New Rape Crisis Scotland campaign - speaks for itself really…
The new campaign comes in response to an evaluation report on whether questioning practices had changed since barristers had to request permission to question on prior sexual experiences.
In coming to a decision on whether or not the evidence should be admitted, the judge or sheriff should only admit the evidence if he or she is satisfied that it is relevant to whether the accused is guilty of the offence, and the probative value of the evidence is significant and is likely to outweigh any risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice….
The research found that applications to introduce this type of evidence in 72% of cases. Only 7% of applications were rejected. In most cases, the Crown did not object to defence applications.
From Rape Crisis Scotland
Posted by Louise Livesey on 4 March 2008, at 4:21 PM | Comments (3)
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Feeds
Lily said:
I especially like the image of Justice covering her eyes in shame... exactly what I feel like when I read things like the cited report. I hope people take notice of this campaign - hardly anyone I've spoken to knows that this kind of thing goes on inside courtrooms.
On a design note though, perhaps they shouldn't have marked the statement at the bottom "A" as this kind of makes it look like answer a) is the 'correct' one in each poster. Not a big criticism, I know, but relevant I think, since these are meant to be impactful upon first glance.
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 6:38 PM
Mwezzi said:
I was speaking to a friend studying law recently, and he told me that up here in bonny Scotland, due to a strange technicality in the law that I hope is now ignored, up for review or defunct, a woman cannot rape a man, a man isn't raping a woman if he penetrates her anally, orally or with a foreign object, and homosexual rape is impossible. How? Because rape is legally defined as a man penetrating a woman's vagina with his penis. Presumably, everything else outside this narrow definition is merely sexual assault.
Bizarre. I hope that gets changed - I'm looking into it more.
Posted on 04 March 2008 at 11:00 PM
Jules said:
Doesn't it just make you lose faith not only in justice but humanity?
I am sick to death of arguing this over and over and over again with blinkered guys... and then being told that I am somehow betraying a fraternity or brotherhood about this.
I am betraying no one save maybe the patriarchy (like I care about THAT) when I say yes, Rape should be treated differently by the law. Men should be treated like they are guilty until proven innocent. Get them on the stand and get them to justify their sexual past. Look through their internet records at the porn they look at. Parade a long list of ex girlfriends past the jury and ask them pointless and irrelevant questions. Smear their characters "Did you or did you not wolf whistle at a woman in the street on such and such a day? Yes or no." "Yes, but..." "And you're expecting members of the jury to believe that you are not a sexually deviant pervert?"
For f**ks sake, why are we treating the victims like criminals?
check out http://kalmartheband.blogspot.com for a more in depth analysis of this and John Yates's panning of the way the police and justice system routinely mess up the handling and prosecution of rape cases.
Posted on 05 March 2008 at 2:31 AM