Introduction
Sex offense cases often present a great challenge to police officers who investigate, the district attorneys who prosecute, and the judges who adjudicate them. Unfortunately, the traditional criminal justice system has failed to address these issues. In most cases, it has left these units to operate in isolation without providing proper procedures and protocols for dealing with the cases (Kulig & Butler, 2019). To change the trend, there is a need to develop specialty courts that will deal with these cases in the most effective and reasonable ways. This paper aims to explore the nature of these courts, and their appropriate budget and show the possible positive outcomes that these courts may achieve.
Mission, Goals, and Procedures
The mission of the Specialized Sex offense would be to promote justice by providing an ideal approach to case resolution, enhancing community safety, and protecting the victims’ rights. The court’s goal would be to promote best practices in the resolution of sex offenses while at the same time enhancing communication and coordination among all relevant stakeholders. To achieve the above, the court will be designed to incorporate all components, including defense attorneys, prosecutors, sex offense treatment providers, and polygraph examiners (Thielo et al., 2019). The new model will be able to handle all the cases, which may include both minor or major offenses and felonies that they can determine by the provided underlying facts. The court will also take the chance to hear the cases from proper identification through disposition and monitoring.
Whom the Courts Would Help and Why
The court will help women, especially underage girls, to get justice. For a long time, these people have failed to get justice, despite numerous complaints on issues such as domestic violence, rape, and different cases of sexual abuse. Research studies suggest that more than 3% of women continue to undergo sexual violence due to underrepresentation within the judicial system (Kulig & Butler, 2019). As a result, their rights have been violated as they continue to undergo numerous tortures related to sexual violence. Therefore, this new facility will be a powerful tool for creating sanity in the area.
The new specialty court system will allow the judges and other interested parties to train and learn the various elements related to women’s sexual abuse. These issues will include understanding the offending behavior patterns, the cases’ prevalence rate, and effective interventions on how to handle the cases whenever they occur. The court will also act as a special unit for monitoring the affected women on their overall progress and the possible challenges they face.
The Budget
This new court will require a rather expensive budget to jumpstart its activities. Ideally, the best tentative budget would be $30 million for a single financial year. The provided money will be used for building, facilitating, training, and providing salaries and remuneration for the members. The next two years would probably have a lesser budget of $25 and $15 million respectively. The application of the above budget is expected to last for at least one year before any other subsidiary allocation is made. When effectively used, this budget may help deliver the right services that are critical in the facility.
Table 1: Sowing the proposed budget for three consecutive years
The Key Players
The key players in the specialty court for sex offenses are the attorneys, prosecutors, and probation victim agencies (Kaiser, 2022). These key players are expected to develop the right model for handling the cases by determining the case’s underlying facts that may warrant inclusion. This group is also expected to communicate and coordinate on the critical matters of the case and be objective before determining any case. They will also act as key pillars in promoting accountability and increasing the safety of the affected victim. Finally, the specialty court will work closely with the probation and parole department to ensure they participate effectively and enhance the pre-sentence tools for investigation. Combining these experts is expected to create a change and provide new hope for sex-related cases. That means, within the new court, the stakeholders will take the opportunity to work on the best modalities for preventing further crime.
The new court will further work closely with the local service providers, such as the police, the church, and the community, to facilitate access to the victim’s access to counseling, advocacy, and other social services. During that period, a victim-centered approach will be employed to ensure that the sex offense is contained as much as possible. The specialty court for the sex offense will further be driven by people interested in the subject and may have some specialized court practices that may help provide an ideal resolution to the cases presented.
The Possible Outcome of Implementing the Court
There is a possible positive outcome of the cases provided. First, the court will help to reduce recidivism among sex offenders. This trend will help promote safety in society and reduce cases related to sexual violence (Kaiser, 2022). It is critical to understand that these courts will not act as either rehabilitation or incarceration centers but rather as a port of making valid judgments geared towards promoting the safety of the people. Therefore, they will act as a powerful site for creating sanity in society.
These courts will also act as a powerful avenue for promoting education and training for the judges. That implies the new facility will be used as the right avenue to train the concerned members on understanding the offending behavior patterns, the prevalence rates, and the possible effective interventions that should be undertaken (Kaiser, 2022). The court will also act as an important place for monitoring the victim’s progress in terms of rapid calendaring, swift response to violations, and communication on compliance.
Conclusion
The mission of the Specialized Sex offense would be to promote justice by providing an ideal approach to case resolution, enhancing community safety, and protecting the victims’ rights. The court’s goal would be to promote best practices in the resolution of sex offenses while at the same time enhancing communication and coordination among all relevant stakeholders. The main key player comprises the judges, the attorneys, and the defense team; their main goal is to create sanity in sexual offenses related to violence and bring new hope to society. Therefore, the government should support it fully to ensure that sanity is created within society.
References
Kaiser, K. A. (2022). Taking Problem-Solving Courts to Scale: Diverse Applications of the Specialty Court Model: by Eileen Ahlin and Anne Douds, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. 338pp., 120(hardback), 45 (eBook). ISBN: 978-1-7936-0841-3 (hardback)| 978-1-7936-0842-0 (eBook). Web.
Kulig, T. C., & Butler, L. C. (2019). From “whores” to “victims”: The rise and status of sex trafficking courts. Victims & Offenders, 14(3), 299-321. Web.
Thielo, A. J., Cullen, F. T., Burton, A. L., Moon, M. M., & Burton, Jr, V. S. (2019). Prisons or problem-solving: Does the public support specialty courts?Victims & Offenders, 14(3), 267-282. Web.