Rape and Sexual Violence

Question 1

Traditional definition of rape

Answer 1

• Rape is carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.
  o Carnal knowledge (euphemism) – penis goes in the vagina. Putting an object into a woman is not the crime of rape. The law pays special attention to a potentially unwanted offspring.
  o FBI – forcible rape – use or threat of force.

Question 2

Statutory rape

Answer 2

• Consensual sexual intercourse between adults and minors.

- The woman is not able to give consent – intoxicated, drugged, mentally retarded

Question 3

2013 definition of rape

Answer 3

• Rape is the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person without the consent of the victim.
  o Gender neutral
  o No mention of force, only mentions consent

Question 4

Military sexual trauma (MST)

Answer 4

Military sexual trauma (MST) refers to experiences of sexual assault, or repeated threatening sexual harassment that occurred while a person was in the military. This term is specifically a term used and defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the definition for MST comes from Federal law (Title 38 U.S. Code 1720D) and is “psychological trauma, which in the judgment of a VA mental health professional, resulted from a physical assault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which occurred while the Veteran was serving on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training.”

Question 5

Only ____ of sex assault/rape cases in the military are court martialed.

Answer 5

10%

Question 6

Command rape

Answer 6

It’s when your superior has life-or-death decisions over you, so they can tell you to run across a minefield, and you have to comply. Basically they have all the life-or-death decisions over you. They coerce you or do something with you that’s sexual it’s called command rape.

Question 7

PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder)

Answer 7

a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault.

Question 8

Capital murder

Answer 8

a murder that subjects the perpetrator to the death penalty if found guilty. For this to apply, there has to have been some horrific extenuating circumstance, often called “special circumstance,” in addition to causing the death. This may include such things as murdering a police officer, murdering a child, or murdering multiple victims. To explore this concept, consider the following Capital Murder definition.

Question 9

Historical approaches to rape in the us

Answer 9

♠ Consent:
The law of rape in the US, historically, required affirmative evidence that the victim resisted this event:
- From inception to the end
- To the upmost

♠ Corroboration rule:
- There must be someone who can corroborate the victims testimony.

♠ Sexual history:
- Discredit the victim

Question 10

Michigan criminal sexual assault law (1974)

Answer 10

• Removed the consent clause
• Eliminated the corroboration requirement
• Prohibited questioning about sexual history (except when the victim had a sexual history with the offender).