INTRO SENTENCE
The canadian laws surrounding Rape are incredibly vague, and leave room for victim-blaming, unfounding cases and using the wrong “tier” of sexual assault to describe the case, leading women to drop the cases or not reporting them at all.
SWITCH
Victim-blaming is one of the main reasons women who were sexually assaulted do not come forward. Victim-blaming is the process in which a victim is held partly or sometimes entirely responsible for what happened to them. This leads women to become afraid of coming forward, as many may feel that they are being judged or blamed, which leaves rapists and assaulters free to continue their regular lives even after committing such a crime. Until 1983, a woman’s word was not even enough for
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The report had to have a witness, and had to come in immediately following the assault. Once women began standing up for their rights, sexual assault laws began to see changes. (Makin, Kirk. "How Canada's Sex-assault Laws Violate Rape Victims." The Globe and Mail) Yet, we still have many issues surrounding victim-blaming and woman being afraid to come forward. The most used targets for victim-blaming are clothing, sexual history and/or location where the assault occurred. This is most evident in the court system by the Rape Shield laws. In 1991, the department of Justice changed the sexual assault evidence code section, so that if necessary, the defendants may provide reasons to the judge as to why they believe that the sexual history of a woman is important in the case. If it is allowed, a woman must go to court and be confronted with their sexual history. (Sheehy, Elizabeth. "Sexual Assault Law in Canada: What Women Need to Know." …show more content…
[Sexual Assault. Sexuality and U. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC)] However, the women that do come forward with their sexual assault accusations face many troubles as well. In some instances, if a woman goes to the police and they do not believe her, they may dismiss her report and do nothing about it. This is called “Unfounding”. In 2007, Blair Crew, a criminal lawyer in Ottawa, wrote, “A request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act3 filed in 2008 revealed that, in Ottawa, between 2002 and 2007, 914 of the reported 2,817 sexual assaults, or 32.45 per cent, were cleared by the police as being “unfounded.” (...) In contrast, only 797 of 23,221, or 3.43 per cent, of non-sexual assaults and 400 of 16,747, or 2.39 per cent, of all property crimes reported in the same period were cleared by the Ottawa police as being unfounded. Overall, women in Ottawa were being told that their report of a sexual assault was fabricated at a rate that was more than ten times greater than for any other crime.” (Sheehy, Elizabeth A., ed. "Sexual Assault in Canada:Law, Legal Practice and Women’s Activism.") In the event that the police do believe the woman who comes forward, they will lay charges against the accused. However, this does not always lead to a guilty verdict, or a fair
The trial of 19 year old Owen Laurie has brought into light the alarming rate in which Sexual assault is rising. The issue that rages on in Colleges is said to be making its way to high schools and primary school. In a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Violence Prevention, 19% of Undergraduate women experienced
Violence has become prevalent within society; it is something the western world has learned to accept. With every minute that passes Canadians come face to face with certain acts of violence they may not have previously encountered (citation). Although, violence is not a subject that one can escape, women and children have unfortunately become the prime victims of violent acts. The media glorifies violence in other countries around the world it fails to address the presence of violence within Canada. Although violence is usually associated with gangs and guns, Canada experiences more violence related to bullying, sexual, verbal, cyber and domestic abuse (citation). Amidst the changing societal views towards treating women equally and eliminating objectification, of all these types of violence and abuse in our society, the most common still happens to be domestic abuse, which is mainly targeted at women and affects children. Domestic abuse is described as a form of abuse that takes place in the confines of the household (Citation). Though 51% of Canadians have said to have experienced or witnessed domestic abuse only 20% of those cases related to domestic violence are ever reported (citation). Domestic abuse has become more prevalent in modern society; however, it is an issue that is left un-noticed simply because its effects are invisible outside the walls of ones home. In reality the effects of domestic violence have severe negative effects on women, children and the social structure of today’s society. Without any notification of domestic violence the re precautions of this abuse can be dire. When an individual thinks of domestic abuse, their ideas quickly relate back to women, simply because women are the usual and most common victims of domestic violence. And therefore is an issue that must be resolved rather than ignored.
Gender is predominating in the criminal justice system and sexual assault exemplifies the contrast found between the traditional and non-traditional justice systems employed over time. Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in 43400 victims across Australia and 13300 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the recent Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report. (ABS 2011, p. 40) There has also been an increase of sexual assault by 51% since 1995 with an average of 4% every year. (ABS 2010) Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one...
Sexual assault is the act of sexual intercourse without consent of the other person according to New South Wales Consolidation Act of 1900 (Austlii 2011) and is also described by the Australian Standard Offence Classification as ‘non-consensual’ acts or intents of sexual nature (ASOC 2008, p. 31) has become one of the most predominate crimes creating social harm in Australia. Social harm is defined as the negative influence through consequences impacting from the individual to the living conditions of the surrounding public (Cain & Howe 2008, p. 26). Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in the 9000 victims across Australia and 1900 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report (ABS 2011, p. 40). This is supported by the victimization rate of all sexually assaulted victims between ages 10 to 14 being 4 times greater than all the other age groups (ABS 2010). Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one of the lowest prosecution rates with only 1 in 10 incidents able to prosecute the offender as guilty (Fitzgerald 2006, Pg. 1). The abundance of statistics and reports conducted all imply that sexual assault is still a predominate issue of crime within Australia.
According to RAINN, (2009) approximately 10 per cent of all victims of sexual assault and abuse are adult and juvenile males. In terms of the nature of assault, real figures include a compendium of reported incidents ranging from unwanted sexual touching to forced penetration. To qualify this statement, it must be understood that the percentage does not reflect a vast number of crimes that go unreported due to issues that will be discussed in the present paper.
When the victim does not fit the ideal victim attributes which society has familiarised themselves with, it can cause complications and confusion. Experts have noticed there is already a significant presence of victim blaming, especially for cases involving both genders. The fear of being blamed and rejected by the public is prominent in all victims. Victim blaming proclaims the victim also played a role in the crime by allowing the crime to occur through their actions (Kilmartin and Allison, 2017, p.21). Agarin (2014, p.173) underlines the problem of victim blaming is due to the mass of social problems and misconceptions within society. The offender can have “an edge in court of public opinion” if victim blaming exists, resulting in the prevention of the case accomplishing an effective deduction in court (Humphries, 2009, p.27). Thus, victims will become more reluctant to report offences because of their decrease in trust in the police and criminal justice system, leading to the dark figure of
In the single year of 2009, there were 460,000 reported incidents of sexual assault against women in Canada (“Criminal Victimization in Canada” 1). Amnesty International once stated that aggression against women “is so deeply embedded in society that it often fails to garner public censure and outrage.” This is evidenced by the fact that only roughly 10% of all sexual assaults are revealed, and to exacerbate the circumstances, women are frequently repudiated, blamed, and dispensed apathetic or cruel manipulation (“Violence Against Women Information” 1). Women’s rights are constantly defiled through domestic violence, and yet it is still abounding and ubiquitous in developed countries. Indeed, every six days, a woman in Canada is brutally killed by the one whom she considered her loving male partner. With every year that passes, approximately 362,000 children are witness to violent parental episodes in Canada. Witnessing violence can disturb the development of children and can eventuate in
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "when crimes are not reported to the police, victims may not be able to obtain necessary services to cope with the victimization, and offenders may go unpunished." The U.S. Department of Justice Office states that, in order for victims to obtain the necessary services they need, they have to disclose the incident and seek help. Methods My first source, Why Sexual Assault Victims Delay Presenting at Hospitals, was constructed from sexual assault cases presented at the hospital from January 2005 to December 2008; those records were collected from the sexual assault service center. There were 534 records collected and used during the study, 466 were females, and 68 were men.
Rape victims are not always physically beaten to support corroborating evidence, especially, in cases where the date rape drug is concerned. Therefore, the corroboration rule is destructive to the victim and renders no remedy if the victim has no evidence to corroborate her testimony. Some courts have contended that other criminal cases do not require corroborating evidence and rape cases should not be any different. J.F. Decker & P. G. Baroni, 7, (2011).
in themselves cannot harm the interest of the individual . The provisions on rape were, e.g. recast as "sexual assault". In Canada, a reform of this type was introduced, stating that "the very use of the word" rape "imposes a deep moral stigma on the victims and expresses an essentially irrational folklore about them" .The term "sexual assault" was perceived as not being imbued with the same level of stigma. One could say that the word "rape" is also linked to some stereotyped notions, for example that rape is an attack by a stranger and that the use of harsh physical force is a necessary element, which makes the court more reluctant to convict the accused . Many jurisdictions have now reconsidered the recasting of rape in terms of sexual
Rape and sexual violence is a very serious problem that affects millions of people each year. Rape is someone taking advantage of another person sexually. Sexual assault can be verbal, physical, visual, or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention. ("Sexual Assault.") Rape is one of the most underreported crimes. In 2002, only thirty-nine percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law officials. ("Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet.") Victims sometimes do not report that they have raped because of shame or feeling that it was their fault. It is never the victim's fault. "Victim blaming" is holding the victim of a crime to be in a whole or in partly responsible for what had happened to them. Most victims believe this. ("Myths and Facts about Sexual Violence.")
Another issue that is raised in modern research is the treatment of rape victims throughout the court procedures. Upon many occasions it has been evident that the defence target the victim and through the use of positivist ideologies such as victim precipitation and victim proneness, blame the victim for the
When the topic of rape and sexual assault comes up in conversation, many people truly feel a strong sense of empathy for the victim, yet many others criminalize the victim for how they got into the assault. Why does our society continue to persecute a victim? For the only ones who should be using victim precipitation in a harsher fashion, are those investigating the crime in of itself. Rape culture has become a natural part of our society and the most powerful part of this “culture,” is victim blaming. Yes, there are two sides to this issue, but whether the victim was truly raped or not, it does not matter for there needs to be a balance.
Victim blaming takes place at school, at work, and in many more places that we visit in our daily lives. Victim blaming takes place in dress code rules whether it be at work or at school. Mikki Kendall from the Washing Post stated, “ The idea that clothing has anything to do with assault is a global persistent.” The Supreme Court of Appeals in Rome ruled that women should just wear jeans so that they couldn’t be raped because they said that a rapist couldn’t forcibly remove a pair of pants. “Police question victims of sexual assault about what they were wearing, as though the length of their skirt is an indication of consent” (“The Washington Post”
Assigning blame has become an increasingly difficult and complex concept to understand, especially in our legal court system. I associate blame with being held responsible for the consequences of one’s intentional actions. In regards to sexual assault cases, I think the blame should not be placed on the victims, but rather on the perpetrators. Victim blaming justifies the perpetrator’s actions, discourages sexual assault reportings, and can have psychological effects on the victim.