NCJ Number
124991
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1990) Pages: 157-177
Date Published
1990
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The problems with society's handling of sex crimes can largely be attributed to the uneven power relations between men and women.
Abstract
The current system of imprisoning sex offenders abandons both victim and perpetrator; victims cling to it simply because there is no alternative. A compensation-based, rather than punishment-based, alternative would discard the medieval barbaric ideas upon which current criminal policy is based and put concern for the victim in the center. Compensation should depend on the victim's injuries and should not be contingent on her guilt or innocence or her having pressed criminal charges. Feelings of revenge should not be discouraged, but rechannelled to accommodate feminist ethics. Law and health should be realigned, so that any doubt in the courts would favor the accused, but any doubt concerning compensation would favor the victim. "Injury" should be reconceptualized to provide economic compensation for varying degrees of non-economic, emotional, and psychological damages. 2 tables, 3 figures, and 7 references.