CRIM10001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Sexual Penetration, Sexual Assault, Femininity
15 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CRIM10001 – Lecture 7a & 7b
Sexual assault
Categories of sexual assault (Victoria)
• Indecent assault/gross indecency – any unwanted sexual behaviour or touching
which is forced upon people against their will
o Consent no defence for children under 16
o 10 years imprisonment
• incest – sexual penetration of child or step-child, or of child of de facto partner
under age of 18 → 25 years imprisonment
• sexual penetration of a child under 16
o consent no defence
o under 10 → 25 eas
imprisonment
o between 10 and 16 → 10 years
o between 10 and 16 and child under
care → 15 years
• assault with intent to rape → 10 years
• rape – sexual penetration without consent
→ 25 years
sexual assault in Australia
• over 17,000 recorded cases in 2010, wih 79 victims per 100,000 of population
• reported cases peaked in 2009 and have been declining since then
• females 5 times more likely per 100,000 to be victims compared to males
Sexual assault in Victoria
• 2,044 rape offences recorded in 2011/12 – 12% increase from previous year
• 31% offenders processing, 18% complaints withdrawn, 40% unsolved, 11% NOD
• 87% of victims were female
• over 6,000 sex (non-rape) offences recorded in 2011/12 (5% increase)
o 64% cleared, 80% female victims, 73% victims under 20
• of victims who reported rape within 1 month, offender was known to victim 64%
• of victims who reported within 12 months but after 1, offender was known in 87%
• of victims who reported after 12 months, offender was known to victim in 96%
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
association between offender and victim – Victoria study
• in those cases where relationship was recorded, rape:
o 40% - related, living with or in a relationship with
o 45% - other known person (employer/employee, acquaintance, neighbour
etc.)
o 15% - unknown
sentencing for rape in Victoria
Theories of sexual offending
psychological theories
• hat is it aout this as past epeiees that hae led hi to ape? pshe
o intimacy deficits? – problematic childhood experiences of males who
become sexual offenders
▪ poor child-parent attachment, physical, sexual and emotional abuse,
neglect, inconsistent discipline, early exposure to pornography
• victim empathy deficits – a defining characteristics of sex offenders is
underdeveloped:
o emotional recognition – reading signs
o perspective taking – othe pesos shoes
o emotional replication
→ consequences are intimacy and social skill deficits
cognitive theories (cognitive distortions)
• how do offenders come to justify their sexual offending? (learning)
• cognition: life experience leads people to build a framework of associated content
containing assumptions of what to expect from the world and people in it
• distortion: justifications, perceptions and judgements used by offender to rationalise
o based on implicit theories about individual victims, categories of people,
beliefs about how people work. These theories are:
▪ oe ae deeptie/aipulatie, oe ae se ojets, es
sex drive is uncontrollable, entitlement, dangerous world
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
