Echidne had a post regarding the trend of judges banning the word "rape" from rape trials.
It’s the only way Tory Bowen knows to honestly describe what happened to her.
She was raped.
But a judge prohibited her from uttering the word “rape” in front of a jury. The term “sexual assault” also was taboo, and Bowen could not refer to herself as a victim or use the word “assailant” to describe the man who allegedly raped her.
The defendant’s presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial trumps Bowen’s right of free speech, said the Lincoln, Neb., judge who issued the order.
“It shouldn’t be up to a judge to tell me whether or not I was raped,” Bowen said. “I should be able to tell the jury in my own words what happened to me.”
Bowen’s case is part of what some prosecutors and victim advocates see as a national trend in sexual assault cases.
“It’s a topic that’s coming up more and more,” said Joshua Marquis, an Oregon prosecutor and a vice president of the National District Attorneys Association. “You’re moving away from what a criminal trial is really about.”
There are lots of problems with using the word "rape" as opposed to, say, "theft," "stealing," or even "assault." Perhaps part of the reason judges are loathe to allow the word "rape" in a case stems from the heavy connotations that word implies. It's far more violent and compelling when a woman (for it usually is a woman) says she was "raped" versus "sexually assaulted." That's a problem one doesn't really come across in other types of criminal cases. You don't have to say someone beat the crap out of you to get the idea across. Rape is a unique crime this way.
Echidne asks why "avoiding prejudice in the case" equals presenting only the case of the defense. There are long-winded lawyerly explanations, but what it boils down to is that our legal system bends over backwards to protect defendants, even over victims. We could argue about the fairness of that approach, but given the number of innocent people wrongly convicted of rape, I'm not sure that we shouldn't be leaning in the defendant's favor.
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