Preventing the crimes of rape against children

Abstract

In Malaysia, rape cases involving children seem to be in increasing at a rapid pace. In 1997, there were 739 reported cases involving children out of a total of 1,323 cases. This constitutes 56% of all rape cases. These figures are significant enough for the authorities and the society to take serious actions to prevent further rape cases from taking place. The aim of this article is to discuss programmes that can be introduced to children to prevent the occurrence of rape. The first part of the paper discusses the reasons for rape to take place, the second part discusses the definition of rape in Malaysia, the third part discusses the crimes of rape against children in Malaysia and why actions must be taken immediately to prevent further occurrences, and the last part deals with the different levels of preventive programmes that could be introduced to children of different age groups, who should introduce such programmes and what these groups of people must know and understand in order to make these programmes effective.