What is acceptable punishment?

So I heard a lot of problematic things from the class today where Professor Nixon discussed the events surrounding a student’s admission of sexual assault in Durazo’s piece “In our Hands”. Having re-read the article, I question the motivations and receptions surrounding Gerado’s [the perpetrators] admission.

Our classroom seemed incredibly hostile towards the Gerardo’s admission, even though it was so distanced from them. I feel like this may have been a gut reaction, one that is perfectly reasonable considering the gravity of the situation and the context in which we are discussing it, but it is also not a constructive reaction. There is an irony that the class was collectively bashing the current penal system that is in place and how tense the class became when the thought that an alternative justice model could be implemented. Also to note, as we has been repeatedly iterated in the class, superseding the wishes of the victim and progressing to the police in this situation is incredibly harmful. It puts the victim at risk, forces them to relieve trauma they may not yet be able to confront, compromises their social, familial and economic support systems and, worst of all, pretty ineffectual in spite of all these high costs (a malady in and of itself).

What I was left with after reading the article was a curiosity about whether the women in the course felt that the CARA had adequately forced Gerardo to follow through with accountability for his actions. He was forced to attend some counselling and do some volunteer work (90). For a person already driven by guilt to the point where he will admit to being a perpetrator of sexual assault to a room of thirty people who will be most polarized and hostile towards him about it, I doubt this seems like a significant means to improve his understanding of the issues. Did the survivors in the room feel like justice had been served? In the Campbell reading we learned that many women who have seen the legal justice system incarcerate their perpetrators are still unsatisfied, as they know, one day, that they will be released.  

I think a bigger issue here is that Gerardo is already a man being exposed to feminist ideology and, seemingly, internalizing it in a significant way. If it is surprising that we be looking for reconciliation with his actions then what about the other perpetrators out there who are not sympathetic to their victims? We alluded towards it in class today but almost no model addresses how to rehabilitate the aggressors in these systems. It is an ugly thought, but just throwing them into a cell for all eternity is not a reasonable solution.

I recognize that it is a layered issue, and that every situation is going to be different, but I really cannot think of any amount of herculean tasks it would take to receive absolution for perpetrating sexual assault. Maybe Gerardo's crushing guilt should have just kept reminding him about his quality of character before he tried to pursue forgiveness and force his classroom to relieve their own traumatic experiences.

[This class got stressful.]