Reforming the reportage on rape
The media has discussed death penalty ad nauseam, but speaks little of reformative justice
Over the past few years, India has taken what has been described as a “strong” stance against sexual violence. The death penalty is, thanks to new laws, now applicable in cases of rape that result in the victim entering a vegetative state or dying, as well as the sexual assault of a girl under the age of 12. Both legislations were passed in the backdrop of mounting public and media pressure over two different cases — the Delhi gang-rape of 2012 and the Kathua rape and murder of 2018.
In both cases, the new laws resulted in a media debate about the efficacy or lack thereof of the death penalty (see The death of a debate), but what was missing was any meaningful discussion about the potential efficacy of reformation as an alternative.
Reformation and the Indian media
According to the reformative theory of punishment, prisoners should be seen as individuals who are greater than the magnitude or sum of their crimes. The focus, then, is on “reforming” their character during a period of imprisonment. Punishment, thus, becomes a means to rehabilitate an offender and to eventually make them a productive member of society through psychological, behavioural and occupational therapies and programmes.
The question now is, how does the media in general engage with the possibility of reformative action in cases of sexual violence? To search for clues, I looked at reports of rape and sexual violence for a period of 13 days (19 November, 2018 to 1 December, 2018) in the Chennai edition (print) of The Times of India, the country’s most widely read English newspaper.
THE NEWS MEDIA MAKES LITTLE ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE A DISCUSSION [ON REFORMATIVE JUSTICE] EVEN WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF
In the 13 issues I went through, 38 articles dealt with rape or sexual violence. Of these, four reports featured on the first page, but comprised only brief synopses that were continued in the inside pages. The majority of reports (16) were placed in the nation pages, followed by the city and region sections. One story relating to a personality in cricket was found in the sports page. The stories ranged in length from approximately 50 to 650 words.
Most articles mentioned the circumstances that led to the crime, a description of what happened, and the condition of the victim. Most stories reported on charges filed, or arrests made, but hardly any of them contained any information about what would likely happen to the accused in the aftermath. There were three follow-up stories of older cases, reporting two convictions and one acquittal.
Only two articles clearly expressed ideas of reformation. One pertained to the sexual harassment charges against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri who was found “not guilty” but whose case led one member of the deciding panel to recommend that he undergo “gender sensitivity counselling”. Interestingly, a member of the BCCI’s committee of administrators reportedly viewed this call for reformative action as evidence that Johri was deserving of retributive measures in the form of being removed from his position.
The second article that expressed a need for reformation was an opinion piece about a certain religious perspective. The article noted that “cultures that enable and sustain violence against women affect society as a whole; not just the victim but this also degrades the perpetrators, their families and entire communities”. It further noted that to fight violence against women, we must look not only at “structures which exist at the level of laws, regulations and policies” but also “culture, attitudes and beliefs”.
However, the reportage in all other instances from this sample lacked any kind of reformative outlook. Most stories merely reported if a sexual assault suspect was booked, arrested or sentenced, and the discussion ended there.
An alternative perspective
It is not easy to find debates about social reform as an alternative in the Indian media. While this stems in part from the systems awarding the punishments, the news media makes little attempt to promote a discussion even when the opportunity presents itself.
This gap is unfortunate. The reformative theory of punishment has been used successfully in Sweden, where public anger over crimes is not seen as reason enough to derail “long-term strategies” centring on reformation. Nils Öberg, director-general of Sweden’s prison and probation service, was quoted in a Guardian piece, where he said, “Some people have to be incarcerated, but it has to be a goal to get them back out into society in better shape than they were when they came in”.
SOME MEDIA COVERAGE IMPLIED CRITICISM OF [THE JUDICIARY DEMONSTRATING A REFORMATIVE STANCE], WITH HEADLINES SUCH AS “SUPREME COURT GIFTS LIFE TO RAPIST” AND “SEPTEMBER BLOW TO DEATH PENALTY”, BUT THE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE SUBJECT ENDED THERE.
That is not to say that the concept is alien to the Indian context. For example, the Supreme Court last year proposed the setting up of “open prisons” throughout India for convicts who fit certain parameters, as a means of integrating them back into society. A report on Rajasthan’s open jail system found that it saved money, reduced overcrowding in prisons and, according to Odisha High Court Chief Justice Kalpesh Satendra Jhaveri, “strengthened the social fabric by mainstreaming estranged individuals who are in conflict with the law”.
The rhetoric of reformation in the judiciary is not unusual in cases of sexual violence either. Last month, the Delhi High Court upheld the prison sentence of a rapist but also recommended that he be engaged in “meditation” and vocational programmes during this period. The judge said that the “sentence acts as a deterrent and is simultaneously reformative”. Similarly, in August, the Madhya Pradesh High Court commuted the death sentence of a rape convict to life, making note of the “probability of… rehabilitation and reformation”. The same court passed a similar judgement in October, stating that “nothing is available on the record to suggest that [the convict] cannot be useful for the society”. On 8 December, this year, the Supreme Court reduced a convicted child rapist and killer’s death sentence to 20 years rigorous imprisonment, once again citing the possibility of “reform”. In September 2016, the Supreme Court, in fact, came under some criticism for dealing a “blow to the death penalty” in a number of cases.
IT IS TIME THAT WE LOOK AT REFORMATION- AND SOLUTION-ORIENTED REPORTAGE.
In each of the sexual assault cases, the courts made mention of the specific circumstances of the offenders while delivering the judgements. Some media coverage implied criticism of this stance, with headlines such as “Supreme Court gifts life to rapist” and “September blow to death penalty”, but the engagement with the subject ended there. There has been no attempt to unpack the advantages and disadvantages of a reformative approach, as is frequently done when the death penalty is imposed.
There is little acknowledgment of the fact that it has been shown time and again that sexual violence does not exist in isolation, but is influenced and reinforced by social systems. Addressing it requires systemic change and a shift in mindsets. There is no guarantee that tough laws, even if enforced well, will prevent such crimes.
Hence, it is time that we look at reformation- and solution-oriented reportage. By following up on cases regularly and informing the reader what comes after the legal processes, media reportage can play a role in expanding the discussion on addressing India’s rape problem.
This is one in a series of articles that NewsTracker published from 25 November to 10 December as part of the #16Days activism, aligned with the UN’s International Day for Ending Violence Against Women. This piece appeared on Day 16.
