COMMENT I'm compelled to respond to Karpal Singh's suggestion for death penalty for child rapists. Ending death penalty has always been a call by DAP and it is distrubing to note that one of its top leaders has backtracked on a principle stand that he himself had admitted to have supported.
However, this is not my only concern. The fact that he felt that ending a sexual crime against a child can be solved through death penalty is a narrow knee-jerk reaction to a crime that demands for more long term solutions.
Time and again when serious sexual crimes are reported, there is a tendency to suggest 'a tooth for a tooth' solution. But will this really solve crimes? If it does, then how do we explain Malaysia's drug problems - death by hanging - but the numbers have not decreased or disappeared.
Obviously, heavier punishment has really not been proven to end crime and violence. So please, let's have a more comprehensive and measured approach towards ending sexual crimes. Between 2005-2007, a three-year reseach on sexual crime was conducted by the Women's Centre for Change Penang.
The findings of this study showed that '45 percent of court cases in a sample of 439 cases did not go to full trial, and of the contested cases that were heard in full, only four percent resulted in a conviction'.
So, even if we do use death penalty as a punishment, the hard reality is that very few rapists will be sent to the gallows, unless they are caught red handed as is the case of the bus driver raping the school girl in front of her friends. Is this the justice that we can best offer to the rape victims?
However, cases such as the bus driver, are cases that gets covered in the media - these are the reported cases. Research has shown that the vast majority of sex offenders are never reported, let alone tried and convicted.
Flawed, unsupportive system
We also forget that sexual crimes are not always committed by strangers but by persons whom the vicitms know and/or love - their fathers, uncles, persons in authority (e.g. teachers, religious instructors, police).
If there is a heavy penalty, such as death, victims will not want to report. Who would want to send their own fathers, uncles, brothers to be killed? Putting an end to sexual crime, therefore, goes beyond just heavy penalties.
I would rather see that the continued existence of sexual crimes is really due to a flawed and unsupportive system where negative perceptions are held by society, family and the implementators of the justice system.
There still exists poor collection of forensic evidences, lack of witnesses, 'cold cases' due to late reporting and/or, insensitve police personnel, lack of evidences, and the long waiting period for the court trial.
In the WCCP's research, it was found that 48 percent of the cases took over a year to complete their trial, and with 18 percent of the cases taking more than two years. These are some of the barriers that prevent justice from being carried out.
Rape victims are branded as 'spoilt', her fault as she enticed the rapist with her dressing, and other negative views have gravely added to unsupportive responses by family, friends and enforcement agencies towards rape victims.
Reforming the system
Such attitudes are grounded in the manner women and children are treated and perceived - weak, subordinate and dependants. Such attitudes must be transformed. The following are actions that the authorities take:
1. Ensuring effective collection of forensic evidences.
2. Developing gender sensitive support services for victims of sexual crimes. Having shelters, half-way houses, drop-in centres, may not be sufficient if the social workers or counsellors do not understand why sexual crimes happen.
3. Implementing offenders' programmes aim to prevent violence by changing the attitudes and behaviour through individual counselling, case management, and group programmes. Programmes may be court-mandated or voluntary. This means providing training to social welfare counsellors and/or police officers who will be able to conduct the offenders' programmes.
4. Monitoring and intensive supervision of those offenders who are at highest risk of re-offense. While this is limited to reported cases and is still a controversial issue but nevertheless it has to be discussed where a mechanism can be developed to track repeat offenders.
5. Government providing mandate for professional development for judicial and law enforcement personnel, and other professionals within the legal sector. Gender sensitising programmes need to be conducted on a yearly basis to include changes in personnel. This will help cahnge mindset towards a more positive and supportive attitude for victims of violence.
Changing attitudes
If the long term goal is to eradicate violence, then we as citizens need to be aware and to understand why violence occurs in the first place.
In Australia, under the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigeneous Affairs, they have emphasised on changing the attitudes and behaviours of individuals, emphasising the way people operate in relationships and families, the way they engage as communities, and how social structures and institutions are regulated and these were viewed as the most effective ways to combat violence.
The approach is nothing new and is being proposed by women's rights groups but actions have been ineffectual.
As a longer term action, teaching respectful relationships and sex education at schools, beginning from kindergardens will not only save lives but reduce, if not eliminate, sexual violence.
Presently, the piecemeal introduction of sex education at schools is not sufficient and will not end sexual violence.
At the end of the day, any attempts to end sexual violence must ask the question: will the action bring about prevention of future sexual crimes?
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