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Partner Rape Justice
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Since historical times, women were considered the property of their husbands, who could rape them as they saw fit with legal immunity. The fact that marital rape has only become criminal in the Western world fairly recently shows that this attitude has little changed. While marital rape is against the law in some places, it is really only in theory rather than practice. Judges still exonerate the partner rapist, turning rape by ex-partners into crimes of passion. The comments of Justice Derek Bollen in the last decade, who said that "rougher than usual handling" was an acceptable way to persuade a wife into intercourse (even though the "rougher than usual handling" involved forced anal interourse and the insertion of a bottle into the victim's vagina), spoke volumes about the legal view of partner rape. The other tack taken legally is that partner rape does not have the "added horror" of stranger rape.
If women are to properly claim the right to safety, this must change.
 7/06/06
UK: Partner Rapists should be treated with the same seriousness as random attackers
(Thanks to Stefka from Over the Rainbow for the following)
Proposals from the Sentencing Guidelines Council set out detailed instructions to judges on how to sentence of sex crimes. The guidelines state that "acquaintance rape" and "relationship rape" should be treated no less seriously than attacks by strangers.
Please see the following two articles and be careful of the silly comments that follow the first one:
16 Nov 2005
Mexico: Marital Rape is Now a Crime http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16631485.htm
Source: Reuters MEXICO CITY, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that forced sexual relations within marriage constitutes rape, making it a crime throughout the country for the first time. Laws are already on the books in some states in Mexico and in Mexico City establishing the crime of rape within marriage but the unanimous ruling now makes it illegal anywhere in Mexico. "The judges concluded that when one of the partners obtains copulation through violent means -- whether physical or moral -- it constitutes the crime of rape," the high court said in a statement. In 1994, the court ruled that forced relations represented the "improper exercise" of the right under marriage to have sexual relations but it was not deemed a crime.  |
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