Training for Change (From Annual Report for 2005 and Resource Material Series No. 69, P 85-96, 2006, Simon Cornell, ed. -- See NCJ-217726)

• NCJ Number: 217730
• Author(s): Kanwaljit Deol
• Date Published: July 2006
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Japan

Annotation

This article focuses on the police response to female victims in India and argues for a training curriculum that accounts for the oppression women face on a daily basis.

Abstract

The main argument is that women, whether they are the victims of recordable crimes or not, are more heavily victimized because of societal attitudes and the neglect of their human rights. Thus, when women become victimized by recordable crimes, the police officers they report to and who investigate their reports must be cognizant of the historical and traditional forms of victimization women suffer in everyday society. These traditional forms of victimization range from economic and social disadvantages to outright sexual harassment and other gender-related abuses. The author contends that police must be properly trained to understand women’s unique cultural circumstances and to provide a more humane and sensitive approach to them when they become victims of recordable crimes. The author stresses the importance of police training as a means to educate the Indian police force on women’s oppression and related issues. First, it is argued that an attitude change among the police force, and indeed among society, is what is needed first and foremost to counter crimes against women and to make police more sensitive to the needs of female victims. The author identifies the important components of a police training curriculum, which would include gender awareness and sensitization; human rights and crimes against women; the roots of gender violence; and the role of law enforcement in combating crimes against women. Each of these areas of curriculum is discussed in turn before the author turns to a consideration of strategies for change within the police culture, which mainly focuses on the importance of organizational change. The importance of creating a victim-centered multidisciplinary approach to female crime victims that includes input from police, medical, legal, social, and nonprofit organizations is underscored as the key to filling the void evident in the police response to female victims in India. Footnotes