Sexual History Evidence And The Rape Trial

Joanne Conaghan is Professor of Law at the University of Bristol.Yvette Russell is Associate Professor in Law and Feminist Theory at the University of Bristol.

• Table of CasesTable of StatutesNotes on AuthorsAcknowledgements1. Introduction: Setting the Scene2. A History of Rape Law in Action3. Emergence of a Legal Regime Governing the Use of Sexual History Evidence4. Legal Regulation: Limits and Potentialities5. Tracking the Use of Sexual History Evidence in the Courtroom6. The Relevance of Sexual History Evidence7. Sexual History Evidence and Subjectivity8. Conclusion: What Is To Be Done About Sexual History Evidence?ReferencesIndex

"Can women count on law? When women complain of violent sexual crime, can they expect to be properly heard as rational legal subjects? This book shows how and why medieval male mythology about women’s sexuality, credibility and mendacity still make its way into the modern criminal court room, especially the rape trial. This book is a powerful, even devastating, critique of criminal justice as women experience it." Ngaire Naffine, The University of Adelaide