Jurors See Drinking Victims As Partially Responsible Juries are less likely to return guilty verdicts against men accused of rape if the victim was drunk at the time, even if the intoxication was involuntary, according to a new study by the British Economic and Social Research Council.
Researchers found that jurors often consider it "reasonable" for a man to assume that silence represented sexual consent. The surprising finding of the study was that jurors considered silence consent even when that silence was due to woman being totally intoxicated.
Because it is illegal for actual jurors to be interviewed in England, researchers used mock trials and juries to conduct their research. According to a news release, these are the main findings of their study:
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 behavior 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.
"These findings reflect the hold that gender stereotypes still haveThey suggest that 'rape myths' can have a profound influence upon jurors," said study author Vanessa Monro. "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."
Remember the little drunk girl in my cruise pics .....
No one was feeding her booze .... she came in drunk and got drunker while she was there ....
When asked the next morning how she got back to her cabin .... she had no clue where she spent the night ... or with who .... but she did remove parts of clothing right there in the bar .....
My guess is she may have one big surprise in about nine months ....
My point is .... Maybe what juries are trying to say is that a women (also a man) has a responsibility to herself to not get so drunk as to allow this to happen.
Bear in mind I'm not saying preying on a person in this state is cool .... I just don't believe it's the governments responsibility to protect us from every stupid mistake we make ...
That is another reason why I choose NOT to drink. I choose NOT to drink heavily because it has a reverse effect on me. I will get sleepy after one drink.
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"Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game"
