Term Paper Example: Application of Routine Activity Theory on Child Sexual Abuse

It is a fundamental right for children to be protected from acts of sexual violence. However, research has shown that many children across the world have suffered from sexual abuse (UNICEF, 2014). The study of child sexual abuse has nonetheless been a challenging task due to the many unreported cases, lack of detection, lack of robust documentation systems, and unreliable collection of data. The criminology field is, however, working hard in a bid to understand this criminal act and find ways to prevent its prevalence. The criminology field is also attempting to find ways to treat both the victims and the offenders.

This paper aims to expound on child sexual violence, and it provides illustrations of different settings where these acts usually take place. Moreover, it provides information about offenders and victims to ensure that the reader gains a more in-depth understanding of how this type of violence occurs. The routine activity theory will be thoroughly explained in this paper and illustrations will be made on how this theory can be applied to child sexual abuse. Additionally, there will be preventative measures that will be provided based on the routine activity theory to ensure that this violence does not happen.

Although many laws have been put in place to protect childrens rights and to ensure that they do not face sexual abuse, this phenomenon against children still happens in very many parts of the world. People have different perceptions about sexual violence against children. Incidentally, very many people are of the belief that child sexual violence is always caused by strangers (Leclerct, Wortley & Smallbone, 2015). However, research has indicated that most cases of sexual abuse are caused by people well known to the children. Some of the perpetrators even have a blood relationship to the children (UNICEF, 2014).

Child sexual abuse refers to the situation in which offenders take advantage of minors, mainly because they do have the strength to fight back or due to mental illnesses, and perform sexual acts to them. These actions may include; rape, genital contact, exposure to pornographic material, and fondling. Child sexual abuse is an occurrence that has remained pervasive all around the world for decades (Marcum, 2009). Children are vulnerable to sex offenders because of their limited physical strength as well as a lack of knowledge due to their tender ages. Child sexual abuse involves all sexual activities performed on a child by an adult which the child does not comprehend and is non-consensual as well as against the law (Adams, 2004). Child sexual abuse is also defined as the act in which adults perform sexual acts on children who cannot be able to consent to the actions, to sexually gratify themselves (Colton and Vanstone, 1996).

Occurrences of Sexual Abuse in Children

There are different ways in which sexual abuse takes place. First, it may be carried out in intra-familiar settings. In the home settings, sexual violence may be perpetrated by older siblings who take advantage of their younger siblings. Additionally, step-parents may also be the perpetrators of child sexual abuse (Miro, 2014). Some sexual offenders marry people who have children from prior relationships just to gain access to their children. They look for women who have children of a certain age and gender, marry them, and end up abusing the children sexually.

Second, sexual abuse may be performed by other minors who are older than the children. These could include older brothers or other youths who have access to the children (Flower, 2016). These elder youths victimize the younger children, especially in the home environment. Third, sexual violence is performed by people who are not related to the children but who are relied upon to take care of the children. These include the clergy, caretakers, coaches, and teachers (Tilley, 2015).

Fourth, some of the offenders are people who live in the neighborhood and carry out specific activities with the intention of luring children and earning their trust, and then end up performing sex acts on the young unsuspecting victims (Smallbone & Cale, 2015). Finally, children also get sexually exploited by being turned into prostitutes to be able to sustain themselves and their families while others are used in the creation of child pornography. The sexual offenders look for jobs in places where they have direct contact with the children, and when that is not the case, they create their organizations where they can have easy access to children.

Risk Factors

Research has indicated that children have different risk levels of facing sexual abuse. Incidentally, children who live with only one parent due to separation or divorce or those who live with step-parents have a higher chance of facing sexual abuse. Additionally, children who have parents who are violent either towards each other or the children have a high probability of undergoing sexual abuse (Sigal, 1986). Moreover, children whose parents use drugs or have a mental illness may also face child abuse.

Finally, children with an impairment such as blindness, or mental retardation also have a high chance of facing sexual abuse (Miro, 2014). Therefore, children need protection from their parents and guardians from being abused sexually. To reduce the probability of their children facing sexual harassment, parents should ensure that their children are always well supervised and not emotionally deprived (Brown, Smallbone & Wortley, 2017). Two factors that are seen to be in existence in all these cases are; the amount of supervision that the children receive from their parents and the levels of emotional deprivation that these children have. Offenders consequently exploit these two dynamics to reach the children and in turn manipulate them into carrying out sexual acts.

Theoretical Framework

Studies have shown that for sexual abuse to take place, the following four factors must exist. First, there must be a motivating factor that makes the offender to abuse a child sexually. This motivation is mostly based on a need that the offender feels can be satisfied by the child (Matzopoulos et al., 2010). Moreover, the offender may be motivated to abuse the child because their sexual needs are not being met by people within the right age and they could also feel that they are sexually aroused by the child.

Additionally, the use of drugs such as alcohol contributes to people carrying out child sexual abuse acts. This may occur in a situation where the offender loses internal inhibitions after using drugs and they fail to fear that they might get caught since the seriousness of the act is diminished by the drugs (Brown, Smallbone & Wortley, 2017). The offender also has to gain access to the child for them to abuse them sexually. The offender also has to overcome the resistance that may be depicted by the child. The child may feel uncomfortable with the situation or become suspicious about it and try to escape.

Routine Activities Theory and Crime

The Routine activity theory is one of the most influential and widely used theories in crime science and more specifically in criminology. This theory focusses on studying crime to better understand why and how it happened by stating how it relates to time and space as opposed to other theories in the field of criminology that deal with explanations of the different social, biological, and psychological factors that motivated the criminal occurrence. The Routine Activity Theory also speaks of the implications of the various illegal activities (Clarke, 2005).

Today, many offenders have been able to commit criminal activities against targets that they had already identified, and this has been made much easier by the absence of guardians who are capable of protecting the targets and their resources. Felson and Cohen came up with a theory in the year 1980 that tried to look deeper into criminal activities. The theory concentrated on the criminal behavior that had occurred instead of just taking a look at the victims and perpetrators of the different crimes. Both Felson and Cohen proposed that criminal behavior that offenders depict is a combination of a victim, place, time, and the criminal (Han Er, 2016). This is where the Routine Activities Theory came from.

The Routine Activities Theory focusses on the natural patterns that people follow when carrying out their different activities. Felson and Cohen referred to routine activities as prevalent and recurrent activities that enable people to gain their basic needs as individuals and as a population. They argue that just like the sustenance activities that happen daily, criminal activities also follow a given pattern. Thus, criminals live their lives like everyone else in the population (Matzopoulos et al., 2010). They carry out their hobbies, eat, sleep, and go to work. These routine activities are the ones that bring behaviors that are criminal and non-criminal together. The convergence of perpetrators of crime and their victims in place and at a given time is significant to the Routine Activities Theory.

Crime trends and social change

In 1979, Felson and Cohen emphasized on a very significant social paradox. The research they conducted showed that even though there were indicators of improved living standards among the people and the economic levels were significantly improved; reports indicated that crime levels have considerably increased. Initially, it was believed that crime levels were high when the socio-economic conditions and peoples well-being was low. However, this research depicted results that were opposite of the expectations (Han Er, 2016).

In a bid to explain this contradiction, Felson and Cohen decided to focus on the structural patterns that people followed in their daily activities. Consequently, they would be able to see if the changes and transformations provided an opportunity for criminal activities to happen. They viewed the crime trends that occurred in these periods against property and people. The alterations that they focused on were mostly essential activities carried out away from peoples homes (Matzopoulos et al., 2010). Incidentally, as women became more empowered, they gained access to education in tertiary levels, relocated permanently, and took long vacations among other activities. All these activities increased their possibility of contact with people who could be criminals, and their homes were left unguarded during these times.

The Routine Activity Theory applies to violations which are predatory and which involve direct contact with a victim. The reason is that the Routine Activity Theory says that criminal activities happen when the three essential factors; the target victim, a motivated offender, and the lack of a suitable guardian, convergence in time and space when normal activities are going on (Cale & Smallbone,2015).

Guardianship refers to the symbolic or physical presence of a group or an individual that acts either intentionally or unintentionally to prevent a criminal activity from taking place. Guardians believe that the three essential factors are significant and their presence or absence may increase or decrease the rates of crime in different places (Clarke, 2005).

People have normally believed that crime rates may be increased by increases in the number of offenders without taking into account the number of victims. Though this is true, it may also be true to say that whenever the number of targets in a given geographical region increase, criminal activities carried out in that region will also increase even if the number of offenders remains the same.

How Routine Activity Theory Applies to Child Sexual Abuse Occurrences

The Ro...