The uproar about sexual assaults on American college campuses is growing louder. Barack Obama has called them “an affront to our basic humanity”. Several universities — including Johns Hopkins, San Diego State, Emory, MIT, Clemson and the University of Virginia — have shut down or suspended parties at fraternities (undergrad students’ societies) in recent months. In early December, Wesleyan University in Connecticut banned a fraternity from holding social events for a year following two allegations of assaults at booze-fuelled revels. Meanwhile, 90 colleges/universities in 35 states are under investigation by the federal department of education for mishandling cases of sexual violence.
In 2011, the department of education sent colleges a letter warning that if they did not take steps to curtail sexual violence, they could be in violation of Title IX, a federal anti-discrimination law. It urged them to set up committees to adjudicate complaints of sexual wrongdoing, even of heinous crimes such as rape. But these committees often consist of untrained professors, administrators and students. The director of a campus bookstore served on a judgement panel for one college last year.
Students on both sides of the fence have complained that these amateur tribunals are inept. A lawsuit this year alleged that Columbia University unfairly allowed perpetrators to remain on campus. Meanwhile, male students at Vassar, Duke, and the University of Michigan have sued their schools, claiming that campus committees found them guilty of sexual misconduct when they were innocent. At Harvard, 28 law professors recently criticised the university’s new sexual-assault procedures as lacking “the most basic elements of fairness and due process”.
Critics of the system argue that crimes should be dealt with by the police and the courts. In colleges as in the wider world, most rape victims never report attacks to police. Studies suggest that the vast majority of campus assaults are committed by a small fraction of college men who tend to rape over and over again. So campuses would be safer if these habitual offenders were swiftly identified and arrested, rather than just expelled — leaving them free to go to another college and repeat the crime.
Other critics think that colleges — and the government — should regulate alcohol more realistically. Binge-drinking is common on campuses, and cited in many complaints of sexual transgressions. But because students under 21 have no legal way to obtain alcohol, they tend to party in places where there’s no adult supervision nearby, such as in fraternity houses, which are not technically part of the university. The head of the University of Virginia notes that students at frat parties often have no idea how strong their drinks are. (At some parties, the hosts mix everything up in a trash can.)
The lack of adult supervision has had dire consequences: men in fraternities are three times more likely to rape than other men on campus, according to John Foubert of Oklahoma State University. If the drinking age were lowered, parties could be held on campus and colleges could supervise them better, say critics.
Beneficial canine therapy
When Jordan entered juvenile detention shortly after his 17th birthday, following a conviction for assault and robbery, all he could think about was getting out. The rowdy teenager from Anaheim, California, struggled to control his temper. But when he began working with Lulu, a mixed breed poodle, he got a new lease on life. “I was too busy taking care of the dog to get into fights,” he says.
Jordan was taking part in Pups and Wards, a programme that pairs shelter dogs with young inmates. The perps train the pups and, with luck, learn something about personal responsibility. Other programmes allow prisoners to train dogs to be adopted by people with disabilities, such as traumatised war veterans. Such training often requires full-time care — but prisoners have plenty of time on their hands.
Researchers estimate there are more than 150 similar programmes run by American prisons and detention centres, and they are growing in popularity. Several recent studies show that pets reduce stress hormones in people and cause the body to produce more endorphins, which inhibit pain and may produce feelings of euphoria.
Three-quarters of American prisoners released in 2005 were re-arrested for a new crime within five years, estimates the Bureau of Justice Statistics. No quantitative studies exist to show whether working with animals helps reduce recidivism, but experts find ample anecdotal evidence that it does. “It gives inmates a sense of responsibility and helps prepare them for a job, once they get out,” says Joan Petersilia of Stanford Law School. “But it also gives something back to the community.”
Since his release, Jordan has avoided being locked up again. He lives with his girlfriend, has a steady job, and studies business at a community college. He has his own dog now, a Shih Tzu Pekingese mix. An inspiring tail, indeed.
(Excerpted and adatped from The Economist)