Rape Reforms in the United States

Rape Legal History of Rape In the United States Legal Reforms

Introduction to Rape Reforms

In the 1970s most states began to change their laws concerning rape. Many states redefined rape and eliminated some of the common law doctrines and their biases against victims. Beginning with Massachusetts in 1968 and Tennessee in 1971, most states have ended the requirement-usually extremely difficult to meet-that a complainant, or alleged rape victim, produce corroborating evidence to the crime. Some states have passed laws enabling males to press charges of sexual assault.

Another important legal reform was the enactment of rape shield laws. Rape shield laws strictly limit the ways in which defense attorneys can question the complainant about her general sexual conduct. Proponents of shield laws argued that such questioning was used in trials, often unfairly, to insinuate that the accuser probably had consented to having sex. The shield laws emphasize the rights of the complainants rather than those of the accused rapists. Some critics argue that the new laws can more easily lead to the conviction of an innocent person.

Following the English model, some U.S. states punished rape as a capital offense. However, a 1977 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States ruled this practice unconstitutional. Today state statutes typically provide for a substantial number of years of imprisonment, including life imprisonment, for persons convicted of rape. In 1997 Montana adopted a law authorizing the death penalty as punishment for a second conviction of rape involving serious bodily injury. Whether this law is constitutional in light of the Supreme Court’s earlier decision has not yet been addressed.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Rape Reforms in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Rape Reforms