NCJ Number
100541
Journal
Canadian Criminology Forum Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1985) Pages: 117-127
Date Published
1985
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Canada's new sexual assault law (1983) may increase the number of sexual assaults reported by victims and the number of convictions obtained by the courts, but it will not reduce the number of sexual assaults because it fails to address the root causes of sexual assault.
Abstract
The sexual assault law is intended to make case processing less distasteful for victims, emphasize the violent rather than the sexual character of the offense, make husbands culpable for the sexual assault of their wives, eliminate the need for an immediate victim complaint, and prevent judges from instructing juries against convicting only on the victim's evidence. While the law may increase numbers of sexual assaults reported as victims become less fearful of exposure to the criminal justice system, and the number of convictions may increase, it does not ensure that fewer women will be sexually assaulted. The law cannot address society's conditioning of male aggression against women, particularly sexual coercion.