapy, a person never really recovers from such an act of violation.
Sexual assault is the most heinous crime committable in our society today. When a person is sexually violated, there are very valuable things taken away from them. Their sense of safety, of trust and of self-determination is broken down. When the assaulter strikes, he brutally strips his victim of the ability of a normal, meaningful relationship with another human being. The laws that exist now may be well rounded, as they seem to cover a lot and protect the rights of the victims, however, the enforcement of these same laws is the complete opposite. This in turn effects the number of reported incidents of sexual assaults, leaving the number of free rapists higher and the amount of justice served lower. Sexual assault needs to be taken more seriously and the severity of the punishment for the criminals should be tremendously increased and better imposed.