FAQ: Why don't we just put all the offenders in jail?

One of the proposed solutions to the problem of child sexual abuse has been to increase incarceration rates and terms for sexual offenders. Like domestic violence, child sexual abuse has not always been taken seriously by the police or by the courts. Stranger offenders are far more likely to be penalized by the legal system than offenders who know the victim are, and incest offenders are often the least likely to serve jail time. Some victim advocacy groups feel that increasing the legal penalty for child sexual abuse would help to prevent the problem, sending a strong message to potential offenders that our country has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse. But locking the offenders in jail will not necessarily solve the problem. The sweep and impact of child sexual abuse is large enough that it is just not a feasible solution to put all offenders in jail. In addition, incarcerating individuals has proven relatively unsuccessful in preventing abuse, changing behavior, or making restitution to those impacted by child sexual abuse.

While it is crucial to have means of accountability that stop the abuse and offer effective solutions to victims and families, a criminal justice approach alone is unlikely to achieve these goals. Instead of increasing offender accountability, greater criminal liability and stricter sentencing threatens to drive child sexual abuse more underground, leaving offenders, victims, and impacted communities without effective means of intervention or redress. A more varied approach to justice may be needed to be truly effective in preventing the sexual abuse of children. Offender accountability is one of the key components to preventing and responding effectively to child sexual abuse. Effective models need to hold offenders genuinely accountable and also provides appropriate treatment options to the victim, offender, and affected bystanders (such as the family). In general, people impacted by child sexual abuse seem more willing to use options that do not immediately criminalize the perpetrator. Other solutions can include removing the perpetrator from the home rather than the child, and providing effective treatment for all involved, and community accountability for offenders. Lastly, in interviews done with hundreds of convicted sex offenders, many offenders said they would have sought help if there were someone they could have talked to or a volunteer sex offenders program they knew about (Stop It NOW).

But many child sexual offenders also operate with high levels of denial and secrecy, and offender programs spend the first year of treatment breaking down the denial and constructing offender accountability. It is important that we are attentive to the real threat of repeat offenders while we also look for viable models that will address the vast majority of child sexual abuse. Special sexual violence courts that have been established to understand the dynamics of sexual abuse and foster offender accountability and treatment has shown to be more successful than incarceration alone in truly ending abuse and preventing further abuse.

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