Literature
On January 26, 2010, I came across an interesting New York Times book review of Dr. Susan A. Clancy’s “The Trauma Myth,” entitled “Abusing Not Only Children, but Also Science.”
The article went on to describe Dr. Clancy’s research in the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse (specifically, how child victims function as adult survivors).
Prior to Dr. Clancy’s research, the general consensus in the social science community had been that child victims of sexual assault grew up to experience trauma (and at times, repressed those traumatic feelings).
Yet while Dr. Clancy’s data showed child victims confused at the experience, the trauma of the event did not begin until the child victim became old enough to really understand what happened.
Dr. Clancy also found that child victims were able to repress these events because they were not traumatic. Her study showed that traumatic events are likely to be distinctly remembered, whereas the “confusion” of the sexual abuse, like so many confusing experiences in childhood, is easier to forget. It is when the confusing experience is re-processed and truly comprehended by the victim that he or she remembers the experience.
While many have rebuked Dr. Clancy’s findings, she believes that her research can really help victims in their recovery process. Many victims blame themselves for not fighting back against the abuse or not having a big enough response to the abuse. By understanding that the experience will (at least initially) be confusing (and not traumatic), the victim may take comfort in knowing that his or her lack of reaction is completely “normal” (and not shameful).
Dr. Clancy’s research certainly challenges conventional wisdom in this area of social science.
What do you think of her work? How do you think this will change the prosecution of child sex crimes in America? Do you think it can really help victims in their recovery process?
Advice for Sex Offenders’ Family (posted on May 9, 2011):
On Sunday, Mother’s Day of all days, the New York Times’ new Ethicist, Ariel Kaminer, responded to a question posted by the wife of a sex offender. This anonymous woman from Ohio asked Ms. Kaminer whether she should tell the parents of her children’s friends that her husband committed a sex offense, even though his sex crime did not involve a child and was committed over twenty years ago.
The Ethicist’s advice was essentially to worry about her children instead of her husband: that she had to consider what the exposure would do to her children and their future instead of how the exposure might protect her husband’s reputation.
View Ariel Kaminer’s full response here.
What do you think of Ms. Kaminer’s advice? Do you think it properly addressed the Ohio woman’s concerns? What do you think of the fact that the woman seems (at first glance) more concerned about her husband’s reputation than her children’s? Or is she thinking of her entire family’s well-being when trying to be proactive about the exposure?
A Fair Assessment of Sex Offender Registration in Arkansas (posted 1/28/12):
On Wednesday, the Arkansas Times did a cover story on the state’s sex offender registry system. The article starts by dispelling the image most people associate with the label “sex offender.” As David Koon notes, it is inaccurate and stigmatizing to associate all sex offenders to the image of a “greasy-haired pervert cruising playgrounds in a panel van with a bag of candy on the seat beside him.”
Of the 11,268 registered sex offenders in Arkansas, there are those who range from child molesters, to rapists, to streakers, to prostitutes, to Peeping Toms, to those who’ve knowingly infected their sexual partners with HIV, to those who have sex with animals, and finally, even one offender who likes to have sex with the umbrella holes in picnic tables.
The term “sex offender” isn’t a one-size-fits-all label, although the effects of the label tend to be uniform. Offenders have incredible difficulties finding employment, housing and even social support systems. While each registered sex offender is assigned a level (from 1 to 4) depending on their level of risk to the community, the general public usually isn’t educated into understanding the difference.
An employee at the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Sex Offender Screening and Risk Assessment (“SOSRA”) program explains why it is important to properly assess each offender before assigning him or her a risk level. One offender she assessed would have been classified under the Adam Walsh Act as a Tier 1 (least serious) offender based upon the type of crime he was convicted of. However, after conducting SOSRA’s evaluation of the same offender, the employee was able to uncover the fact that this offender had actually molested at least 40 children (boys and girls) since he was 7 years old, and had done so because he had an attraction to their “vulnerability and innocence.”
Impressively, Arkansas seems to have a fairly extensive evaluation process in assigning sex offenders risk levels (more so than many other states, and a vast difference from the federal system under the Adam Walsh Act). Those who refuse to participate in the evaluation are given a default level of 3, and all offenders can move for a re-classification after five years on the registry.
The article also describes “Arkansas Time After Time,” a support group for sex offenders and their families. Started by a registered sex offender, the group’s founder notes that advocating for sex offenders is like “being an advocate for Ebola.” The group has helped at least some offenders to feel like there are others who understand their situation, and to help them not feel so isolated in the community.
SOSRA points out that nothing beats parents doing what they can to keep their children safe. Parents need to have open communication with their children, and be involved in their kids’ lives enough to know who they are spending time with.
Sadly, as Attorney Godin has argued time and time again, this article cites research showing that strict residency restrictions on sex offenders may actually lead to more offending. Offenders who end up homeless because they have no place to go will then have little incentive not to re-offend. They lose their support system, their income and their housing, and are left to wander the streets. Furthermore, when sex offenders become homeless, they are actually harder to keep tabs on because their whereabouts are usually unknown.
The article calls the effectiveness of sex offender registration and residency restrictions into question, especially given the original purpose of these laws.
What do you think of these laws?
Consensual Sex Just As Injurious As Rape?? (posted on April 2, 2012):
According to a recent article from ScienceNordic.com, new research recently published in the Forensic Science International journal shows that woman endure vaginal injuries from consensual sex just as often as they do from being raped.
This new finding could have major implications on rape cases where it’s “he said, she said” and the jury uses the physical evidence to break the tie.
The study analyzed the physical injuries of thirty-nine rape victims with injuries received by 110 nursing students after they participated in consensual sex. The results show that one in three women receive injuries from rape, as well as from consensual sex. Apparently, these results were not affected by accounting for gentle or rough sex, or whether the sexual partners used sex toys or condoms.
Without the testimony of a medical professional, the average person on a jury may not otherwise believe that a woman could receive a vaginal injury from consensual intercourse.
Until reading this post, would you have believed it possible for a woman to be injured by voluntary intercourse?
For more information about legal representation of those charged with sex crimes, please visit: http://katherinegodinlaw.com/areas-of-law/sex-crimes/
Katherine E. Godin, Esq.
The Law Office of Katherine Godin, Inc.
615 Jefferson Blvd.
Warwick, RI 02886
Phone: (401) 274-2423
Fax: (401) 489-7580
Email: kg@katherinegodinlaw.com
Website: http://www.katherinegodinlaw.com
