Dealing with bad men

ONCE AGAIN the question arises: What are we doing about the women of this country who are sexually and physically abused, preyed upon, raped or murdered? Disgust and outrage are emotions – not solutions. Categorising sexual predators and criminals as monsters does not solve the issue.

Throwing the ones we catch – assuming we catch the right people – into prison is not a solution either because shoddy police work and the sluggish judicial system will ensure that many of these criminals will be back on our streets.

So what do we do? When it comes to sexual predators we need to examine their childhood to understand how society failed in recognising and treating physical, emotional and sexual abuse at home. We know it is a given that abuse begets abuse. Are our social services doing enough to identify and protect abused children in their homes? We need to ask that question.

Secondly, we have to lay part of the blame on schools. We are so busy teaching subjects we don’t have time to teach sex education, communication, anger management, relationship skills or empathy. Schools need to pick up the slack where these basic components of male/female relationships are not taught at home.

This would be a good project for education in the time of covid19. Forget teaching subjects. We can’t pretend school over the internet is no different from “regular” school so instead address the issues that will get students to come to internet classes. Address bullying, sexual abuse, anger management and empathy, and when we can teach subjects again we’ll get students who are more self-aware.

Next we have the problem of tossing rage-filled criminals into prison where no programme exists to treat sexual offenders. They merely do time in a place where they can hone their criminal skills and re-enter society angrier and better schooled for a criminal life. We have no programmes in our prisons that seek to rehabilitate sexual offenders. That needs to be addressed.

But can we reach sexual offenders in any meaningful way? Can we change their behaviour?

Can Bad Men Change? Sex Crimes and Therapy, a Time magazine cover story on May 21, 2018, by Eliana Dockerman offers some interesting insights about the attempt to treat sexual offenders.

The US imposes strict boundaries on where sexual offenders can live, work and socialise. That doesn’t always solve the problem, but we must assume that the measures help somewhat.

At the same time, the article says, “Punitive measures alone…have not been found to meaningfully increase community safety.” The American Psychological Association has stated that “therapy, when paired with tough parole restrictions, can significantly reduce the chance of re-offending.”

Of course we have not reached the age of enlightenment to introduce a parole system in this country, which would help to monitor criminals who re-enter society from our prisons.

When it comes to therapy, the crux of the matter is whether sexual offenders can be taught empathy. Can they relate to their victims’ feelings?

Therapists in the Time magazine story say sex offenders often convince themselves that the victim wanted the perpetrator’s actions in some way. “They convince themselves that a false notion is true – a cognitive distortion,” says one psychologist.

Research shows that this can be corrected. A study at the University of Cambridge suggested all people can learn empathy. It has to be taught because sexual offenders did not grow up in situations in which they experienced empathy.

In seeking a solution to the problem, we might need to remind ourselves of our own sense of empathy. As horrific as that sounds, we need to understand what makes a sexual predator, seek ways of addressing the problem and find a course of action to protect women. This includes finding ways to make public transportation safer for women. Camera recordings of passengers entering and leaving cars could be an important requirement.

Sexual predators live among us. We have to deal with that, but how? A 2010 research project published in the American Journal of Public Health suggested that “strict laws about registration, surveillance and residency can create a feeling of hopelessness and isolation that can actually facilitate re-offense.”

On the other hand it stated that “rehabilitative therapy when paired with legal measures can give offenders a sense of hope and progress and reduce recidivism rates by as much as 22%.”

Yes, there are monsters among us, but they are Frankensteins created by our own society. We bear the responsibility for justice and rehabilitation. We owe that to the innocent young women who have fallen victim to these men.