Victimology: The Prison Rape Elimination Act

This week’s assignment regarding the study of victimology has me torn on which area that I would like to discuss, as the entire subject intrigues me. I was graced with a gift of being able to see situations from varying point of views, however, this week I had to do a self-check. I realized that I am human and my own biases can and will affect the way that I view a situation. Although I knew that there was violence among prisoners who are incarcerated, I never viewed them as victims, until now.
According to Karmen (2013), it was not until 2003 that those who endured sexual assaults while incarcerated were officially rediscovered as victims by Congress when the Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed. Given the fact that I work directly with juvenile delinquents, I find myself siding more with the plight of our youth involved in the juvenile systems who may have been or are currently subjected to sexual assaults by fellow peers or staff. …show more content…
First and foremost, our systems are overcrowded which causes a rise in tempers and frustrations. Secondly, inmates (both male and female) have a considerable amount of time on their hands. As in the case of juveniles, too much idle time on one’s hands can and often leads to criminal activities. In this case, it is the increase among sexual assaults in the penal institutions. One should not include the consensual acts among inmates within the penal systems in this category. We are viewing the assaults among inmates, both male and female, as well as, abuse by those in authority over