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Criminology: Section B
Theme 2: Sexual Crimes
Lecture 6
Introduction
South Africa faces a globally unparalleled problem of violence
Females are usually viewed as victims and males as the perpetrators of
sexual offenses
The victimization vulnerability of men should not be negated
Men in correctional facilities find themselves, especially vulnerable to sexual
violence
The prevalence of the commission of sexual offenses in our society is
primarily a social phenomenon, which is reflective of deep-seated, systematic
dysfunctionality in our society
Aetiology of sexual offending(p 355)
Definition: causes or origins of deviant social behaviour
Aetiology of sexual offending: Individual factors (pg 355)
1. Low self-esteem(p 355)
Contributing factor to sexual offending
Sexual offenders generally have a low self-esteem
Precursor to sexual offending
o may hamper sexual offenders progress in intervention programmes
Low self-esteem can be a reaction be being caught and/or punished or
stigmatized for sexual offending
Usually preoccupied with their own limitations and less concerned with other
people's feelings which leads us onto the second factor of empathy deficit
Involved with fulfilling their own needs
o their own needs are sexual in nature
2. Empathy deficit(p 356)
Means that somebody struggles to have empathy with other people
Can be a result of childhood attachment insecurity
o when there is an attachment problem to significant others to
caregivers, there is attachment insecurity which can lead to an
empathy deficit
o as a child, if you don't experience empathy from a caregiver, it is very
difficult for you to in fact learn empathy
Attachment deficit= contributing factor to adolescents' failure to develop
intimate relationships
o life phase of adolescence is where we start to form a sexual identity
start to experiment, may have sexual feelings
, relationships may take on a more intimate style, kissing,
fondling, oral sex, sex
adolescence who is in securely attached, may not be able to
develop that intimate relationship, the result is that they feel that
they are falling behind their peers
peer pressure around having sex, and this can be
conducive to deviant sexual behaviour
Sex offenders don’t recognize and have compassion with their victim's
distress to such an extent that they can become sexually aroused while
committing the offence
Many males that do not commit rape are inhibited by empathy for the potential
victim
o they can recognize the distress its going to cause, the life change its
going to cause, the impact of that crime
therefore choose not to engage in the offender
that statement implies that makes may commit sexual
offences if they don’t experience empathy
Many sexual offenders deny their offenses and minimize the harm that the
victim suffered-lack of empathy
o they rationalize their behaviour
o try to argue that what they’ve done is not criminal
o gives rise to lack of empathy to the victim, because they are minimizing
the harm that they’ve caused
o rationalising their own criminal behaviour by saying that it is not
criminal
they haven’t caused harm
they are entitled to that sex
shows us clear lack of empathy (page 256 study)
deny and/or minimise their sexual transgressions due to an
attempt to distance themselves from their misbehaviour
Deniers and admitters
o Deniers blamed their victims and provided the following justifications
for their behaviour:
- the victim seduced them
- women who say, actually mean yes
- most women eventually enjoy the sexual interaction and relax after a
while during the rap
- good girls don’t become victims of rape (minimizing state of
victimization)(they deserved it)
-the victim was not harmed physically, so the act was a minor
transgression
-victim did not resist and actually wanted to have sexual intercourse
NB: Just-world hypothesis : relates to concept that good girls don’t
become victims of rape. Believe that bad things happen to bad people,
good things happen to good people.
If you're a bad person , you will become a victim of crime.
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