The media has paid lots of attention to date-rape drugs, such as gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), that are put in a victim’s drink to render that person more susceptible. Keep in mind, however, that alcohol consumption plays a much more significant role in making women vulnerable to sexual offenses.
The heavy consumption of alcohol or drugs by a victim not only makes the victim more susceptible to abuse but also makes prosecuting the offender more difficult. This is because the victim may have a poor memory of the events and may have engaged in conduct that the defendant will offer as evidence that the victim consented to the act.
Victims of rape experience a wide range of lasting physical and emotional effects. For example, for purposes of prosecution, women are encouraged to be examined by a doctor to obtain forensic evidence of rape (such as semen, pubic hairs, and blood). This experience can be frightening and embarrassing. Rape victims may also contract venereal diseases, become pregnant, suffer economic loss, and struggle with the significant emotional impacts. Fortunately, police and victim services have become much better at recognizing these challenges and helping victims through their ordeals.
Although each state is different, forcible rape and sodomy are usually punished by severe sentences, somewhere between 5 and 20 years, depending on the circumstances. Statutory rape, involving consensual sex between an adult and a minor, usually results in shorter punishment and often no prison time.
Child molestation
Few crimes provoke more public anger than child molestation, a sexual offense against a prepubescent child. And, yet, this type of crime occurs with alarming frequency. Statistics on the exact number of child molestation cases are difficult to come by. (One reason for this lack of stats is that the National Crime Victimization Survey, one of the most reliable measures of crime, reaches out only to people older than 12.) However, of all acts of child abuse with kids aged 1-17, over 8 percent constituted sexual abuse.
Looking at who commits child molestation
Frequently, child molestation involves someone in the child’s household. But other molesters may hold jobs or volunteer positions that place them in close proximity to children; they may be youth counselors or coaches, for example. Whoever the child molester is, he often “grooms” a child for the crime by trying to convince him or her that sex with an adult is okay.
I once prosecuted a case that provides a classic example of grooming. A man spent lots of time at a community swimming pool during the summer. Of all the kids who came swimming every day, he identified two susceptible 8-year-old boys and quickly befriended them, talking about video games, skateboards, and so on. He eventually persuaded one of the boys to engage in multiple acts of sodomy. (This man was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.)
Molesters also separately groom adult parents and community members, seeking to gain their trust so they can have greater access to their children. They go to great lengths to persuade parents that they’re trustworthy and reliable. Although offenders are almost always male, the child victims may be male or female.
Quite often, sentences for sexual molestation of a child are similar to sentences for forcible rape on adults, 5 to 20 years (see the “Rape and sodomy” section for more details).
Considering the reasons why and the effects on victims
Why would someone molest a child? That’s the million-dollar question. Clearly, some people have sex drives directed toward children — psychologists and psychiatrists call this condition pedophilia. But how this sex drive ultimately leads a person to actually violate a child is difficult to say.
Criminologists can certainly speculate that the increased use of the Internet has had a profound effect on the crime of child molestation. Just a few decades ago, a person with some sexual drive toward children would’ve had a tough time obtaining child pornography or finding like-minded people to associate with. Today, child molesters communicate with one another online, discuss strategies, and generally encourage one another that their behaviors are okay. And, of course, child pornography flows across the Internet virtually unabated. The combination of support from like-minded people and stimulation from child pornography may lead some people down a path where they ultimately molest a child.
Along with the greater risk of becoming molesters themselves, victims of molestation can suffer dramatic, life-altering emotional damage and possibly even destroyed familial relationships. For example, if the molester is a family member or the boyfriend of the mother, the prosecution process may pit the child against his or her own relatives. For this reason, many children are reluctant or unwilling to cooperate with police. Detectives and prosecutors with specialized expertise often work with child sex victims to help conduct interviews and get the full story.
Taking Property under the Threat of Violence: Robbery
Robbery is essentially theft by force. Stealing a woman’s purse from her closet is theft. Knocking her down and taking her purse directly off her shoulder is robbery. Unlike theft and burglary, which are both considered property crimes, robbery is considered a violent crime and is usually punished more severely because it involves a risk to the personal safety of the victim (see Chapter 6 for more on theft, burglary, and other property crimes).
The amount of punishment doled out for robbery generally depends on whether a weapon is used and, if so, the type of weapon used. Here are the basic distinctions among weapons:
Deadly weapons: In most states, using a firearm during the commission of a robbery results in the most severe sentences. Using other weapons capable of causing death (called deadly weapons) may also result in severe punishment.Armed robbery, for example, may result in a sentence of 1 to 10 years in state prison. Although most violent crimes are handled in state court, bank robbery is commonly prosecuted in the federal system, where sentences can reach 20 years in prison if the robber was armed.
Dangerous weapons: This category of weapons includes those that can cause significant injury, such as clubs, fists, and stun guns. Using a dangerous weapon during a robbery may result in a more severe sentence than a robbery without a weapon.
Pretend weapons: Of course, I can’t neglect to mention the robber with his hand in his pocket, pretending to have a gun. In many states, even pretending to possess a weapon may result in an enhanced sentence.
Many robberies happen to people in vehicles. For instance, carjacking is when a robber forces a person out of his car and then takes the car, perhaps also taking the driver’s personal possessions. Also, far more common than bank robberies are robberies of convenience stores and homes, perhaps because bank robberies are often prosecuted in federal court, where sentences can be much longer (see Chapter 17 for a discussion of federal crime enforcement).