\T FEDERAL RAPE LAW REFORM
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If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. ~ . ~' .. \t FEDERAL RAPE LAW REFORM HEARINGS BEFORE'i'HE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE OF THE OOj\fMITTEE ON THE JUDIOIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTA.TIVES NINETY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON FEDERAL RAPE LAW REFORM GUST 31 AND SEPTEMBER 12, 1984 Serial No. 162 ~ '-~ i for the us~_, o~ theJ,committee on the Judiciary ~ u.s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1986 44-361 0 - 86 - 1 - .... ",.. t::.".- COMMITl'EE ON THE JUDICIARY PETER W. RODINO, JR., New Jersey, Chairman JACK BROOKS, Texas HAMILTON FISH, JR., New York ROBERT W. KASTENMEIER, Wisconsin CARLOS J. MOORHEAD, California DON EDWARDS, California HENRY J. HYDE, !llinois JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan THOMAS N. KINDNESS, Ohio JOHN F. SEPlERLING, Ohio HAROLD S. SAWYER, Michigan ROMANO L. MAZZOLI, Kentucky DAN LUNGREN, California WILLIAM J. HUGHES, New Jersey F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., SAM B. HALL. JR., Texas Wisconsin MIKE SYNAR, Oklahoma BILL McCOLLUM, Florida PATRICIA SCHROEDER, Colorado E. CLAY SHAW, JR., Florida DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas GEORGE W. GEKAS, Pennsylvania BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts MICHAEL DEWINE, Ohio GEO. W. CROCKETT, JR., Michigan CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York BRUCE A. MORRISON, Connecticut EDWARD F. FEIGHAN, Ohio LAWRENCE J. SMITH, Florida HOWARD L. BERMAN, California FREDERICK C. BOUCHER, Virginia ALAN A. PARKER, General Counsel GARNER J. CLINE, Staff Director ALAN F. COFFEY, Jr., Associate Counsel SUBCOMMI'ITEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan, Chairman DON EDWARDS, California GEORGE W. GEKAS, Pennsylvania JOHN F. SEIBERLING, Ohio BILL McCOLLUM, Florida HOWARD L. BERMAN, California MICHAEL DEWINE, Ohio FREDERICK C. BOUCHER, Virginia THOMAS W. HUTCHISON, Counsel MICHAEL E. WARD, Assistant Counsel GAIL E. BOWMAN, Assistant Counsel RAYMOND V. SMIETANKA, Assistant Counsel BENNIE B. WILLIAMS, Clerk ANNE 1. WEST, Clerk CHERYL D. REYNOLDS, Clerk (II) CON'rENTS HEARINGS HELD Page August 31, 1984 ............................................................................................................... , 1 September 12, 1984 .......................................................................................................... 65 WITNESSES Boyle. Hon. Patricia, justice, Michigan Supreme Court........................................... 11 Boyle, Terrence, chief, appellate,division ancl special services, Wayne County Prosecutor's Office ....................................................................................................... 11 Carr, Hon. Robert, a Representative in CongrHss from the State of Michigan.... 3 Prepared statement ................................................................................................. 9 Coady, Carol, Committee on Violence Against Women, National Organization for Women, on behalf of the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault ........ 98 Prepared statement ........................................ ;,....................................................... 107 Collier, S. Aesha, on behalf of the Women's Action Team Against Violence ...... 60 Cuza, Patricia, director, office of criminal justic\~, State of Michigan ................... 33 Prepared statement .......................................... ,...................................................... 37 Fiedler, Hon. Bobbi, a Representative in Congre~:s from the State of California 67 Prepared statement ............................................ ,.................................................... 82 Flaharty, Jane, community education coordinator, HAVEN, Pontiac, MI .......... 53 Harrison, Charlie J., Jr., State representative, Po.'1tiac, MI................................... 31 Holtzman, Hon. Elizabeth, district attorney, Kingll County, Ny .................... ,...... 83 Prepared statement ............................................... .................................................. 88 Hoyer, Hon. Steny, a Representative in Congress from the State of Maryland.. 67 Prepared statement ................................................................................................. 79 Martini, Lt. Audrey, commanding officer, sex crimes unit, Detroit Police Department .................................................................... ............................................... 40 Reynolds, Judy, legislative assistant to Michigan State Representative Mary Brown and a member of the Ingham County Commission on Women.............. 56 Prepared statement of Mary Brown .................................................................... 57 Toensing, Victoria, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice ........................................................................................ 91 Prepared statement ................................................................................................. 95 ADDITIONAL MATERIAl, McConnell, Robert, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs, letter to Hon. John Conyers, Jr., September 28, 1984 .......................................... 97 APPENDIX Bient'm, Leigh, prepared statement submitted for the record ................................. 113 (III) \,• NCJRSi • ~ \ SEP 15 1986 i 102524 U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points of view o. opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institute of Justice. Permission to reproduce this ~d material has been granted by Public Domain =-0'. S~_..B.0~~~ o:fB.epresentat1ves: to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permis sion of the'C!:7J'l'YT'i!:t owner FEDERAL RAPE LAW REFORM FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1984 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE, COMMIT'l'EE ON 'l'HE' JUDICIARY, Pontiac, MI. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:25 a.m., in Oak land County Commissioners chambers, Pontiac, MI, Hon. John Conyers, Jr. (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representative Conyers. Staff present: Thomas W. Hutchison, counsel. Mr. CONYERS. The Subcommittee on Criminal Justice will come to order. Good morning, I'm Congressman John Conyers, chairman of this subcommittee. We are meeting to hold hearings on H.R. 4876, the Sexual Assault Act. of 1984. I'm accompanied by the counsel for the subcommittee, Tom Hutchison. This is the first hearing on this legislation, which has been spon sored by my friend and distinguished colleague in the Congress, Representative Robert Carl', to reform the Federal rape statutes. The Federal rape laws date back to the 19th century, and the pur pose of the Carr bill is, frankly, to bring them into the 2'1th centu ry. There are basically three Federal rape statutes. The first simply makes it a Federal offense to commit rape. The second makes it an offense to assault someone with the intent to commit rape. These two provisions incorporate the common law definition of rape that requires that the prosecution show that the defendant had sexual intercourse with a woman forcibly and against her will. The third statute is what is commonly called a statutory rape provision, which makes it an offense for someone to carnally know a female, not his wife, who has not attained the age of 16 years. Thus, only a woman can be the victim of a Federal rape offense. Federal statutes do not proscribe homosexual rape. The common-law tradition from which the Federal statutes come is not particularly inspiring. The rape laws ostensibly existed to protect women from having unwanted, coerced, sexual intimacy, but the legal system seemed to be more concerned with protecting males from conviction than with protecting females from criminal ly injurious conduct. The notable exception is when the defendant was black and the victim was white. There the system worked with remarkable speed and vigor. The legal system's undue concern with protecting males is seen in doctrines concerning spousal exemption, utmost resistance, cor n} 2 rob oration , and evidence of the victim's character and reputation. All of these things have made it extremely complicated and diffi cult, and sometimes impossible, to obtain a conviction that might otherwise be readily arrived at. The spousal exemption doctrine held that a man could not ralle his wife no matter how brutally the act was carried out. The ra tionalization for this doctrine was that a woman, when she mar ried, gave continuing consent to sexual intercourse, and her con sent could be revoked only by having the marriage dissolved. This rationalization reflected a view of marriage entailing the husband's ownership of the wife. Rape was unique for being the only crime of violence for which marriage was a defense. The Federal law of rape, sad to say, prob ably incorporates this common-law doctrine. The doctrine of utmost resistance, at its most rigorous, required not only that the victim struggle with an intensity reflecting her physical capacity to resist the unwanted sexual intimacy, but also that her efforts not diminish at any time during the COUl'se of the offense. Such a doctrine served only to increase the risk of harm to vic tims, and Federal law fortunately seems to have avoided incorpo rating it. Federal law, likewise, seems to have avoided incorporating the corroboration requirement. At its most stringent, the doctrine re quired corroboration