NCJ Number
152640
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 30 Issue: 6 Dated: (November-December 1994) Pages: 499-517
Date Published
1994
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article examines criminal laws and cases in the United States and Great Britain to determine the theoretical legitimacy of the concept of counselor rape.
Abstract
Either a direct statutory provision or indirect judicial construction prohibits therapist-patient sex in at least 12 United States jurisdiction and Great Britain. Some jurisdictions have criminalized certain circumstances of intercourse, regardless of consent, apart from traditional incompetence or underage situations. Other jurisdictions have made intercourse between a counselor and the client a sex offense. To regard it as rape, it should match the criminal law's analytical view of coercive sexual intercourse. Focusing on laws and cases from the perspective of criminal rape theory, the analysis concludes that the laws present a logically coherent approach to both consent theory and the defendant's mens rea and that the circumstances of therapist-client sex support the criminalization of this intercourse. Footnotes (Author abstract modified)