03-27-2021, 07:49 PM
(03-27-2021, 10:51 AM)fredtoast Wrote: It is simple when the victim is unconscious. That is obviously rape.
It is simple when the victim is drugged without knowing it.
But what if a woman makes her own decision to get drunk and then agrees to have sex with you? That is where the law gets tricky. Should you be charged with rape when the victim agreed to have sex?
It's definitely difficult. I deal with these cases for my university and we often find students "not responsible" because of this sort of issue, and we're using a preponderance level rather than beyond-a-reasonable-doubt. We ask a lot of questions related to what the responding party (the suspect) saw. Did they see the reporting party (victim) drinking? How much? Did they observe outward signs of intoxication? Could they have reasonably known the reporting party was inebriated to the point where consent could not be given?
That's a lot to figure out and we fall short on saying yes to all of those more often than not. All of that being said, just because a reporting party chose to drink or chose to do drugs, that doesn't mean they consented to sexual activity. Consent for one action does not, and should not, equal consent for another, separate action.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
