Justice for whom? Rape victims assess the legal-judicial system

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Legally, rape is a Here, present the victim's criminal offense in which a man forces some form of non-consensual legal-judicial personnel. sex relations on a woman. Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics indicate 67,000 officially reported rape victims in the United States in 1978. Since rape is under-reported a t about one quarter of the actual incidents, we may assume some 268,000 victims in 1978. In the last decade increased  attention was directed to the rape problem, partly due to the adoption of rape as a feminist cause, but it coincides with a growing sense of cynicism about the legal judicial system. After the decade of the 1960's, replete with social conscience and social activism, came the revelation of the Watergate crimes, which alarmed social critics and substantiated the questions on the pragmatic reality of "equal treatment under the law." Perhaps more than any other crime, rape confronts us with the di lemma of inequality, both racial and sexual. As to racial inequality, there is ample evidence that the accusation of rape has served as a tool of racial oppression to keep minority males, and particularly black males in "their place" (Brownmiller 1975; Mann & Selva 1978; Williams 1979). Literature from the women's movement concentrates on sexual inequality where rape is viewed as a means of social control to keep women in "their place" subordinate to all men (Griffin 1971; Weis & Borges 1973; Medea & Thompson 1974; Reynolds 1974). • Beyond these theoretical perspectives on inequality lies the stereotypic view of the rape victim and the treatment she receives from police officers, attorneys and judges. The media have presented a sensational scenario to stress the Negative aspects of legal-judicial handling of a rape victim's complaint. Whether this inspires advocacy toward change or simply frightens women so that they hesitate to report a rape is unknown.