After bringing more than hundreds of cases of cases of sexual assault, an assistant professor of deputy criminal justice of the State University of Michigan said that she had found a model that denies stereotypes on sex offenders.
“The false idea on people who commit sexual crimes is that they are repeated sex offenders, emphasizing sexual offense,” said Karen Holt of the School of Criminal Justice of the State of Michigan. “But what I see is that it is more a way of life to take what they want from people.
“They could sexually assault someone, but they could also steal money or take a car,” said Holt. “It is the impulsiveness of the lifestyle, a feeling of right to take others by force, and not necessarily a sexual problem.”
Holt works with the Michigan State police and law enforcement officials in the county of Ingham to study the cases on the level of the state involving non -tested rape kits. Holt plans to present its conclusions to Summit initiative of the sexual assault initiative of Ingham County in June.
Holt has studied 700 case files which are part of more than 3,400 rape kits not tested discovered under the state at the scale of the state scale Sexual assault kit initiativewhich was launched in 2016 by Michigan State police, the Association of Michigan Prosecutors and Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board.
Saki grant funds have been used to make an inventory on the scale of unusual kits. The funds also trained the police and prosecutors and helped the victim services.
The state -scale initiative was launched after more than 11,000 rape kits not tested by the county of Wayne were found in a Detroit police warehouse in 2009.
Holt hopes that his research, which is financed by part of the assistance funds of the US justice office which have been awarded to the Michigan State police, will not only help cold cases, but will give professionals of criminal justice a better understanding of the reasons why people commit sexual offenses and how to better manage cases once arrests.
“By browsing all of these cases, I was trying to find common themes,” said Holt. “What were the crimes like the weapons like? Has the offender said things? Did the offender committed other crimes? I also worked with various investigators, learning from them on their decision-making-how did they address cases? How did they sort through cases?”
Holt’s next step in Holt’s research is expected to start as soon as she gets permission from Michigan Department of Corrections to start interviewing detainees whose DNA was found in the old rape kits, but whose crimes were committed before the expiration of the limitation period.
In Michigan, there is no limitation status on criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, while for the SCC in the second and third degree involving minors, the status expires 15 years from the date of the offense or until the 28th anniversary of the victim, according to the later. For the CSC in the second and third degree involving adults, the status expires at 10 years from the date of the offense or until the 21st anniversary of the victim, according to the later.
“I am interested in learning the thought processes of delinquents, what it was for them during the investigation, how they think, what is happening in their brains, things like that,” said Holt. “Then investigators can enter and see if (detainees) may have committed other crimes they do not know.
“Looking at these cold sexual assaults, we are obviously trying to focus on cases that have occurred in the past, but this research also focuses on the future,” said Holt. “How can we all arrive at the table from different angles – researchers, police, victims of prosecutors, defenders and, at some point, I would also like to bring rehabilitated authors to get their comments on how they committed these crimes.
“The idea is to keep the people who have committed these responsible sexual offenses and to use the information we can try to prevent it from performing in the future,” said Holt.
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