NCJ Number
102621
Date Published
1984
Length
212 pages
Annotation
This review of Canada's criminal law on sexual assault considers the historical and constitutional settings for the law, the law's provisions, evidence, the trial process, and sentencing.
Abstract
The concept of sexual assault was included in Canadian criminal law in January 1983, largely because of impediments to the reporting of and conviction for rape as defined under previous law. Sexual assault, as defined under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, does not require that sexual penetration occur as was required under the rape offense, but that force or the threat of force be used to have some form of sexual contact with the victim. Types of sexual assault parallel the types of general assault, but the penalties for sexual assault are more severe. Sexual assault offenses are gender neutral in that a person of either sex can commit sexual assault on another person of either sex. Sexual assault by a spouse is also possible under the new law, which was not the case under the old rape law. In discussing the law's provisions, this book details its application to various forms of child sexual abuse. The concluding section considers pretrial matters such as the labeling of an incident as a sexual assault by the victim, police, and prosecutor, the decision to prosecute, and the significance of plea bargaining. In discussing the trial itself, the issues covered include the questioning of complainants about their sexual histories and corroboration. The book concludes with a discussion of sentencing under the new sexual assault law. Subject index and chapter footnotes.