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In Rape Cases In Which Alcohol Is Involved, Juries Reluctant To Convict

12 Dec 2006   

With the Christmas party season upon us changes in the law that were supposed 
to make it easier to convict men of rape might not result in more convictions 
in cases in which the woman was drunk, according to new research funded by 
the Economic and Social Research Council. 

Under the current law in England and Wales, rape can only be established if 
it can be demonstrated that sexual intercourse took place to which there was 
no consent and that the defendant lacked a reasonable belief that such 
consent had been given. The 2003 Sexual Offences Act changed the criteria for 
the defendant believing he had consent from being a view he 'honestly' held 
to one that was 'reasonable' for him to hold - this was intended to ensure 
that defendants were held to a higher level of responsibility. 

However, researchers have found that jurors often took the view that it was 
'reasonable' for a man to assume that silence represented sexual consent, 
even if the silence was due to the fact that the woman was totally 
intoxicated. 

Because it is unlawful to conduct research with real juries, researchers, 
Emily Finch and Vanessa Munro, used trial and jury room simulations to find 
out how the legislation was working. 

Their other main findings were: 

* In situations where the woman had become involuntary drunk, many jurors 
continued to hold her partially responsible for what took place - either 
because she accepted drinks from the defendant, failed to stand her ground 
against pressure to drink more or did not take adequate care to ensure that 
her drinks were not 'spiked' (by either extra alcohol or drugs) 

* Even when a woman had unknowingly drunk spiked drinks, juries were 
reluctant to convict defendants of rape unless they were convinced that the 
drink had been spiked with the specific intention of sexual assault, as 
opposed to 'loosening up' a reluctant partner. 

* It also emerged that jurors were less inclined to equate 'taking advantage' 
of a drunken women with rape in situations in which the woman's normal 
behaviour was to drink heavily in the company of men 

* By contrast, in cases where the date rape drug - Rohypnol - had been used, 
jurors were more inclined to hold the defendant responsible for rape, even 
though the effect of the drug on the woman was the same as if she were very 
drunk. 

Vanessa Munro of King's College London, commenting on the findings said: 

"These findings reflect the hold that gender stereotypes still have. They 
suggest that 'rape myths' can have a profound influence upon jurors. In cases 
in which the evidence suggests clear links between excessive alcohol 
consumption and sexual assault, these findings suggest that more needs to be 
done at both legal level and in society as a whole, to secure justice for 
victims of rape."

### 

1. The research "From Sobriety to Stupefaction: Intoxication and Jury 
Decision-Making in Rape Trials" was funded by the Economic and Social 
Research Council (ESRC). It was undertaken by Dr. Emily Finch and Dr. Vanessa 
Munro and was largely carried out at the University of Reading. Dr Finch is 
now based at the University of East Anglia and Dr Munro is at Kings College, 
University of London. 

2. Methodology: Because of the Contempt of Court Act it remains unlawful to 
interview jurors about what happened inside the jury room; hence the 
researchers designed an alternative methodology for investigating this 
problem. The findings are based on seven scripted mini-trial scenarios, based 
on the observation of actual rape trials, and written in consultation with 
legal experts and practitioners. The trials (which lasted approximately 75 
minutes) were played out in real-time in front of an audience of mock jurors, 
with actors playing the roles of victim, defendant, prosecution witness and 
defence witness, and with trained barristers performing examinations and 
cross-examinations. Each trial was observed simultaneously by three juries, 
recruited via advertisements in the local press and radio. Having observed 
the trial unfold, each jury was led to a room and advised that they had 90 
minutes in which to deliberate upon and reach a common verdict. These 
deliberations were recorded and then analysed. 

3. The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate 
training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, 
high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and 
Government. The ESRC's planned total expenditure in 2006-07 is £169 million. 
At any one time the ESRC At any time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers 
and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy 
institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ ;

4. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science 
research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves 
users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research 
(formerly accessible via the Regard website) and key online resources such as 
the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC 
resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The 
portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as 
full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More 
at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ ;

5. The ESRC confirms the quality of its funded research by evaluating 
research projects through a process of peer review. This research has been 
graded as 'outstanding'. 

Contact: Annika Howard 
Economic & Social Research Council <http://www.esrc.ac.uk/>  

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=58419