Gang rape

Gang rape occurs when a group of people participate in the rape of a single victim. Rape involving at least two or more violators (typically at least three) is widely reported to occur throughout the world. Systematic information and statistics on the extent of the problem, however is limited. One study showed that offenders and victims in gang rape incidents were younger with a higher possibility of being unemployed. Gang rapes involved more alcohol and drug use, night attacks and severe sexual assault outcomes and less victim resistance and fewer weapons than individual rapes. Another study found that group sexual assaults were more violent and had greater resistance from the victim than individual sexual assaults and that victims of group sexual assaults were more likely to seek crisis and police services, to contemplate suicide and seek psychotherapy than those involved in individual assaults. The two groups were about the same in the amount of drug use and drinking during the assault. Gang rape is sometimes referred to as "group rape", "party rape", or "multiple perpetrator rape" in scholarly literature. Causes and characteristics: Gang rapes often involve three or more men as perpetrators. These rapes have characteristics beyond those found in rape by individuals; for example, gang rapists tend to be younger and serial in their crimes, the gang is more often under the influence of drugs or alcohol, of the same race or religion or place of residence thereby forming a close-knit peer pressure group, encouraged by the behavior of their fellow criminals. Gang rapes are more violent; the sexual and non-sexual injuries to the victim are often far more severe. The gang members typically dehumanize their target victim(s) before and during the rape. Porter and Alison have analyzed 739 gang rape cases from US and UK, and found over 20% of the gang rape victims died from injuries from the gang rape. A 2013 study based on 25 year crime data from US and Europe, between 10% to 20% of all rapes were gang rapes. Less than 1 in 3 gang rapes are reported, while less than 1 in 20 attempted but failed gang rapes are reported. A 2013 Lancet report on rape and gang rape in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka found that the crime was committed for various motives, such as sexual entitlement, seeking of entertainment, and a means to inflict punishment on the victim. Associated factors in the crime included alcohol misuse, poverty, personal history of childhood victimization, need to prove heterosexual performance, dominance over women, and participation in gangs and related activities. Most cases were not reported to law enforcement, and just 23% of single or multiple perpetrator rapes that were reported by the victims ended in prison sentence. Gang rapes during civil wars and ethnic riots take added dimension of becoming a means of revenge, sending a message to the victims' community, inducing fear in the opponent, and creating a sense of solidarity among the soldiers or militants or the violent group. Gang rape is sometimes stereotyped in media as a crime of poor, minorities, or culture; however, gang rape incidence rates are high in wealthy college campuses, among non-minorities and every culture. Everywhere there is a tendency to blame the victim; however, gang rapes are almost always premeditated in their intent, target victim(s), social proof, and psychological causes. Certain events such as civil wars, hate propaganda, and ethnic conflicts increase the incidence rate of gang rapes. According to one study, over 70% of the victims were gang raped by rapists of same race and religion. Most covered and debated gang rapes tend to be those involving victim and rapists of different race or religion or social class. Gang rape can be interpreted as an example of a group criminal spin. Accordingly, a group of individuals may perform an initial behavior that proceeds in a criminal direction far beyond the initial intention of its participants. Within this process, each group member contributes a certain role towards the development of the criminal spin—even the passive members, who are silent participants, support the spin by their very presence. It is considered a group criminal spin because the most gang members perform this act only during a group interaction, "letting themselves" deviate from their everyday norms. On these occasions, the group interaction provides an "I can" component of a spin: Although each member does not usually sense an inner ability and permission to act in the criminal direction, i.e., to gang rape, the perceived power of the group supplies this sense and allows the act. In the same way, a group interaction may display an "I must" motive, thus social forces within the group directs it towards raping. In any case, the interaction of members of a group in a spin gives rise to self-centered norms that contribute to the further development of the criminal spin till the extreme point of an accomplishment of the rape. Gang rapes during wars: Major ethnic conflicts and wars within the last 50 years have witnessed a campaign of gang rapes. The Congo war saw thousands of gang rapes every week, with each relief center reporting 10 or more daily victims of gang rape with battering of women. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 witnessed numerous gang rapes by soldiers. Bosnia war during the 1990s saw a similar campaign of gang rapes. In the 2000s, civil war-torn in countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria reported high rates of gang rapes by government soldiers as well as Islamic militants. Similar incidents have been recorded in Libya, Mali. As punishment: Traditionally, the Cheyenne people of North America used gang rape as punishment for female transgressions. A similar practice existed among the Munduruku people of South America. Among the Mpumalanga of South Africa, there are instances of gang rape as punishment. In the countries such as Argentina, Pakistan, India, gang rape has been reported to have been ordered as punishment.