Victims meet rapists

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 11

Victims meet rapists

Rape is one of the fastest growing crimes in North America. Current statistics indicate that one woman in four will be raped in her lifetime. The causes of this increasingly prevalent crime, and its consequences — for both victims and perpetrators — are brought to light in “Rape: Face to Face,” screening on One at 10 o’clock tonight. Rape victims have virtually no chance to resolve their trauma and to be raped is still considered a social disgrace, says TVNZ. Some of the questions they have can be answered only by the rapists themselves. “Rape: Face to Face” includes the unique experience of confrontation between victims of rape and rapists. The confrontation

takes place within the context of a treatment programme for sex offenders at Western State Hospital in Steilacoom, Washington. The sex offenders enrolled in the programme are undergoing extensive therapy to change their behaviour. For convicted rapists, this treatment is one of the few alternatives to prison. The four victims whose stories are told and who take part in the confrontation with the rapists represent a range of ages and backgrounds and have had different rape experiences. The documentary provides both men and women with a clearer understanding of the thought processes and behaviour patterns of violent sex offenders and ways in which rape can be pre-

vented, says TVNZ. It reveals what the consequences of rape conviction can be for the rapist and his family. The experience of convicted rapists in state prisons is contrasted with the experience of therapeutic treatment in the Washington State Hospital. Convicts talk about the brutalisation of rapists in prison. An older woman, also a victim of rape, allows cameras to film her interview at a rape relief centre, an interview which deals with some of the medical and marital problems that the rape victim faces. Nothing better illustrates current attitudes towards rape than the victim’s experience in court. Here, the victim is as much on trial as the rapist, says TVNZ. In

this programme, an attorney, Robert Shantz, tells of some of the more basic and reprehensible tactics used to defend rapists in court. There are no easy answers to the problem of rape. The programme’s producer, Tom Shandel, comments: “Rape affects everyone, yet very little is being done to stop it. Keeping a few rapists in prisons and treatment centres has not eliminated rape. Rape is a complex problem — inevitable in a society which places greater importance on status and power than on basic human considerations. Men have always assumed this power and used it to enforce their domination over women. If rape is to stop, men will have to change.”