Instead of Prisons T able of Contents > Chapter 8 8. NEW RESPONSES TO CRIMES WITH VICTIMS When abolitionists urge alternatives to imprisonment, invariably the cry is raised, "But what about the rapist? What about the street criminals? What would you do with them?" Because prison abolitionists must face the challenge of finding nonincarcerative solutions to crimes that are brutal and damaging, we will consider them here. Our study convinces us that genuine solutions to the problem of rape and other violent crimes are in no way related to imprisonment of offenders. Prison merely punishes individual scapegoats but does not address the collective responsibility for culturally or economically induced behavior . Instead, efforts to preven t crimes with victims must be directed toward changing social co nditions which foster criminality and empowering victims to resist victimization. The majority of street crimes, for example, are committed by the poor against the poor -- a powerless class. Street crimes are predominantly economic crimes rooted in the inequities of the system, and they will increase as unemployment and inflation rise. Solutions are bound up in systemic change: there will be no more crimes of the poor when there are no longer any poor. Likewise, we have discovered that the roots of criminal violence toward women and children lie deep within the culture of this society. Thus, prevention of the crime of rape must be directed to changing social conditions which foster violence and sexism. Tho the victims of the crime of rape are justifiably angry , the focus of that righteous anger should not be dissipated in p ursuit of the (non)solution of caging rapists. Rather energies should be directed toward true solutions of this ugly community problem. These include changing values and attitudes about girls and women and creating the kinds of community alternatives that provide opportunities for re-educating and resocializing rapists and other potential sexual aggressives. All physical threats of violence must be dealt with seriously by both the community and individuals. It is unacceptable to be p hysically harmed by another person, whether that violence comes from the rapist, police officer, armed robber, organized crime or the government. Victim s have been perceived as powerless beings waiting to be preyed upon. But slowly , this is changing: victims are refusing to be victims any longer . V ictims are bringing about the new response, not thru a law enforcement/war model, but thru a victim empowerment model--a liberation model. Based on an authentic analysis of their circumstances and empowered by concrete nonviolent acts, victims are learning that they can change their situations. Unprecedented victim-empowerment lessons can he learned from the development of the feminist rape crisis and child advocacy movements. This class of victims is gradually bringing about change. Because their experiences should set an example for new responses to other crimes with victims, we have chosen to exa mine the crime of rape in some depth. The analysis of rape and of street crimes on the following pages is from the victims' perspective--an angry perspective-one rarely heard publicly . As we examine the crime o f rape, we are overwhelmed b y the diversity of our discoveries and how much they reveal about present realities and future hopes for justice. We discover the depth of violence in our culture. We discover the intricate web of myths surrounding the powerless. W e discover the biases of penal codes and legal procedures that favor the powerful. We discover the ideology of "blaming the victim." W e discover the beginnings of a movement for victims, self-empowered, self-defined. W e discover responses that provide a wh ole new range of services to v ictims and victimizers. And we discover the enormity of the tasks before us.

New Responses to Crimes With Victims

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