Who Is to Blame for Rape and Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence

The author of this report has been asked to respond to a number of scenarios. In each case, there is a question of who is responsible for a negative event happening given a certain set of circumstances. The blame will be assigned based on a percentage basis with the grand total fo the percentage adding up to a hundred percent collectively. There are five scenarios in total and they grow in complexity from one to the next. It was clear straight away the point that was being made and the "gray" areas that exist with some incidents. However, no gray areas exist when it comes to domestic violence. While there is a variety of ways in which situations can escalate and grow in severity, domestic violence is domestic violence and it takes on many forms.

Analysis

The first scenario speaks of a man who bought a pair of slack at JC Penney. He gets to his car and puts the bag with the slacks in the car. On the way home, Ron steps out of the car to get some groceries from the grocery store. While in the store, Ron leaves his car unlocked and he finds that the slacks are stolen when he returns to the car. A bulk (if not all) of the percentage for a theft really resides with the thief because they are the one that commits the act of theft. However, Ron could have and should have locked his car and was neglectful in not doing so. This could come off to many as "blaming the victim. However, Ron could have easily prevented the theft but did not do so. Ron did not deserve what happened to him but leaving the car unlocked led to the theft. The second scenario is a situation where Bobby steals money from his mother and goes to the video arcade. When other kids at the arcade realize Bobby has money, the lure him to a dark movie theater and beat him up and rob him. The question becomes how responsible Bob is for his mugging and beating. In the end, he would bear more of a burden than Ron because he committed a crime, technically, and that led to another crime happening to him. Had he not stolen the money from his parents, he would not have been mugged. However, the muggers are still more to blame. Even so, it is more of a 60/40 proposition with Bobby being the 40 and Andy/Joey getting the other 60%. Stealing is stealing whether it is from your own parent or a drug dealer (Kane, 2006).

The third scenario is much like the first one. A broken window is not fixed before someone goes on vacation and the house is burglarized with that window being used a point of entry. Once again, the homeowner is not blameless because the vulnerability existed and the homeowner knew full well of it. As such, the blame is about 80% on the thief and about 20% on the homeowner. The fourth scenario gets into a dating/domestic violence situation. Julie was talking to other guys in eyesight of her date Tom and Tom orders her to stop. Julie tells her to "not be silly" and Tom socks her in the arm. The question becomes how much to blame Julie is for being hit and the answer is zero. She did absolutely nothing to deserve being struck like that and Tom is completely culpable. The fifth and final scenario is a little more complicated but the blame still falls with the perpetrators. Sara and Jane go to a party. Sara leaves early but Jane does not and she ends up going home with three guys, two of which are drunk and the third are designated drivers. Jane wakes up to one of the guys having sex with her and that guy says the other did as well. In the end, Jane was drunk and thus could not give consent. As such, he is not to blame for the rape(s) themselves. Even so, it was less than wise for Jane to go home with those three men if she did not know them. To be sure, women need to be very careful and protect themselves from making themselves vulnerable. However, rape is rape and that is never alright (Norris, 2015).