Reference no: EM133812289

Question

Depending on what side of the law you are on you will look at and possibly use the sexual, relationship and drug history of a person in the accusations of a rape case. If you are the defense trying to get your client off just like the woman in the video you, you might argue she was under the influence and not aware of what was going on or what she consented to and if you are the prosecution you are arguing that even if she was there to buy drugs that does not give anyone the right to violate her. I do not believe that using relationships, number of partners or prior substance abuse should be used to negate the fact that a person was raped. People often forget that men can be the victims of rape as well and it definitely gets reported at an even lower percentage as when women are sexually assaulted. Again when you mention and look at history it helps to paint a picture, depending on who's holding the brush nothing is sheltered or hidden. People dig through your entire life no matter what side you are on in a court case. Things that are irrelevant to the case should be sheltered. Why would a fight and arrest I had 5 years ago be a factor in me being raped today? If the person I was accusing was related to or friends with that person from five years ago then maybe it would be something that could be brought in but it depends on the situation still. As I've gone through different criminal justice classes we have talked about the way the system works and how different things can influence not only the amount of time a perpetrator might get but what can affect whether or not a case is even investigated, taken seriously or handled with the same thoroughness. The race of the victim and the race of the perpetrator definitely matters. The sex or social classes of the people involved in the case matter and even the location matters. If you have a man reporting a woman how believable is that and are people able to put aside their biases if it was a man reporting another man? In the clip they discussed why she was in that area, what she was doing there and even who she was as a person. The attorney even told her that because of who she was, her choosing to testify or not testify mattered for other women and their willingness to report or come forward if they are raped. I'm sure we are all familiar with the Central Park Five and what happened in that case. Would there have been that same coverage and spotlight on the case if the victim was a minority and the group of young men were from a prominent family attending a prestigious university. Would there have been that same sense of urgency to lock those young men up?