Rape is a crime committed when someone is forced to have sexual intercourse through physical force or coercion. “683,000 rapes occur every year” (CVS) and the national average for people accused of rape is eight years spent in federal prison. Rape is a serious crime as well as other crimes, but rape is considered a more serious and heinous crime along with murder, etc. There are also different stages of rape that the victim can go through depending on how they handle it. Eight years in prison is not a good amount of time for someone to serve for what they have done, all the things that the rape process entails should be incorporated into the sentence: force, against someone's will, and most importantly the impact physical and emotional trauma that results and that only the victim has to face. When someone is raped, the person who raped them should receive a certain number of years in prison as long as it takes the victim to get over the rape, which means that the justice system should allow the victim to decide the criminal's sentence based on to whether or not the victim feels safe when the abuser is released from prison. Victims also go through five different stages and those stages can/will have a huge effect on a person's mental health and could be considered unstable after the attack. The national average of years served for rape should not be just 8; should be increased in favor of the victim. There are many symptoms that come with rape, some may have a change in personality and friends and others may choose to drop out of school. Rape can have an effect on people that can scar them for life and for some victims to be able to overcome an attack is if they know their attacker is incarcerated and... middle of paper.... ..the criminal should be in the hands of the victim because they are the ones who have to go through the therapy, the trauma and all the other resources that come with being sexually assaulted and if the victim can't get over the rape and does they don't feel safe if their attacker doesn't is incarnated, then the criminal should not be allowed out of prison. The national average of rape convictions will not solve the problem if the victim cannot overcome the attack. Works cited "A national disgrace". Crime Victim Services (CVS). Np, nd Web. November 12, 2013. Kilpatrick, Dean G. “Impact of Rape on Mental Health.” Impact of rape on mental health. Medical University of South Carolina, n.d. Web. “Web Information on Sexual Assault and Abuse.” UIC Campus Advocacy Network. UIC, n.d. Web.Berman, Laura, Dr. “The Stages of Grief Goed Through by a Rape Victim.” Love and sex na: n. page Press.