NCJ Number
115664
Journal
American Journal of Community Psychology Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: (August 1988) Pages: 503-513
Date Published
1988
Length
14 pages
Annotation
In 1983, Canada passed a new law in which the offenses of rape and indecent assault were replaced by the new offense of sexual assault to facilitate victim reporting of rape to the police and to reduce the burden of proof on the victim.
Abstract
To evaluate empirically the qualitative experiences of victims, the questions asked of victims in 15 sexual and physical assault cases in 1984-1985 were coded by courtroom observers. Both types of cases were undercharged in terms of the severity of the offense. Both types of victims were subjected to negatively toned questions by the defense which served to discredit them or to treat them in an actively disrespectful way. This was not offset by prosecution questioning, which was almost exclusively neutral in tone. Prosecution questions were for information in both types of cases, while the defense put more emphasis on noninformation questions (e.g., witness credibility, past history, corroboration, and consent), particularly in sexual assault cases. The combined effect of both prosecution and defense lines of questioning was to put victims under considerable personal attack, blame them for their victimization, and require them to present emotional testimony to establish their credibility. Finally, guilty verdicts were delivered in only 25 percent of sexual assault cases as compared to 75 percent of physical assault cases. Results suggest that the new law has not had its intended effect of reducing the burdens placed on the victim. 5 tables and 12 references.