Rape can be defined as type of sexual assault in which one or more persons initiate sexual intercourse with another without that persons consent. These situations of enforcing sex maybe done either by using force, abuse of authority of by having sex with someone who is not able to provide such consent. Rape is defined as so in criminology so as to have a clear direction on how courts would handle such cases. Persons who perpetrate such an act is referred to as a rapists and this definition is also applied under the sexual offenders’ registry as used in the United States .
International statistics has it that Lesotho is the country with highest documented cases of rape with a prevalence of about 91.6 persons raped per 100,000 people. On the opposite end, Egypt has the lowest recorded cases of rape with a prevalence of about 0.1 persons per 100,000. The world average is said to be about 4.9 persons per 100,000. The United States Bureau of Statistics estimated in 1999 that about 91 percent of rape victims were women. Similarly the perpetrators were predominantly men with about 99%. However, the American Medical Association in the year 1995 considered sexual assaults and in particular rape as the most under-reported criminal activities . Mooney (2011) asserts that rape cases are common among persons who have had a relation with the victims and that rape is rarely done by strangers. Some quotas assert that while most of the victims are women, they would be perceived to have lost moral support by reporting rape. Men, on the other hand, who are the leading perpetrators usually, have a relation with the victims and in most cases threaten the women on reporting . Criminal law has attempted to explain rape using social theoretical perspectives. These perspectives have largely been classified into conflict and consensus perspectives. This paper evaluates these divergent perspectives in explaining rape.
Theoretical Perspectives
Theories in sociology and criminology simply provide a way of looking at the different aspects of the society. These theories provide sets of interrelated principles and propositions that have been directed at answering a specific question. Different social theories exist in attempting to explain different aspects that define the human relation that exists. These theories were developed by social scientists and philosophizes who took time to understand the nature of man in their natural setting. According to Valier, (2002) these social theories can be defined in three main facets, that is, consensus perspective (commonly referred to as Structural-Functionalists perspectives) , conflict perspectives and the symbolic interactionist perspective. Each of these perspective attempts to provide explanation for possible causes and solutions to social problems that plagues as society.
Consensus Approach (Structural –Functionalist theories)
These are theories that are based on the works of some leading sociologist such as Robert Merton and Emile Durkheim. Under the Structural-functionalist theory, a society is perceived as functional system with interconnected parts that seek to exist in harmony. In this case, a society is viewed as a unit that seeks to maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium and in this sense; all effort is directed at providing the most pleasant co-existence. For this reason, social institutions such as family provides a pathway to reproducing and nurturing while education provide a means of transfer of both social and technical skills within a society. Similarly, politics is viewed a way of governing the society while economics and commerce institutions provides a means of producing goods and service for consumption. Finally, religion has been provided in this society to offer a means of worship of a supreme existence. All these institutions have been created under the structural-functionalist theory in order to have a society that co-exists within an acceptable level of every individual member of the society . For this reason, this theory is also referred to as the Consensus theory.
The term structural-functional theory then leads to the terms ‘functional’ and ‘dysfunctional’ to describe the state of the society. Valier (2002), asserts that a society is said to be functional if all the elements on the society such as family, politics, education system, economics and religion work in coherence to provide a stable society. In a case where these units are not working in coordination, the society is said to be dysfunctional and ills emerge from such inconsistency. The social problems that arise from a dysfunctional society can be classified into two broad classifications, that is, social pathology and social disorganization.
Social Pathology
Mooney, Knox, & Schacht (2000), illustrate that social pathology under the consensus model defines social problems as some form of ‘sickness’ within the society. In this illustration, the way a human body may become ill from organs, cells or bodily system failure when they do not function properly, a society could become ‘ill’ when some component parts fail to work properly. Inadequacies in education, economics, religion and family may lead to social pathology among members of society. Thus social ills such as violence, poverty, crime and juvenile delinquency thrive if such social institutions fail to work in coordination as intended. Additionally, consensus theory also illustrates that social illness exists due to members of the society failing to socialize. Failure to socialize means that the person fails to adopt the norms and values of the society in order to adhere to these values. These persons are also prone to disobediences and deviant character. Mooney (2011), argues that the development of such character is due to ‘sick’ social structures that can otherwise be corrected.
Social Disorganization
Social disorganization is a different view of social problems by asserting that social problems may arise as a product of rapid social changes. In this sense, rapid social changes disrupt that equilibrium of the society that results in deviation from the norms and principles of the society. This state of social disorder is referred to as anomie. This state of anomie leads to drug abuse, rape or engaging in deviant character.
Application of Consensus Perspective in Criminal Law
Criminal behavior such as sexual assault and rape can be defined under the tenets of consensus perspectives of social theories. Emile Durkheim, one of the most noted French sociologists used the structural-functional approach in explaining crime such as rape. Durkheim explains that societies strive at providing every person with the best social skills of interaction and socialization. For this reason the society fosters education and family structures in helping such persons cope with the society. However, Durkheim argues that some individuals will inherently differ from the collective types, and inevitably, these characters tend to have delinquent characteristics. He however asserts that these people who differ from the rest do not perpetrate crime consciously. Instead, the definition of crime is any variation from the societal definition of norms. Norms exists so that a society is able to discern right and wrong. Thus according to Durkheim, the existence of crime is a direct product of norms.
However, other definitions have identified the existence of crime as form of social pathology. According to Emile Durkheim in his book ‘crime and suicide’, crime is also product of social breakdown and failure by the society to instill good functional units of the society such as family, education, commerce, politics and religion . When these functional units do not operate properly the result is a section of the community living outside the presets of norms and values. These pathological persons do not understand the evil nature of their actions as defined by the community
Rape can also be classified under social pathologies. Rapists have been found to be very anti-social in nature and rarely live harmoniously with others . They tend to be highly secluded and sometimes suffer depression. Sexual assault and especially crime is said to fall under this definition and thus societies need to uphold social structures that promote consensus.
With regard to social disorganization, social anomie is said to exist in cases where rapid changes disrupts the social balance that existed. Proponents of social disorganization such as Steven F. Messner and Richard Rosenfeld have argued that rapid changes in the society leads to incoherent adoption of new character (Mooney, 2011). In this sense, social anomie such as drug and alcohol abuse, organized crime and delinquent disobedience thrive. Rape can be defined in this context, where a community adopts new social structures that are not consistent with its own. Drug abuse has been fronted as one of the causes of rape and thus combating leading causes of drug will, by extension, reduce rape cases.
Conflict Theories
While the consensus approach views the society as a result of different constituent component working in coordination, conflict perspective view the society as consisting of different interest groups that are perpetual competition for power and the existing resources. This theory evaluates the existence of different social classes and the benefits that each group derives from such stratification. The classical works of Karl Max were the earliest documentation of conflict theories. In his assertion Karl Max illustrates the development of the society through the many stage of economic growth. Marx argues that a society moves from the survival stages to improving living conditions and thus evolves from agricultural to industrial communities . This creation of industrial enterprises that are concerned with profits is said to the hallmark of capitalism. Marx illustrates that these conflicting struggle leads to the development of two distinct social classes, that is, the bourgeoisie, who are the owners of the means of production (enterprises, industries and farms) and the proletariat, who are the workers in the farms and factories.
Karl Marx argues that these definition of the society into the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is advantageous to the rich community as they get to control resources in the community. Workers earn meager wages and as a result are not able to access several resources in the community such as proper education and adequate health care. Karl Marx however understands the role played by religion in the providing an escape for the poor in soothing and providing avenues for distress. However, one of the greatest outcomes of the conflict theory is grinding poverty for the ‘have- nots’ .
Social Problems Associated With Conflict Perspectives
Conflict theories have diverse problem that accompany such social stratification. One of the social problems that arise from this theory is the problem of alienation of the poor. Conflict theory suggests that they society produces extreme cases of grinding poverty, powerlessness, and the lives of people lacking meaning. Works in factories limits the lives of the poor as they perform repetitive work and do not have any decision making authority on their lives . The result is a totally alienated community within the community. Valier (2002), argues that these alienation as extend to the classrooms and places of worship. Different schools and other social institution exist in order to accommodate the social stratification that is coherent in the community. The outcome is that these poor communities strive to join the richer community and do this via criminal means such as organized crime and violence. Lack of meaningful livelihoods also makes them resort to other violent lifestyles such as rape and robbery.
Application of Conflict theories in Criminal law
Conflict theories have been used to explain crime in different facets. The first application is the use of crime to explain the prevalence of crime in less affluent communities. Social divisions that exist from conflict theories suggest that institutions such as education and family are usually lacking in facilitation. The result is poor educational standards among the proletariat. These populations lack a meaningful livelihood and therefore resort to crime. Rape and other forms of sexual assault thrive in this kind of poor social class.
Comparison
The definition of crime under the approaches of conflict and consensus is quite divergent. Consensus views rape as product of norms and principles and those perpetrators defy these ideals knowingly or unknowingly. The consensus approach views the society as a combination of several facets working in coherence to come up a single functional society. However, when some of the functional units of the society fail to execute its work properly, the result is a form of social pathology that could result in crime such as rape. Conversely, conflict approaches to explaining rape is based on the Marxist theory that societies inherently exist as different interest groups that compete for dominance. The group that remains inferior is left to work for the dominant group. This competition leads to social classification where one group is very poor and the other very affluent. In trying to improve their livelihoods, the poorer communities revert to crime and rape also thrives under these conditions.
Conclusion
Criminology is a field of science that defines the existence of social misconduct in the society. The presents of norms and accepted codes of conduct provides a community with a means of coherent coexistence. Thus where there exist individuals who do not adhere to these norms, criminology and other aspects social sciences attempt to define these issues. Rape is also a criminal act that persists in the society. Conflict of interest within a community makes others to retaliate and resort to crime such as rape. On the other hand, failure by the community to uphold functional social structures may lead to breakdown of the communal values and thus crime such as rape thrives.
References
Mooney, L. A. (2011). Understanding Social Problems. New York: Cengage Learning.
Mooney, L. A., Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2000). Understanding social problems (2nd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Wadsworth. .
Valier, C. ( 2002). Theories of Crime and Punishment. New Jersey: Longman.
