The Trajectory of Sex Offenders Through the Lebanese Criminal Justice System: A Tale of Human Rights Violations By Shereen Sarah Baz A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University March, 2016 © Shereen Sarah Baz 2016 Acknowledgments First and foremost, thanks are due to my supervisors Dr. Martyn Chamberlain and Dr. Daniel Chernilo whose patience, support, advise and encouragement throughout the research has been instrumental. You have both offered me guidance and shed light on aspects that helped result in a research project that I am extremely proud of. I would like to thank each and every person who has made this study possible, especially General Neaime, Father Hadi Ayya, Joanna Imad, Julie Khoury, Mira Bou Rahal and Lamia Farhat (members of the NGO AJEM). Without your help in gaining access and participants this study would not have been possible. I am forever grateful for your help and encouragement. A further thanks goes to all the participants who took time and entrusted me with their narratives surrounding their experiences. Despite the difficulty and the taboo associated with discussing such a sensitive topic you all provided me with more information than I could have ever expected. I hope this study does all your stories and experiences justice. A special thank you goes out to my friends who have been with me through the good and the difficult times of this study. As most of my friends have come to find out, it is not easy conducting research but you were all there to ensure I had enough support and fun to get me through. Thank you to all my friends (those who were with me from the start and those I made whilst at Loughborough) for all of the support, and the fun times. You are all fabulous people, who I truly appreciate. To my family, words cannot express how grateful I am to you for your support, motivation and love. Thank you for managing to push me forward when I thought I could not go any further. Thank you for taking the time to help where you could by supporting me and believing in me. Without your unconditional love and support this would not have been done. Finally, to my late grandmother Renee Baz, who was so proud of my achievement even before I had achieved it, I dedicate this research to her. Teta, it is finally done! Abstract This study aims to examine the trajectory of sex offenders through the Lebanese criminal justice system while highlighting various human rights violations. It attempts to fill in the gaps within the literature through building on the existing research and by examining the processes and experiences of arrest, detention, court, prison and release. Recently, numerous scholars have argued that most criminal justice systems are following a popular punitive trend rather than focusing on rehabilitation. This study through its focus on human rights violations, participants’ attitudes and beliefs as well as issues of rehabilitation and treatment of prisoners firmly places Lebanon within the global trend of popular punitiveness. Seventy-three interviews were carried out with sex offenders, police officers, prison guards, judges and lawyers within Lebanon. These qualitative interviews captured criminal justice professionals’ and offenders’ experiences, attitudes and perceptions surrounding sex offending and the criminal justice system. The thematic analysis of the interviews specifically focused on uncovering how sex offenders moved through and were dealt with by the Lebanese criminal justice system. Human rights violations were found to be abundant at the various stages of the criminal justice system. Participants highlighted events such as the excessive use of torture within police stations as well as prisons, the use of forced confessions, and the lack of legal representation. Numerous factors were found to play a role in conceding the copious violations of sex offenders’ rights occurring at the various stages of the criminal justice system. These factors included corruption, the lack of accountability, police culture, the commonly held belief that offenders are undeserving of human rights, the lack of training, and religion. In investigating the structure and the functioning of the criminal justice system, it became evident that religion played a vital role. Religion dictated professionals’ positions within the criminal justice system and influenced participants’ beliefs and attitudes surrounding sex offenders. Because of its influence, religion played a vital role in paving the way for the re-occurrence of human right violations. For example, religion granted the criminalisation of homosexuality and the act of ‘de-virginizing’ as well as legalising marital rape, all of which result in human rights violations. In order to move Lebanon, and other punitive countries, towards a more rehabilitative criminal justice approach, this study highlights the importance of training, change in legislation, as well as the separation of religion from law. Key words: sex offences; criminal justice systems; human rights; punitiveness; religion; care and treatment; torture; corruption; popular punitiveness; rehabilitation. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 2 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................................. 6 RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS ................................................................................... 6 RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION ............................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER OUTLINE ............................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER ONE: POPULAR PUNITIVENESS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 13 1.1 DEFINING POPULAR PUNITIVENESS ......................................................................... 14 1.2 THE MEDIA AND POPULAR PUNITIVENESS ............................................................... 16 1.3 THE CASE OF SEX OFFENDERS AND PUBLIC PUNITIVENESS ...................................... 20 1.4 POPULAR PUNITIVENESS: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE .................................................. 22 1.5 POPULAR PUNITIVENESS: THE CASE OF LEBANON ................................................... 26 1.6 POPULAR PUNITIVENESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ....................................................... 33 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER TWO: HUMAN RIGHTS IN LEBANON INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 36 2.1 WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS? .................................................................................... 36 2.2 GLOBAL HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS ...................................................................... 37 2.3 MONITORING HUMAN RIGHTS ................................................................................. 44 2.4 ENFORCING HUMAN RIGHTS .................................................................................... 46 2.5 FACTORS ENCOURAGING VIOLATIONS ..................................................................... 51 2.6 LEBANON’S HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ............... 52 2.7 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN LEBANON .............................................................. 55 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 66 CHAPTER THREE: THE LEBANESE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 69 3.1 HISTORY OF THE LEBANESE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM .......................................... 69 3.2 HOW THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM FUNCTIONS: THE TRAJECTORY OF SEX OFFENDERS ..................................................................................................................... 83 3.3 THE ROLE OF CULTURE AND RELIGION WITHIN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS ......... 91 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 93 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 95 4.1 RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................... 97 4.2 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................. 98 4.3 GAINING ACCESS: THE USE OF CONNECTIONS ....................................................... 116 4.4 BUILDING RAPPORT AND THE ROLE OF POWER ..................................................... 122 4.5 POWER AND GENDER RELATIONS .......................................................................... 124 4.6 ETHICS ..................................................................................................................... 128 4.7 PERSONAL SAFETY .................................................................................................. 132 4.8 ADDITIONAL RESEARCH