PREA in Action: Eliminating Prison Rape

Despite the prevalence of jokes about it in the media and society at large, prison rape is no laughing matter.  As many as 4% of state and federal prison inmates, 3.2% of jail inmates, and 1.8% of juveniles ages 16 to 17 have reported sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff in recent reports.  From the assaults, the inmates have reported not only physical abuse but also mental abuse, often at the hands of prison guards who took advantage of their positions of power to engage in sexual activity with inmates.  As a result, with millions currently incarcerated, hundreds of thousands of American citizens have entered the criminal justice system to serve their time, only to become victims themselves.  Often a population that is overlooked, a large portion of the population believes that a prisoner is just a prisoner, and there is almost a tacit consent to sexual misconduct in prisons where people view prison rape as inherent to jail time.  Fortunately, in the interest of preserving human rights, civil liberties, and a constitutional commitment to preventing cruel and unusual punishment, in 2003 the United States passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to address the rights of a population often overlooked. With this effort on behalf of the government, one question remains:  is it enough?

Guest Post: 5 Reasons Why Rape Victims Struggle for Justice

Throughout history rape has been recognized as a crime, although criminal codes – and the very definition of rape – have varied from culture to culture and from one era to another.  Whether rape victims get justice has always depended upon where (and when) they lived.  In the modern-day United States we like to think we are relatively enlightened in this regard.  We have the advantage of heightened educational and legislative efforts over the past forty years, driven largely by the feminist and human rights movements. Groundbreaking books such as Susan Brownmiller’s classic 1975 work, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, explored the dynamics of rape.  Contrary to the subtitle, Brownmiller’s book tackled not just male-on-female rape, but also homosexual rape (particularly in prisons) and the sexual assault of children.  The net result of four decades of education is that attitudes and laws are more protective of the victims than they used to be, at least in the U.S. and many other First World countries.

Recidivism, Restorative Justice, and the Abnormally High Rate Of Rape In Alaska

In a recent article, CNN reporter John D. Sutter referred to the state of Alaska as “the national epicenter of rape.”  Sutter is not some avid anti-Alaskan, nor does he seem to harbor any irrational dislikes of the Pacific Northwest.  Rather, Sutter wrote the article in response to the 2012 FBI crime statistics, which showed Alaska to have the highest rate of reported rape.  According to the FBI report, eighty rapes are reported for every 100,000 people; almost three times the national average of twenty-seven.  In comparison to New Jersey, where rape is reported the least, Alaska’s rapes per 100,000 people is seven times higher.  Sutter’s report went even deeper and found that 59% of women in Alaska have experienced “sexual or intimate partner violence, and that four in ten women reported to have been raped or sexually assaulted.