When Screams Are Not Released: A Study of Communication and Consent in Acquaintance Rape Situations

This study examines the importance of modes of communication in the context of acquaintance rape, using 96 reported cases of acquaintance rape from a southeastern law enforcement agency. Through the demographic characteristics of each acquaintance rape, as well as the testimonies of the complainants and—in some cases—the accused, this research reveals the way in which victims communicate their responses to these attacks. A typology of modes of communication clearly emerges from these qualitative data. The patterns of communication further underscore the likelihood of passive responses, particularly the complete lack of communication when the victim “freezes.” The implications of such response modes are considered.     

Rape law reform and the effect of victim characteristics on case processing

Rape law reforms enacted during the past 20 years were designed to shift the focus of a rape case from the victim to the offender. Reformers and criminal justice officials speculated that changes in the rules of evidence and enactment of rape shield laws would result in less suspicion of the claims of rape victims and would make it less likely that the character, reputation, and behavior of the victim would affect decision making about the case. In this paper we examine the impact of rape law reform on the factors affecting the outcome of sexual assault cases bound over for trial in Detroit. We find little support for our hypothesis that the effect of victim characteristics on case processing decisions declined in the postreform period. Most of the victim characteristics did not have the expected effects on the likelihood of case dismissal, charge reduction, conviction, or incarceration. We did, on the other hand, find that the proportion of cases involving evidence of risk-taking behavior on the part of the victim or questions about the victim's credibility increased in the postreform period.     

Rape Victim Advocates' Knowledge and Insight on Rape Laws

Abstract

Although previous literature details the successes and failures of reforms of rape laws designed to better support and protect victims, there is a lack of research on rape victim advocates' knowledge of and views about rape laws. It is essential that we understand advocates' level of legal knowledge because they may be the first or only source of legal information for victims. Based on analysis of interviews with 58 rape victim advocates serving six rape crisis centers in four East coast states, this article explores advocates' knowledge about rape laws, possible reasons for limited knowledge, and perceptions about various laws that aim to protect rape victims. This research suggests that although advocates have a somewhat limited grasp of laws intended to aid rape victims, they have an overall negative view of the legal system.     

Consent in escrow

Disasters such as flash flooding, mass shootings, and train and airplane accidents involving large numbers of victims produce significant opportunity for research in the biosciences. This opportunity exists in the extreme tails of life events, however, during which decisions about life and death, valuing and foregoing, speed and patience, trust and distrust, are tested simultaneously and abundantly. The press and urgency of these scenarios may also challenge the ability of researchers to comprehensively deliver information about the purposes of a study, risks, benefits, and alternatives. Under these circumstances, we argue that acquiring consent for the immediate use of data that are not time sensitive represents a gap in the protection of human study participants. In response, we offer a two-tiered model of consent that allows for data collected in real-time to be held in escrow until the acute post-disaster window has closed. Such a model not only respects the fundamental tenet of consent in research, but also enables such research to take place in an ethically defensible manner.     

Rape myths and rape by juveniles

Rape committed during adolescence is a vital indicator for predicting the propensity of committing rape in adulthood. Moreover, although numerous studies related juvenile rape have been proposed in Western countries, most of these studies have focused on the impact of personal factors, and have neglected to examine the impact of rape myths. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the relationship between rape myths and male juvenile rape. This study used an anonymous self-report questionnaire to collect data. Participants included 466 male middle- and high-school students in Taiwan. The results showed that rape myths are associated with juvenile rape. Furthermore, rape victim myths were the myth category relating to juvenile rape, rather than rape perpetrator myths. Among the rape victim myths, the dimension, women secretly wish to be raped, had the strongest association. Discussions pertaining to implications, applications, limitations, and future research are included in the present study.     

强奸罪与嫖宿幼女罪的关系

如何理解奸淫幼女型强奸罪与嫖宿幼女罪的关系,刑法理论存在多种解释方案。在立法论上,可以从两罪法条竞合但刑罚轻重失序的角度展开修法必要性的论证。在解释论上,无论是将两罪解释为法条竞合进而主张“重法优于轻法”或者主张想象竞合犯而“从一重罪处罚”,在法理上都难以自洽。较为妥当的解释方案是,缺乏有效同意是强奸罪的构成要件要素,具备有效同意则是嫖宿幼女罪的构成要件要素,因此两罪是互斥关系。同意效力判断的关键在于幼女是否属于具备性同意能力的卖淫幼女。这不仅能够合理说明类法益对刑法章节设置的指导意义,而且有利于维持保护幼女与保障人权之间的平衡。     

刑法中的生命权承诺

"生命权不可承诺"的传统刑法观点与目前现实中出现的越来越复杂的生命权承诺现象之间形成了立法与现实的冲突.立足于特殊的生命权承诺的现实情形,借鉴西方的被害人承诺行为理论,通过法理剖析、立法考察得出应当建立生命权承诺的立法反应机制的结论.以此为基础,初步分析了特殊的生命权承诺的本质和相关的限制条件,认为特殊的生命权承诺在符合限制条件下可以成为正当行为.     

中英刑法上强奸罪之比较

英国自上世纪中叶至本世纪初对强奸罪做过多次修改,当今英国强奸罪的概念与过去相比已有本质上的区别。从纵向评析英国强奸罪概念的发展过程,横向比较中英两国强奸罪的概念和构成,有助于深入探讨我国有关强奸罪法律所存在的问题。例如,强奸罪受害人是否仅限于女性,性行为指向是否仅限女性生殖器,婚内强奸是否构成犯罪,以及如何立法保障男性免受鸡奸等行为的侵害。     

Rape,burglary, and opportunity

Following on the recent development of opportunity theory in criminology, we apply an opportunity approach to rape. Although rape is commonly viewed as a street crime, a substantial proportion of rape occurs inside homes following an unlawful entry of the residence. Drawing on this observation, we argue that rape and burglary, because they share a common locus in the home, should exhibit similar opportunity structures. That is, characteristics that place particular types of homes and householders at greater risk of burglary should also place (female) residents at greater risk of rape. An analysis of UCR rates and censusderived opportunity variables for 155 SMSAs in 1980 supports this position. We conclude that home-intrusion rape (rape following an unlawful entry of the home) is a violent crime with the opportunity structure of a property crime.     

Evaluating Stranger and Acquaintance Rape: The Role of Benevolent Sexism in Perpetrator Blame and Recommended Sentence Length

In most jurisdictions, the law does not recognize the distinction between stranger and acquaintance rape. However, these two types of rape seem to elicit different responses from both lay observers and legal practitioners. Two studies investigating the role of benevolent sexism (BS) in accounting for participants' responses to acquaintance vs. stranger rape perpetrators are reported. Participants were presented with vignettes describing either an acquaintance rape or a stranger rape. As predicted, relative to low-BS individuals, participants who scored high in BS attributed less blame (Study 1) and recommended shorter sentences (Study 2) for the acquaintance rape perpetrator. Benevolent sexism was unrelated to reactions to the perpetrator in the stranger rape condition.     

Consent in escrow: opting to opt in

In this paper, we reply to Taylor''s (2015) peer commentary on consent-in-escrow. Specifically, we clarify the utility of this novel approach, the way in which it minimizes risks to participants, and how it differs from existing opt-out methods. We further explore its potential use in fields beyond disaster research.     

Racial Bias in Mock Juror Decision-Making: A Meta-Analytic Review of Defendant Treatment

Common wisdom seems to suggest that racial bias, defined as disparate treatment of minority defendants, exists in jury decision-making, with Black defendants being treated more harshly by jurors than White defendants. The empirical research, however, is inconsistent—some studies show racial bias while others do not. Two previous meta-analyses have found conflicting results regarding the existence of racial bias in juror decision-making (Mazzella & Feingold, 1994, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1315–1344; Sweeney & Haney, 1992, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 10, 179–195). This research takes a meta-analytic approach to further investigate the inconsistencies within the empirical literature on racial bias in juror decision-making by defining racial bias as disparate treatment of racial out-groups (rather than focusing upon the minority group alone). Our results suggest that a small, yet significant, effect of racial bias in decision-making is present across studies, but that the effect becomes more pronounced when certain moderators are considered. The state of the research will be discussed in light of these findings.     

The Case for a Rational Reconstruction of Consent in Criminal Law

This article argues for consistency in criminal law and the need for 'rational reconstruction' of the law where necessary to achieve this. It focuses Parliament's failure to respect the need for consistency by passing a statutory definition of consent in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which appears to apply only to sexual offences. As a result, the law on consent risks being a patchwork of statute and ad hoc case law, without any overarching principle to deal with new situations and different offences. The consequent lack of certainty, accessibility, predictability and fairness is compared to the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights. The statutory definition of consent in the context of the sexual offences is assessed critically as a model which could be used in offences against the person and property offences. The article concludes that until Parliament responds to the need for certainty and consistency by legislating on consent, there can be no rational reconstruction of consent under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.     

刑事政策视野中的婚内强奸犯罪化

本文评析了婚内强奸犯罪化的学术之争 ,对婚内强奸进行了刑事政策分析 ,设计了婚内强奸的刑事政策反应体系 ,主张对婚内强奸提高刑法反应的门槛、降低刑法反应强度 ,并通过“适用解释上的犯罪化”而非“立法上的犯罪化”的方式 ,对分居或诉请离婚期间发生的婚内强奸行为予以犯罪化。     

Crime Statistics as Constructs: The Case of Swedish Rape Statistics

Using Swedish rape statistics as a focus, this article aims to empirically describe the way in which different factors affect official crime statistics produced at the national level. It is argued that cross-national comparisons of crime levels are extremely hazardous when based on official crime statistics, since the construction rules vary widely. International comparisons of crime levels should as a rule be confined to findings of international victim surveys. The example of rape statistics in Sweden - about three times higher when compared to other countries in the European Sourcebook - is used to explain what factors can influence statistics. Statistical, legal and substansive factors are to be taken into account. The author shows that changes in statistical routines, the legal definition of rape and changes over time all influence the statistics in a substansive way. This article indicates the great extent to which crime statistics are a construct, whose appearance is very sensitive to the rules applied in the process of construction. In order to employ statistics appropriately, a thorough knowledge of the principles guiding this process is therefore essential.     

论有限责任公司股东的同意权与优先购买权

《公司法》第35条对有限责任公司股权的向外转让规定其他股东的同意权和优先购买权,以期作为限制。但实践中关于如何理解该条的限制颇有歧义。要正确地理解该条,必须在澄清法条含义的基础上,理顺有限责任公司对外转让股权的规范。由于同意权纯粹只起到摆设的作用,故应该废除同意权,同时完善优先购买权,更好地协调有限责任公司的人合性与资合性。     

人脸识别技术中的个人信息保护——兼论动态同意模式的建构

人脸识别技术在现有应用场景中已经被证明了其便捷性和高效性,但是,围绕该技术自身准确性、安全性、伦理性和合法性等问题的争议也从未停息。2020年我国"人脸识别第一案"引发公众及学界关注与讨论,急需在快速扩散的技术应用中,寻找信息法益保护模式。完善人脸识别技术中个人信息保护模式的可能性如下:第一,坚持"合法、正当、必要"原...     

论认罪认罚程序中的被追诉人同意

在我国,认罪认罚并非控辩协商的结果,而是被追诉人对指控事实、量刑建议及程序适用的同意。将认罪认罚界定为同意的价值有三:凸显被追诉人的诉讼主体地位;维护被追诉人的合法利益;增强被追诉人应对多元复杂程序的能力。被追诉人有效同意需要同时具备四个要件:一为同意能力,被追诉人应当具有理解、评判、决策与沟通能力;二为知情同意,被追诉人的同意应当建立在对案件信息的全面了解与掌握之上;三为自愿同意,被追诉人认罪认罚的意思表示应当是自由作出的;四为同意意向性,被追诉人认罪认罚的意向在于获得从宽处理。以此标准审视,为保障被追诉人同意有效性,尚需要从三个方面进行调整与完善:进一步规范检察机关的权利告知程序;在审查起诉环节建构证据开示程序;为值班律师提供更为宽松、便利的履职环境。     

论法医临床鉴定中被鉴定人的知情同意权

临床医学中的知情同意权是医学实践中由基本伦理上升为受法律保障的患者权利,通过告知同意书的契约形式表达。法医临床鉴定中的被鉴定人与医疗体系中的患者具有类似的法律地位,但尚无相应的法律法规赋予被鉴定人知情同意权。笔者建议法医临床学鉴定中可赋予被鉴定人一定的知情同意权,在与鉴定机构的契约化关系下,参与鉴定过程,知悉必要的鉴定信息,并对鉴定意见有选择性同意权,从而实现司法鉴定程序的公平、正义。     

知情同意诉讼中的证据学:英美法的观察

在传统的医疗过失侵权诉讼中,为了体现行外人士对医疗这一专家型行业的尊重,医疗专家证言在诉讼中发挥着重要的甚至决定性的作用。知情同意诉讼,虽被归入医疗过失侵权诉讼,却提供了一个不同于传统的医疗领域——诊断治疗——的情景。知情同意的独特性改变了专家证言在诉讼中的格局。在知情同意诉讼中,医疗专家证言的参与度和重要性遭到削弱。以患者为取向的信息披露标准的建立意味着法律的关注点已从"专家"整体转移到"患者";对"医学判断"所管辖领域的精细分割也说明,医疗专家证言只应在证明医疗信息的感知和启用"医疗特权"上有应用价值,医疗信息的实质性判断已让位于一般人知识,而且对"医疗特权"的严格控制会缩减医疗专家证言的适用空间;因果关系的认定和选择影响到医疗专家证言和患者证言的地位变化,尽管存在"事后诸葛"效应,为了与知情同意法则之主旨相匹配,主观化的因果关系应是前进方向。