Shifting the Spotlight in the Law of Rape

The Responsibilities of Penetration

Jonathan Herring, Sorcha McCormack (Autoren)

Buch | Softcover

94 Seiten

2025
Anthem Press (Verlag)
9781839995293 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

We need a new law of rape –. One one which puts the focus on the defendant, rather than the victim. Many survivors of rape report that their experience of the criminal courts is that they are on trial. This book argues we need to redefine rape so the focus is on the defendant and his responsibility.

All is not well with the law on rape. It is rarely reported and even when it is, it is rarely prosecuted. Victims are deterred for a range of reasons, but these include a fear that it will never be possible to prove the rape has occurred and that the trial will be traumatic. Even when the case proceeds to trial, victims perceive that it is they, rather than the perpetrator, who is the one on trial. The past sexual behaviour of the victim,; the clothes she was wearing,; the people she socialised with and the places she visited are all used as tools to claim that in fact the victim consented to the rape. Reforms are needed.

In this book, we explore how changing the definition of rape will help tackle some of these problems. We argue there needs to be a shift in the focus of the rape trial: away from asking whether the victim consented, to focus on whether the defendant. Rather than focusing on the way the victim dresses, behaviour in response to the rape, the focus will be on what the defendant believed justified him engaging in a sexual behaviour.

At the heart of our proposal is the claim that having sex comes with responsibilities. In particular, a responsibility to ensure you have reasonable grounds to believe the other consents. Without that consent, a very serious wrong is being done. The central legal focus should therefore be on whether the defendant had sufficiently good reasons to proceed with having sex.

Jonathan Herring, is a professor of law, at the University of Oxford, and DW Wolf-Clarendon Ffellow, at Exeter College, Oxford. Sorcha McCormack, is a Senior senior Lecturer, in law at Leeds Beckett University.

Acknowledgements; 1-Introduction; 2-Problems with the Law of Rape; 3-Problems with Rape Trials; 4-Rethinking the Ethical and Legal Framework Around Rape; 5-Putting the Law into Practice; 6-Responding to Concerns; 7-Conclusion; References; Cases; Index

Erscheinungsdatum	12.09.2025
Reihe/Serie	Anthem Studies in Law Reform
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	153 x 229 mm
Gewicht	139 g
Themenwelt	Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
	Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Besonderes Strafrecht
	Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Strafverfahrensrecht
ISBN-13	9781839995293 / 9781839995293
Zustand	Neuware