Treatment of incest offenders and victims

Research has shown that due to the sensitivity of this crime, a counseling approach is preferable to one which is punitive in nature. The offending father should be asked to go to counseling sessions. In this way the family is prevented from breaking up in order to maintain the family’s economic lifeline.

Finding a solutions to the incest issue is not easy. In the case of father and daughter incest, the mother may not allow the matter to be disclosed for many reasons, such as extreme shame and ridicule the family will face, and the loss of economic support in the event the father is put in jail.

Uncovering an incestuous relationship is not easy. This is due to the fact that in majority of the cases the victims are very young. It is not easy to extricate the fact of an incestuous relationship from a child. Malathi Menon in her research paper presented for purpose of her Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree in University Malaya 1987/1988 described how a Child Abuse Team comprising medical doctors, psychiatrist and social workers obtained such information when they suspected that a child could be sexually abused. They used a fully clothed doll to help the child to name various body parts and describe how her vagina was injured.

The above scenario shows how hard it is to deal with an incestuous crime. If it is confirmed from the behaviour and reaction of the child that she is sexually abused then she may be kept in a safe place for counseling and healing. This approach described by Malathi is known as the therapeutic alternative. The objective is to reconcile the offending father and the child victim. The father may be led to confessing to the doing of the act through a non-punitive approach.