Chapter 7, Sex and Violence

Question 1

Marital Rape Exemption

Answer 1

Also known as spousal rape, is nonconsensual sex in which the perpetrator is the victim’s spouse. It is a form of partner rape, of domestic violence, and of sexual abuse. Today, marital rape is illegal in all 50 US states.

Question 2

Chastisement

Answer 2

doctrine that allowed husbands to beat their wives in “moderation” to make them obey

Question 3

Utmost Resistance

Answer 3

Early interpretations of the force and lack of consent elements of rape originally required a woman offer the “utmost resistance.” This means that the prosecutor had “to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman resisted her assailants to the utmost of her physical capacity to prove that an act of sexual intercourse was rape”

Question 4

Reasonable Resistance

Answer 4

In a wave of rape law reforms during the 1970s and 1980s, most states replaced the requirement of “utmost” resistance to one of “reasonable” resistance, mainly once some courts recognized that requiring women to physically resist might increase the risk of other injuries, or some victims may be paralyzed with fear to resist. These jurisdictions found verbal resistance to be enough.

Question 5

Forcible Compulsion

Answer 5

alongside the reasonable resistance requirement, a handful of states require it to show that forcible compulsion (to compel by physical force or threats) was present.

Question 6

Cautionary Instruction

Answer 6

A handful of states still permit a judge to give “cautionary instruction” to the jury, a warning that rape is a charge that is easily made and one that hard to disprove even if the defendant is innocent. The judge cautious jurors therefore to carefully scrutinize the complainant’s testimony.

Question 7

Fresh Complaint

Answer 7

Bars prosecutions if the woman did not report the crime within just a few months or permitting the jury to draw an adverse inference from the delay in reporting.

Question 8

Rape Shield Laws

Answer 8

By the early 1980s, passed by Congress to prevent defense lawyers from cross examining rape victims about their previous sexual activities.

Question 9

Affirmative, Conscious, and Voluntary Agreement

Answer 9

California, 2014) A bill in passed in California in August 2014 would establish a new definition of consent for purposes of investigating sexual assault on campus. Moving beyond “no means no”, the bill would require an “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.”

Question 10

Battered Woman Syndrome/Battered Intimate Partner Syndrome

Answer 10

A theory about the dynamics of battering relationships developed by Lenore Walker that is a collection of characteristics shared by victims of domestic abuse.

Question 11

Cycle of Violence: (part of Lenore’s Theory)

Answer 11

Describes the course of battering relationships over time.

1. gradual tension building
2. incidents escalate and culminate in an acute battering episode
3. loving-repentant

Question 12

Gradual Tention Building

Answer 12

First phase of the cycle of violence. The batterer expresses dissatisfaction, exhibits controlling behavior, isolates the victim, and engages in verbal hostility and small amounts of physical abuse. The victim tries to diffuse the tension and placate her batterer.

Question 13

Incidents escalate and culminate in an acute battering episode

Answer 13

Second phase of the cycle of violence.

Question 14

Loving-Repentant

Answer 14

Third phase of the cycle of violence. The batterer is contrite and extremely kind, apologizes, begging for forgiveness and promising to change. The victim hopes her partner will change, bonds with him again, and loses any resolve to leave. Tensions build again and the cycle repeats.

Question 15

Learned Helplessness

Answer 15

Assists in explaining why some women stay in abusive relationships. Walker theorized that women subjected to continual abuse also learn to be helpless and stop trying to leave. They acquire survival skills within the relationship but develop an inability to see escape alternatives.

Question 16

Survivor Theory

Answer 16

Edward Gondolf and Ellen Fisher, says that women do not learn passivity and helplessness but actually make repeated and increasing attempts to seek help from friends and family, law enforcement, and social service agencies. When the help seeking fails - because outside resources are inadequate, the woman has children or is deeply committed in the relationship or is conditioned by her background to accept the abuse, or she has no economic alternatives - the woman may return to her abuser.

Question 17

Stockholm Syndrome

Answer 17

Phenomenon in which prisoners of war, hostages, or kidnap victims develop strong emotional ties with their captors in large part to save their own lives.

Question 18

Heat of Passion Killing

Answer 18

A man who kills his wife upon learning of her infidelity can seek a reduction in charge from murder to manslaughter on the grounds that he can acted in the “heat of passion”. The law permits female perpetrators the same opportunity, but most of such killings are permitted by men. Debate is if this should be used in the situations of battered women.

Question 19

Mandatory Arrest Policies

Answer 19

Resulted in an increase in the number of arrests for intimate violence. Require police to arrest the offender any time there is probably cause to believe intimate violence has occurred, even if law enforcement did not witness the occurrence.

Question 20

Mandatory Reporting

Answer 20

Laws in most states that typically compel medical or hospital personnel to report suspected intimate violence to law enforcement authorities.

Question 21

No-Drop Prosecution Policies

Answer 21

Began in the early 1990s. in 35 states, they will continue to prosecute even if the victim urges them to drop charges. Stemmed from good impulses - to aggressively pursue domestic violence cases and to treat them similarly to cases of stranger violence.

Question 22

Dual Arrest

Answer 22

When the police cannot determine who is at fault in an incident of domestic abuse, or think that both people are guilty, they arrest both parties.

Question 23

Violence Against Women Act, VAWA

Answer 23

Signed into law by Bill Clinton, a federal statute intended to diminish violence against spouses and intimate partners. Created a federal crime of domestic violence for anyone who crosses state lines to injure a spouse or intimate partner, increased the possible period of imprisonment for repeat domestic abuse offenders, and made civil protection orders issued in one state enforceable in any other state. Addressed the problems of abused immigrant women.

Question 24

United States v. Morrison and the commerce clause

Answer 24

2000, the Supreme Court evaluated a civil remedy provision in VAWA that allowed victims of gender-motivated violence to sue their attackers in federal court under the framework of the Interstate Commerce Clause because there is an economic impact when women are victims of violence (drop out of school, lose jobs, ect.). The Court held that this provision violated the Commerce Clause because Congress did not have the power to protect the victims of gender based violence - a purely interstate activity. The court held that gender motivated crimes of violence are not economic activity and do not substantially affect commerce.

Question 25

Antioch College consent policy: 1990

Answer 25

“consent must be obtained verbally before there is any sexual contact or conduct”, that “silence is never interpreted as consent” and that obtaining consent is an ongoing process during any sexual encounter”

Question 26

Cultural Defense

Answer 26

Should American courts permit defendants from other countries to raise “cultural defenses” to criminal charges/maintain cultural sensitivity if they truly believe that the behavior the plaintiff fit traditional practices of their culture?