Sexual Assault Treatment Units in crisis

by Jeremiah Tue Nov 28, 2006 04:01

Update re: Letterkenny
It could be two more years before they can get a forensic examination there.
http://www.highlandradio.com/news.php?articleid=000003387

by C Murray Sat Dec 09, 2006 17:09

The North-Western region, deprived of a doctor for many weekends in the Rape Trauma
Centres has been given an allowance of 4.5 million , by the Minister for health and
Children to train forensic nurses.

This is a good thing BUT, two women who were allegedly raped had to travel to the
Rotunda Sexual Assault unit in the last few weeks. its not really good enough
that the figures for sexual crime convictions are very, very low. That the victim is
seated in the waitng area with the family of the perpetrator or that the Bill introduced
by Ms Harney's 'colleague' again puts the victim on the stand in the court.

is it?

The allocation of funds is important but the whole area of reporting, supporting
and convicting is an appalling indictment of the current Dept of Justice.
The press release did not detail exactly how long it would take to forensically train
nurses in the area of rape trauma .

by Stuart Sat Dec 09, 2006 19:23

It was widely reported this week (Primetime, Independent, Irish Times) that sexual offendors have the lowest repeat conviction rates (2%) of all released prisoners (25%) on the basis of research conducted at the Institute of Criminology at University College, Dublin. It was suggested that the risk of repeat offenses by sexual offendors is very low and it was time to rethink our attitudes to sexual crime.

I think this suggestion is erroneous and potentially dangerous - convicted sex offendors represent a minute subset of sex offendors and are in prison because the evidence was available, because they were known to their victim, because they are multiple offenders or because their offence was (as the judges so insensitively put it) "at the more serious end of the scale".

The propensity to sexually violate another human being is a lifelong risk.

From the Independent today: (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=...14988):

Sex criminals who reoffend

It would be a logical error to presume that the low rate of re-conviction of released sex offenders "reveals them to be the prisoners least likely to reoffend", as has been stated.
What Professor Ian O'Donnell's research (*Irish Independent, December 6) convincingly demonstrates is that the tiny subset of sex offenders who are identified, charged, prosecuted and ultimately convicted are unlikely to be convicted again within a short space of time.
Adult rapists are the most readily convicted category of sexual criminal, of whom 63pc are identified, 27pc prosecuted and just 12pc convicted (NUIG Department of Law research reported in the Dail, May 19 2004).
Because less than one tenth of rapes remain unreported, the real conviction rate of offenders is less than one per cent. Other sexual criminals are less often partners of their victim. Some are influential (parents, relatives and authority figures) or strangers, so the conviction rate is probably far below the one in every hundred of adult rapists.

(*Jail scandal: 25pc back behind bars within year http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=...14968)

by chris Sat Dec 09, 2006 21:02

It is also known that abuse crimes have a serious effect on the victim.

Sexual assault is about power. The effect on the victim ranges from fear, to self-abuse,
inability to trust and massive psychological repercussions that go on for many years.
I can think of one case that haunted Ireland for many years, but will not re-visit it,because
the young woman has a life and is moving on. The problems with proximity to the offender
especially during the duration of a trial, or if he is released cannot either be under
estimated. Women often experience severe eating disorders and a sense of self-blame.

The person who rapes knows that it is about power.

For an incredibly wealthy economy there is a sever defecit in victim support.
You can also take it that the effect on children and how we listen to child victims
is also a big problem. a lot of victims of church abuse were not listened to for
many years. the sweetheart deals and the refusal of the church and state to
listen to these people is still ongoing and most obvious in both the
obstruction of the work of laffoy and the indemnity deal- both of which this
present administration have failed in.

The first point of call is the trauma unit. For many weeks now those units
in the west and north west were closed because there was no specialist
doctor available. The 4.5 million given by the dept is welcome to many, but it
does not address the wider issue of the crime of rape and how the courts
have treated it and the victim. training forensic nurses is a much needed step
but the issue of how the judicial process effects the victim is not nearly dealt
with.