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Rape Trials in England and Wales pp 1–20Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Introduction: Setting the Scene

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Abstract

In 2006, social activist Tarana Burke created #MeToo in order to raise awareness of sexual abuse amongst minority ethnic women, after being unable to say those words to a teenager disclosing sexual assault. Over ten years later in October 2017, a series of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein were suddenly taken seriously and led to revelations about several other high-profile men in entertainment and politics. What followed was an outpouring of women sharing their experiences, from everyday intrusions to rape and childhood sexual abuse, often under the Me Too hashtag. In a rise of conflicted and multiplicitous feelings, women created a sense of collective voice and the news headlines were filled with unprecedented recognition of the prevalence of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although her comments about the criminal justice experience were sidelined in favour of discussion about whether Judge Kushner was right to warn women on the risks of drinking when sentencing Clark’s rapist.

  2. 2.

    Some legal professionals argued there were fewer extraneous lines of enquiry because questions had to be agreed in advance. It is not clear whether this would remain true for adult witnesses without disability , as legal professionals already hone their questioning for the vulnerable witnesses involved here.

  3. 3.

    Although the focus on penile penetration means that only men can perpetrate rape, except as part of joint enterprise.

  4. 4.

    For example, if a survivor is too intoxicated to consent, then the accused committed an offence (SOA 2003 ). This does not mean that an offence occurs if a person freely consents to sex when intoxicated but would not have done otherwise.

  5. 5.

    The Act also set out two situations that, if shown to have occurred, would mean that reasonable belief in consent was impossible. These are that the accused pretended to be someone known to the victim, or lied about the purpose of the contact (SOA 2003 ).

  6. 6.

    Lees also accessed the transcripts of 20 acquaintance rape trials.

  7. 7.

    Although those survivors who were distressed were accused of pretending in order to make a false accusation, so it appeared that survivors were criticised regardless of their demeanour.

  8. 8.

    Corroboration warnings were judicial directions to the jury that warned against convicting on the basis of an unreliable witness’ testimony alone. They were not intended to imply that a third witness was always required or that false allegations were common, and they became discretionary in 1994.

  9. 9.

    Domestic violence contexts made up the majority of cases. While there are no up-to-date statistics about the proportion of trials featuring partner violence, Lovett, Uzelac, Horvath, and Kelly (2007) note that attrition is lower among domestic violence rapes once reported and so this may be representative of the cases reaching trial.

  10. 10.

    This would also avoid being at the whims of the listings office, as on one occasion I had to wait at the desk for over 45 minutes before anyone would acknowledge me, let alone provide information.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

    Olivia Smith

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Smith, O. (2018). Introduction: Setting the Scene. In: Rape Trials in England and Wales. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75674-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75674-5_1

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