The Increasing Need to Reform Rape Laws

There is more than one type of rape believe it or not. According to (Article 7A NCGA) There is 1st Degree of Rape which is a person is guilty of rape if the person engages in vaginal intercourse with a victim who is under the age of 13

When asked to define the word rape, a number of responses may be given depending upon what country or state one lives in and if one is a male or female. According to Pandora’s Project.org, rape is defined as any sexual contact or penetration attained without consent; with physical force, intimidation, threat, trickery, or when the victim is mentally capacitated, physically or mentally impaired, asleep or unconscious; this includes due to voluntary or involuntary alcohol or drug consumption.

“Rape is unique. No other violent crime is so fraught with controversy, so enmeshed in dispute and in the politics of gender and sexuality… And within the domain of rape, the most highly charged area of debate concerns the issue of false allegations. For centuries, it has been asserted and assumed that women “cry rape,” that a large proportion of rape allegations are maliciously concocted for purposes of revenge or other motives.”

     Rape is a physical attack, not sex. Rape crisis counselors and researchers define rape as an act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon (Benedict 2). A woman is raped in this country every two minutes. Between 1996 &1999 7,787,00 rapes were reported. The

Twenty-eight states fall under the category of “true non-consent states”, where the prosecution is not required to show that the offender used “force or threats of force against the victim”, and the defendant can be convicted of a sex offense by showing that the victim did not consent (Decker, 2011). While the majority fall under the first category, nine states can be identified as “contradictory non-consent states”, where the prosecution must prove either “the use of forcible compulsion or a victim’s incapacity to consent”; according to Decker, “requiring force or a lack of capacity to consent” completely counteracts the point of having a non-consent provision (Decker, 2011). The third category, “force states”, includes states that do not have non-consent sex offenses. Although the initial impression is that the majority of states have adopted non-consent standards, it is misleading because the number of states that are true to that definition shrinks as the statutes are examined more concisely (Decker, 2011). With that being said, in addition to defining consent and force, the concept of “rape” has also been clarified and developed.

Rape can be defined as being unlawful and unconsented vaginal or anal penetration. The source of penetration varies and includes penetration by using the finger, penis, or objects and can be penetrated into the mouth or the anus. The American Heritage college dictionary definition of rape, page 740 is “a sexual act committed by force especially on a woman”.

Issue: “Rape” also referred to a sexual assault, under New South Wales Crimes Act 1900 is defined as ‘a person who inflicts grievous bodily harm on another person with intent to engage in sexual intercourse with that other person, or with a third person who is present or nearby, is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 17 years’.

Although the definition of rape is narrower than the definition of sexual assault, both terms are used interchangeably here. Rape is defined as penetration by body parts or objects, whereas sexual assault includes other unwanted sexual contact. In both cases, the contact is happens without the consent of the victim, even if they are incapacitated by drugs or alcohol (Gray, 2014).

Rape is a violent crime that involves forcing sexual acts on a person. Sexual assault is a serious problem and should be stopped. It can happen to anyone: no one is safe. Every one out of six Americans are raped each year. This includes men,women,and children. Some people believe that rape isn’t a prominent problem, but statistics show it occurs more frequently than we could ever imagine.

America has a proud history of being a country that has many different ethnicities and cultures living within its borders. But one of the most prevalent cultures is one that transcends race or country of origin, rape culture. The term used by modern day feminist and gender activist defines a culture which normalizes rape and sexual assaults because of the deeply rooted societal attitudes towards gender and sexuality. In a rape culture the instances of rape are accepted as everyday occurrences and even as the prerogative of men, resulting in the stigmatization and blame placing of rape victims. Although the phrase “rape culture” is relatively modern, the

Sexual violence is a significant social and cultural problem within America and all over the world. Within the United States nearly 1 in 5 women – or nearly 22 million – have been raped in their lifetimes. Arrest rates for sexual assault cases are low as they are hard to investigate because of the effects of the trauma itself. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, approximately 12% of the 283,200 annual rape or sexual assault victimizations from year 2005-2010 resulted in an arrest at the scene or during a follow-up investigation. Findings from the same survey revealed that more than one-third of women reported experiencing a sexual assault at some point during their lifetime. Within American society, rape constitutes an experience

I choose this topic because sexual assault is one of the most offensive crimes committed in our society. Not only is it a threat to the community, but it has a physically and psychologically effect on the victim in many ways. For the last couple of decades, sexual assault, rape, and child molestation has become the focal point of public concerns today. According to a 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year (Statistics, March 2010). The Department of Justice states that, “rape crimes have risen nearly three times as fast as the total crime rate”, although other studies have shown statistics that are in

The definition of rape has changed since 1927, with the new nationwide definition from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR), the Office of the Attorney General states that, “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” The definition or rape has not changed since 1927. In 2012, under this new definition, it gives a larger definition as to what facilitates the nature of rape, this includes men as well as women; notwithstanding the victims age of being unable to consent, including the victim’s mental capacity, or being in an incapacitated state due to ingestion of drugs or alcohol (U.S. Department of Justice, 2014). According, to the 2015, Criminal Victimization Report, reports that the rate of

Rape is an extremely controversial issue and this notion is supported based on the fact that basic definitions and explanations of rape usually directly correlate with a state's lawful definition of rape. This proves problematic as many people's explanations and definitions of rape are quite different to that of the law. Social science theorists argue that rape is a learned action with which society plays a crucial role, Ellis (1989). Based on this theory it seems only logical to propose that there

Rape, or forcible sexual intercourse without consent from both parties, may involve physical violence, threats, and verbal abuse to intimidate and violate one person's body. Rape is considered a federal offense in the Western world. A perpetrator committed in the act of forcible intercourse is known as a rapist. According to the American Medical Association, rape