Laws against rape

**Rodion Romanovich** · 10-24-2007, 11:53

How can the law be better about determining when it's rape and when it isn't? I've only heard two extremes: either the woman has the power to send any man she wants to jail, or the man can rape without consequences. Given that rapists are extremely hated by all others in the jails, ending up in jail for rape if you're innocent is a pretty horrible thing. And being raped is obviously horrible as well. So - how should law solve this? Should people be forced to sign a contract before having sex?

Or is there an easier way?

**Fragony** · 10-24-2007, 12:04

Let forensic evidence speak for itselve. If a woman has bruises all over when she comes to the police I would say it wasn't a merry affair. Not a genocowhatever but a raw entry should be determinable.

**Rodion Romanovich** · 10-24-2007, 12:06

That is good for violent rape, but what about unvoluntary but non-violent sex, which constitutes the majority of rape cases?

**Fragony** · 10-24-2007, 12:19

Psychological research but you can never be sure I guess. We had a case here where a guy let his buddies have a go afterwards, which the girl didn't want, can't be sure where sex became rape and they were all released. Tough luck for the girl but I think the judge did the right thing. No evidence/confession no crime, fine as it is.

**rory_20_uk** · 10-24-2007, 14:42

After bieng raped, most women feel violated, and so have a wash. Bang goes all evidence.

So, assuming that the women is raped, the person accused does not use a condom and she goes straight to the police, if they are in a relationship it is a "she said, he said" situation. Criminal law demands beyond reasonable doubt. Everything else bieng equal you have to assume 50% chance of error - and hence no conviction.

What of women who regret the intercourse they had. Is that rape? they may have been willing at the time, now regret it?

Or a womand who is drunk - and so not able to consent. Well, what if the bloke is also drunk. Was he not just as raped?

The conviction of rape is !0% when I last looked. And for good reason as so often proving it was against the female's will at the time is nigh on impossible.

Bruises is not proof. Was the bruises at the time of intercourse, or afterwards? Was it the same person? And did she even want to be hit? Wierder things happen.

It's not great, but women just need to be careful where they go and who they are with. If they want to be equal to the men well, they've already made their choice.

**Whacker** · 10-24-2007, 15:00

There needs to be a balance between the potential victim's rights, as well as the potential rapist's rights.

Multiple things to consider:

- As others pointed out, bruising is not proof at all. Some people like it rough.

- What is the point of limitation? For example, if a couple has consensual sex, and a day or two later the woman or man decides she didn't want to, does that count? Personally, I think that one's right to cry rape is done immediately after the act is over. Sorry if you regret it, you should have thought about it more carefully. The only exceptions I can think would involve something like a form of blackmail, or another similar form of influence.

- Intoxication or chemical influence. I really have problems with this one. While it's true that some people will "blank out" and do things they otherwise wouldn't under the influence of willfully imbibed chemicals, does that provide sufficient cause for rape? If a woman is passed out and cannot response/resist, then I'd say probably yes, provided there aren't any extenuating circumstances.

- Claiming rape as a tool. There are few things that can destroy someone's reputation more than alleged crimes, given the seemingly pervasive "guilty until proven innocent" mindset of society. There must be a balance that does not make people fear to come forward in the case of actual rape, and something that allows for significant punishment in the cases where people come forward and claim rape just to ruin someone else.

- Can men be raped by women? Most certainly. It boggles my mind that some people feel this is impossible. Men's bodies will involuntarily react in much the same way that a woman's does during rape.

- What about age limitations and statutory rape? What if an underage boy or girl provides a convincing fake ID to their partner and the sex is consensual? Is the of-age person still liable? I don't think so at all in the above situation. Even if it is a situation where one is underage and the other person doesn't ask for proof of age, I don't think it should be an automatic conviction. I've known people who've looked years beyond their age. And honestly I don't really think that asking for a person's ID or proof of age is really a reasonable thing to do before doing the nasty.

As for how to document laws that provide for such a balance, I honestly don't know. This seems to me that it would be something that would best be documented and handled by an experienced panel of legal experts.

/shrug

Edit - few edits