The proportion of inmates serving time for sexual offenses has increased sharply in recent years. In 2000, this group made up 6 percent of all those who served time in prison. Today, the number has risen to 27 per cent, figures from the Norwegian Correctional Service show. This means that more than one in four inmates are serving time for sexual offences. There has also been a change within the group. Why has the number increased? There are a number of reasons why the number of assault convicts in prison has increased in recent years, and the explanation is complex. Some of the explanations are: The punishments for rape became stricter after the amendment of the Criminal Code in 2010, so those who are convicted must serve longer. are punished as if the person himself had committed the act Sexual offenders cannot serve time at home with anklets (as many other convicts in Norway do) Source: Correctional Service, Penal Code, prison officer Siv Iren Strømmen More young people break the law In 2022, the majority were between 30 and 39 years old in for sexual offences. This was also the case in 2000. At the same time, the number of people convicted of this type of offense is growing younger. A third of all inmates between the ages of 15 and 24 are in prison precisely for sexual offences. Siv Iren Strømmen has worked as a prison officer in Trondheim prison since 2002. For several years she has worked with those convicted of sexual offences. She points to porn use as a reason why the convicted are younger. Prison officer Siv Iren Strømmen in Trondheim prison. Photo: Erlend Laanke Solbu / NRKPrison officer Siv Iren Strømmen in Trondheim prison. Photo: Erlend Laanke Solbu / news – One explores more and more and receives suggestions from other sides. Then you click further and further into illegal pages, and in the end it will never be enough, says Strømmen. – You are far ahead before you have understood it yourself, she adds. Psychologist Maia Mack, who works with porn addicts at BlåKors in Oslo, says this is a “high-speed internet problem”. – Porn today is not what it used to be. There are no VHS tapes and magazines. Access is unlimited and all you have to do is key in a couple of times on a mobile or PC. In Kriminalomsorga region north, where Strømmen works, approximately 40 percent of inmates have been convicted of sexual offences. Porn affects – When you watch porn, masturbate and get a release, the brain explodes with pleasure hormones. Because every time you do it, you will reinforce the sexual interest that is all there. The stronger she becomes, the easier it becomes to cross a threshold in the real world, says Svein Øverland. He is a specialist in psychology at the competence network Sifer and has worked with the subject for years. Psychologist specialist Svein Øverland. Photo: Robert Rønning / NRKP psychologist specialist Svein Øverland. Photo: Robert Rønning / news Øverland also works with young people. He tells how the questions he gets from young people have changed in recent years: – Before, young people asked me if it was normal or painful to have anal sex, says Øverland. Now he gets questions such as “is it normal to be spat in the face during sex?”, or “is it normal for my boyfriend to hit me in the face when I kiss him?”. – And it has come from pornography, if you ask me. It is rare that two 15-year-olds start there by themselves, he believes. Difficult divorce In the news documentary “Porno 2022”, it is calculated that children are exposed to porn for the first time when they are 11 years old. – The coarser the porn, the greater the negative effect it has on those who are vulnerable, says Maia Mack. It is often difficult to distinguish between what is the impact of porn and what is not, she says. But the fact that children and young people have easily influenced brains cannot be escaped either. – That porn affects children and children’s view of sexuality is revealed, she says. Psychologist specialist Maia Mack. Photo: Privat As the algorithms on the websites drag the viewer along, boundaries can be moved. Svein Øverland clarifies that porn is not dangerous at all. – But for the small group who already have certain tendencies, porn can increase the risk of losing control. That the temptation can increase and increase, he says, and adds: – You can sit and masturbate to videos with quite strong content and then get a nasty feeling afterwards. But then you can rationalize your own actions. It is quite common when you see pornography, he adds. Then you can think that “yes, yes, it was just porn” and “she’s probably getting paid well and no one was hurt”. He calls it post-rationalizing. That one defends, causes or justifies one’s own actions after one has done them. This can also be the case with rape. Few make use of the help offered. There are several courses you can take when you are in prison; some for anger management, others to get rid of a drug addiction. In 2019, the Correctional Service also rolled out the Basis offer in selected Norwegian prisons; among them Trondheim prison, where Siv Iren Strømmen works. The offer, which is available in 13 prisons, is voluntary and for those who have an “increased risk of recidivism”. Figures news has obtained from the Norwegian Correctional Service show that only 97 of the 785 incarcerated for sexual offenses in Norwegian prisons completed the course in 2022. That is 12 percent. – They didn’t have a dream of becoming rapists when they grew up. Most people detest it as much as anyone else, says Strømmen. She says they always see cognitive distortions and thoughts that justify the action in the hours with the inmates. It is something they work a lot with in Trondheim prison. Siv Iren Strømmen works a lot with those convicted of sexual offenses in prison. Photo: Erlend Laanke Solbu / news Many deny the action The Norwegian Correctional Service tells news that they have a goal that more people convicted of sexual offenses will use the program. – It is no easy task, says department director Heidi Bottolfs. They work both to increase the offer and participation. – Many inmates convicted of sexual offenses deny their own crime and refuse both treatment and measures from the correctional service, says Bottolfs. Heidi Bottolfs. Photographed in connection with another case. Photo: Martin Leigland / NRKHeidi Bottolfs. Photographed in connection with another matter. Photo: Martin Leigland / news In the treatment, they mostly focus on the future. The program is based on life mastery and the thinking behind it is that there is a lower risk of recurrence if you are doing better in life. – The goal is that they should never end up in the same situation again and never expose someone else to the same action, explains Strømmen. She says that most people deny what they have done at the start, but that it often changes during treatment. – We usually discuss when it started and how the action could take place. Nobody ends up in prison all of a sudden, says Strømmen.
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Several younger inmates in prison – think porn may be a reason – news Dokumentar
