9-1 Final Project Submission CJ-520 kkalpen

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Keondra Kalpen CJ-520-Q1063 Criminology and Public Policy 9-1 Final Project Submission: Policy Recommendation Report

I. Introduction: I have chosen Date Rape as my public policy for this assignment. I chose this public policy issue because it is one that is not talked about much but happens often. Date rape, when looking at numbers, effects over 35 % when looking at data coming from the program RAINN or Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. Date rape also effects women or girls ranging from 18 and above when it comes to data from the United States. Most date rapes take place at college and most of the time involve drinking. Date rape is also known as acquaintance rape. It is called that because most of the victims know or know of their attacker. Date rape is also known for being forced sexual activity through drugs and violence being used as a method to engage in nonconsensual sexual intercourse. A corresponding departmental policy would be that of identifying and preventing gender bias in law enforcements response to sexual assault and domestic violence. The connection is: most rapes, especially when it comes to men and those that identify as trans or homosexual, go unreported because of how law enforcement sometimes uses bias judgement on that person and their situation and making that person feel less than what they already do after dealing with their circumstances. The Justice Department has created new guidelines within the department to prevent gender bias when it comes to the response of sexual assault and domestic violence to protect the survivors of the attacks and bring them justice and making the offenders pay for their actions. The Justice Department is improving its response to both sexual assault and domestic violence as well as preventing any type of gender bias when it comes to handling these cases. There are also laws that are being implemented and others that are being enhanced and improved to handle the case of date rape as well. There is a sentence of 20 years or more when it comes to someone intending on committing a sexual assault using illicit drugs to another person without

their consent. This has been implemented by The Drug-Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act of 1996 (U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs). II. Historical Analysis: When it comes to identifying the key trends both modern and historical when it comes to date rape, in early history, date rape wasn’t a thing, as rape was not even seen as a crime back in the day because as previously stated in my research and work, women were seen as property and not human beings. Bringing us to modern times, the first rape crisis center was created in the 1970s and laws were being created to address the nature of crime rape is and providing punishments for said crime. Even going so far as creating medical protocols to address rape medically. Not only that, the #MeToo movement really shined a bright light on rape of not only women but men as well. Showcasing that women aren’t just the only type of rape victims in the world. Men suffer the same thing but much worse when it comes to coming forth and reporting it which is another issue that has been better addressed lately. A court case that has shaped the evolution of the public policy issue which is date rape would be SER v. NORIS (2005). I say this because this court case really expressed how having evidence is key to providing justice to the victim and putting the offender behind bars. It shined a light on just how easy it can be for evidence to disappear because of the nature of the rape and how states and their court systems utilize evidence that can help determine what type of rape occurred or if it happened at all. It also showed how federal laws can be contradictory when it comes to having suffienct enough evidence presented in a case.

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When it comes to the previously identified historical events impacting the public’s perception of the state or federal public polices, I can say that again back in the day, there were no real laws on date rape or rape in general as I stated women were property and men did not speak of such a thing happening to them. The victims that this had happened to never spoke about it during their times. It was just something that they lived with. Now, there are laws that have been created that make the public feel safer and more willing to report the assaults that have happened to them. And men are slowly being able to come forward on their attacks as well. Because again, before, this was unheard of and not a thing, just something swept under the rug. Now, a huge light has been shined on this matter. The #MeToo movement was huge on that, and it provided a lot of victims a safe space to bring light on what happened to them and get justice. When it comes to predicating the potential future direction of the state or federal public policies based on previous identified historical and modern trends, I can say that the government is really improving its laws when it comes to date rape and sexual violence in general and making it a better situation when it comes to how such a delicate situation is being handled when it comes to both the victim and law enforcement. Making it more comfortable for the victim to come forth and report the crime and having law enforcement be less judgmental which makes the victim uncomfortable and not want to report. III. Criminological Theory: When it comes to selecting a criminological theory, the best theory for the public policy of date rape would be the Rational Choice Theory. I say this because when it comes to the rational choice theory that person that has committed the crime has weighed their options and they have assessed the risk and chose to commit the crime anyway. Usually, the offender is aware of the risk of being caught in public when trying to commit a date rape but because they have assessed

their risk factor versus their reward factor the reward in their mind is greater than the factor of the risk being taken which is being caught. They are also repeated offenders. Again, looking back on the trends of this public policy, there is a factor of momentary gain for the offender. And back then there were no consequences for their actions. But now there is. And when it comes to how the court case coincides with this public policy, when it comes to date rape, it can be hard to provide evidence that it happened after a course of time if not reported immediately. Because this evidence can be easily lost in the body. When it comes to drawing connections between the Rational Choice Theory and the departmental policy of Gender Bias and Improving Law Enforcement’s Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, I can say that they are about on the same page. The motivational factor in the Rational Choice Theory is one that is seen the most in the criminal justice system making it all too familiar to law enforcement. With, when it comes to handling a sexual assault or domestic violence case, law enforcement should have a pretty great idea of the factors that have played in this situation and why and how they happened and how often they have occurred. So, when it comes to a victim reporting the situation, there should be no judgement nor bias regardless of gender. When it comes to drawing connections between the Rational Choice Theory and Date Rape, they are hand in hand. Because there is something to gain from the rape when it comes to the offender, they have weighed their options and know of the risk. The reward to them is greater than the risk and they will do what is necessary for them to get that reward. So, these two go together in that factor of understanding the connection. IV. Needs:

When it comes to identifying the specific needs of the public and the relative branch of the criminal justice system at the center of the departmental policy, the branch of the criminal justice system in my policy is law enforcement mostly. The department of policy that I chose was identifying the gender bias inside law enforcement as well as improving their response to sexual assault and domestic violence. When it comes to the needs of the public, I can say that it would improve victims reporting their incidents if they were not judged when it comes to their gender and that situation happening to them. They need a safe space and guarantee confidence to report and go through the process without being judged by those in charge there are to offer protection. The extent to which the departmental policy addresses these specific needs has changed recently because there has been and update when it comes to guidance on improving the way law enforcement responds to domestic violence and sexual assault as well as being able to better identify gender bias in law enforcement. V. Policy Recommendations: The specific aspect of my departmental policy which is identifying gender bias as well as improving law enforcement response to sexual assault and domestic violence that I am targeting as well as my reasoning behind why this needs improvement would be how those particular cases are handled or mishandled rather because of gender. Certain genders particularly males seem to be judged harder when it comes to sexual assault cases as well as domestic violence cases. When it comes to females there is just a whole other rabbit hole to go down because they are looked upon as if they were asking for it. When it comes to those that identify as a different gender than what they were born or even those who are attracted to the same sex are also judged when it comes to reporting on those types of incidents as if again, they are the reason that it happened to them. So, implementing changes such as improving gender bias in law enforcement

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and how we identify would help tremendously when it comes to getting reports in on these cases as well as improving the response to those cases and how they are handled. They should be more professional and non-judgmental because those types of incidents can happen to anyone. And again, in order to help take those attackers off of this street providing this improvement in this particular case would give those victims the confidence to report those incidents and give them the confidence as well to go through the process with the criminal justice system. Specific recommendations that I have to improve my existing department of policy would be to offer a safe space to those victims and offer better training to those in law enforcement to be better acclimated to handling those situations more professionally without judging those victims and going into these cases with the different mindset that will enable them to again better handle the case as well as giving the victim's confidence to report what had happened to them and to really show them that there is a support system for them as well as resources for everything that they have experienced. Making sure that they realize that law enforcement is on their side and is therefore their protection. The recommendations that are stated above will improve the delivery of criminal justice services because it will offer those victims an again safe space and provide them with guidance on reporting their incidents when it comes to sexual assault and domestic violence. They will have more confidence in law enforcement and trust law enforcement to handle their cases thus improving on the cases that go unreported to start being reported. Because the victims will then feel like that, they have law enforcement to back them up when they come forth. When it comes to the criminological theory and how it supports my recommendations the theory that I have chosen for my departmental policy was rational choice theory. I said this because when it comes to that theory the person that commits the crime has outweighed the

options and has assessed all the risk and chooses to commit the crime anyway. So, when it comes to the victim part of this theory, they are the downfall of those consequences of the attacker. They are left with dealing with the actions of the attacker. And are just a part of the outcome of the risks that were assessed during this incident. So when it comes to how my recommendations support the needs of the public when it comes to law enforcement not being judgmental in actually putting forth the effort to get these victims to come forth and report the incidents and actually protect them this will again as I stated before give them the confidence to report these incidents and get the resources and protection that they need to go through with the process in the criminal justice system. When it comes to the potential impacts of the departmental policy recommendations on the public and the relevant branch of criminal justice system, I can say that the public will better trust law enforcement when it comes to handling cases that involve sexual assault and domestic violence without judging or implementing that gender bias that again we are trying to improve on. It will help them go through the process of reporting on coming forth with everything that happened to them because they will feel like they are protected by law enforcement thus improving the relationship that law enforcement has with the public especially when it comes to those particular cases. So really there are no negative outcomes unless we redact everything that we're trying to improve on. When it comes on how I can capitalize on positive reactions in the implementation of the departmental policy I can say that again it will improve the relationship the public has with law enforcement when it comes to reporting sexual assaults and domestic violence cases. It will show that law enforcement can handle those cases professionally without implementing gender bias and judging the victims. It will really help in law enforcement and even in the criminal justice

system because we will be able to better assist the victims when it comes to these cases. When it comes to them reporting these cases, we are able to get those that are out there on the streets carrying out these attacks and preventing them from happening to someone else. Thus, stopping other people from becoming victims themselves. Resources: RAINN. (2019). Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault | RAINN. Rainn.org. https://www.rainn.org/articles/drug-facilitated-sexual-assault New Federal Law Enhances Penalties for Use of Date Rape Assistance Drugs | Office of Justice Programs. (n.d.). Www.ojp.gov. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/new-federal- law-enhances-penalties-use-date-rape-assistance-drugs Improving Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence by Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias Statement of Purpose. (n.d.). https://www.justice.gov/media/1224961/dl?inline Dude, A. (2019). Date rape. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/date- rape Bouffard, J. A., & Wolf, K. (2007). Rational Choice Theory: A Crime-Related Perspective. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosr024 Justice Department Issues Guidance on Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. (2015, December 15).

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Www.justice.gov. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-guidance- identifying-and-preventing-gender-bias-law-enforcement (2019). Theiacp.org. https://www.theiacp.org/gender-bias

9-1 Final Project Submission CJ-520 kkalpen

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