What to Know about the

Legal System for Rape and

Statutory Rape

History of the Crime

Back 20 years ago, rape really wasnt reported because
Law enforcement didnt think rape was an actual thing
and made a mockery of the entire incident
Today however there have been differences with how Law
enforcement and the Courts handle these cases, there
have been an increase in people reporting these crimes,
due to new laws and more sympathy and more care is
happening

What are these crimes?

Rape is when sexual activity is happening without the
consent of the other party
Statutory Rape is when an adult has sexual activity with a
minor under a certain age depending on the state in which
the crime happened

Statute of Limitations
Statute of Limitations is a time limit to where Law
enforcement and the Courts (Prosecutors mainly) have to
solve a case
The time limit depends on how heinous the crime is for
example Robbery is about 3 to 5 years, meanwhile Murder
has no statute of limitations

Statute of Limitations
Controversy
People say that rape shouldnt have a statue of limitations
on the basis that it is infringing the victims right to justice
for the prosecution of the attacker
Although other people says that would do more harm than
good, because memory starts to fade and mix up details of
the assault
Therefore, the Courts wont risk putting an innocent
person to jail for the assault he/she didnt commit

Statutory Rape
In the state of Ohio, the statue of limitation on this crime is 20 years after
the minor turns 18 or 20 years after the minor reported the crime to the
Police
The statute length depends on what state the crime occurred, some states
have no statute meanwhile other states have a relatively short statute length
About 3 percent of cases are actually solved and have the defendant
convicted for Statutory Rape
The Felony charge is used if the adult is 3 or more years older, a
misdemeanor is used if the adult is 18 and the victim is 16 (used if the
consent age is 18 in some if not most states)

Rape of an Adult
The U.S. has made great improvements on enforcing rape
laws for women and children
The problem is under Title 42 under section 5106a Law
enforcement and the Prosecution cant get involved unless
there has been an incident
Another problem is that Male Rape is still not recognized
as to the level of women and children

Fake Rape
This is not illegal based on the premise that the
prosecution of an accuser would hinder future victims and
they would be afraid of reporting the assault
77 percent of women and 89 percent of men think that a
false allegation of rape should be a crime and that the
accuser should go to jail for this

New Laws Created

Rape Shield Law 1994 which says that the defendant has
a limited ability to introduce evidence and cross examine
the victim about their past sexual experiences
Violence Against Women Act 1994/2013 states that the
victim is authorized for getting financial reimbursement
due to the sexual assault

Video