Sexual Assault In Canada

More specifically, in the case of sexual assault, this approach focusses on the changes in the labour force (gender based) and conflicts between genders over the acceptability and criminalization of sexualized violence as the starting point of explanation. One such concept is marxist-feminism, as a form conflict theory. According to this theory, the incidence of sexual assault in Canada is a result of the power imbalance between men and women, in which women are expected to assume a subordinate relationship to men in our capitalist society. Consequently, sexual assault can be seen as a logical extension of the typical interactions between women and men in which women are made dependent on men for economic production. Women's vulnerability to sexual assault is a result of their subordinate relationship to men. The set of beliefs and attitudes that divide people into classes by sex and justify one sex's superiority is called sexism. There are a number of sexist dictates that serve to maintain this subordinate relationship. The first tenet concerns women's status in society: women occupy a relatively powerless position in society and are the recipients of fewer advantages and privileges (economic). Men's benefits are built into a patriarchal system which begin in a basis of economics and branch out to other aspects of social life from there. Secondly, sexual assault is as a means of control over women: assault plays a role in

Prosecutors normally meet witnesses at a relatively early stage in the proceedings to discuss special measures and related issues. The witness’s overall subjective experience of participating in criminal proceedings might thereby be enhanced.

Kim Campbell introduced Bill C-49 that stated that when in a rape trial, the witness can not be cross-examined while testifying. This bill was an important implication that protects the victim's past sexual history into the trial. This bill was an important implication that has helped many people in Canada. Without this bill, it would make rape victim’s court cases even harder to win and get the justice they deserve.

Start blaming the system, not the victim. Sexual assault is a crime that is very common, yet the punishment perpetrators receive is not as harsh as it needs to be to reduce the occurrence of these crimes. Laws concerning sexual crimes have been edited over decades to be stricter however, sex offenders typically receive little or no punishment. Sexual Assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient (“Sexual Assault”). Victims of sexual assault are often blamed as the reason for the crime being committed while the blame is taken away from the offender. Harsher punishment must be enacted on sex offenders because the victims suffer conflict from the crime throughout their

Sexual assault is one of the most challenging issues that must be dealt with within the Canadian legal system. Sexual assault is defined as sexual activity inflicted upon someone without their given consent. In order for a sexual assault to be eligible for that title, a person committing sexual acts must continue to engage without the consent of the other person. Sexual assault is also heavily related to the rape myths that exist within society and these are the decisive factors when resolving a sexual assault case. These rape myths generally target the victim of sexual assault blaming them for the actions that occurred. The first case involving consent and rape myths to ever reach the Supreme Court of Canada to be resolved is the case of

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

In the R. v. Stinchcombe case, a lawyer was charged with breach of trust, theft and fraud. His former secretary was a Crown witness at the opening of the investigation. She provided relevant evidence towards the defence. Former to trial, she was interviewed by an RCMP officer and a tape‑recorded statement was taken. Far along during the progress of the trial, she again was interviewed by a police officer with a written statement taken. The defence counsel was notified of the occurrence but not of the statements. His request for a disclosure was declined. However, throughout the trial, the defence counsel acknowledge without a doubt that the witness would not be called by the Crown and required an order that the witness be called or that the Crown disclose the main statements to the defence. The trial continued and the accused was found guilty of breach of trust and fraud. Conditional stays were entered with respect to the theft counts. The

During the trial, the defense questioned the victims ' credibility during cross-examination because of their criminal records. Yet again, rape culture has surfaced. A woman does not deserve to get raped no matter her criminal record. No person deserves or asks to get raped. Rape cases are always fought back by blaming the victim and making the victim seem like a bad person and that is why there will always be

Any involuntary, unwelcome, and nonconsensual sexual interaction or activity, including touching, kissing, and any type of sexual intercourse would be defined as sexual assault. It is not likely for one to be aware of the law governing sexual assault, until one is placed in a position that requires knowledge of it. (Constance Backhouse, 2016). Rape myths and stereotypes in the Canadian Court system and legislature will be ascertained in the following paper. First, rape myths will be discussed, moreover, it will be shown that regardless of the fluctuations in the Canadian law, sexual assault rates remain high, reporting and conviction rates remain low, and rape myths continue to operate. These rape myths are existing in Canadian universities and in the Canadian Court Houses. Many social constructions that are present in the Ewanchuk case are a result outcome because of the judiciary system and the university system. Furthermore, the rape myth and stereotypes in law and universities can relate to the social constructions of gender, race, masculinity/femininity, and heterosexuality. In this essay the focus will be directed to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R. v. Ewanchuk case, [199] 1 S.C.R. 330, and argue how the rape myths then are still present in today’s society despite feminist attempts to amend criminal laws to be more unbiased in resolving conflicts.

Victims often complain about not having enough information about their case and confusion regarding what rights they are entitled to (McDonald & Grossman, 2014, p. 10). The reason victims feel this way is because they do not know how to access the programs set in place for them. Proper measures should be taken to allow clear communication between the Crown, victim, and lawyers. For instance, Mandi Gray, a sexual assault survivor, demanded eight thousand dollars in restitution money so she could hire a lawyer because she felt defenseless during the trial. Whereas, the national criminal lawyers’ association were not in favor of the offender paying such amount and argued that adequate support services are already available for victims (McGillivray, 2017). Incidences like these are likely to paint a negative picture of victim status in Canadian Justice System and decrease the number of victims accessing these resources. Moreover, it shows interest towards being more concerned about protecting the rights of an offender, rather than the victim who has been wronged. Also, if the information regarding these programs is easily available, it will likely increase the rate of victims making use of them. Therefore, to eliminate future issues like these, support services should expand their options available for victims and more counseling services should be provided to explain victims their rights beforehand. Information is the key towards getting rid of any confusion and suspicions regarding the fairness of the judicial

Violence has become prevalent within society; it is something the western world has learned to accept. With every minute that passes Canadians come face to face with certain acts of violence they may not have previously encountered (citation). Although, violence is not a subject that one can escape, women and children have unfortunately become the prime victims of violent acts. The media glorifies violence in other countries around the world it fails to address the presence of violence within Canada. Although violence is usually associated with gangs and guns, Canada experiences more violence related to bullying, sexual, verbal, cyber and domestic abuse (citation). Amidst the changing societal views towards treating women equally and

Anything from unwanted touching in a sexual manner to non-consensual sexual intercourse is classified as sexual assault in Canada. Male survivors of sexual assault frequently face unsympathetic attitudes after choosing to report the criminal offence. Unfortunately, despite the similar chances of sexual assault amongst both males and females during their teenage years, with 20% for males and 25% for females, there are fewer researches conducted on male sexual assault in Canada (Statistics Canada 2015). A large proportion (16%) of male victims are sexually assaulted in an institutional setting, which is over two and a half times greater than the percentage of females in the same location (Brennan 2008). The UCR2 (Uniform Crime Reporting Survey)

Assault laws have changed over the many years and will continue to do so later on. Laws treating and preventing sexual assault, domestic abuse and child abuse will increase and become more powerful than they are today. It has become easier and much faster to report someone of psychical assault than ever before, but how come not the same for sexual assault? Most sexual assault cases do not made it to trial, either they’ve been dropped or not seen as big enough to meet proper proceedings. Even though sexual assaults are much more frequent that simple assault, someone is being sexually assaulted in Canada right now as you are reading this. However, due to the work of many people today, protesting and informing others to stand up for their rights

This literature review provides a brief overview of six scholarly articles and other facts about sexual assault .This review will first define sexual assault as it is defined in these articles. It will analyze the strengths and limitations of the definition used and will discuss the occurrence of sexual assault in the general population.This review will also illustrate the protective factors, barriers to recovery , impact of development and the specific sexual assault population that are absent in these articles. Sexual assault is a societal issue that impacts men and women at every age in their life, it’s much more highly reported among college aged women. The majority of women who are victims of rape are

Victims of crime, particularly those violent in nature, have their rights violated and experience exceedingly high level of trauma and stress (Appendix B, 2015). It is surprising then, that Criminal Justice Systems (CJS) around the world forgo many victims’ rights and provided limited space for them to interact with the system (Sarre, 1999). Rather systems are built around balancing the rights of offenders against the greater safety and need of the community whilst neglecting individual justice needs of the victims (Sarre, 1999). With limited rights and minimal involvement a victim often becomes a disposable utensil to the CJS (Clark, 2010). They are used by the courts to determine the ultimate truth so justice may be served, with no care for the damage that may be caused in the process and then disposed of the case is concluded (Braun, 2014). In 2011-2012 a victimisation survey revealed that 1.2 million Australians were victims of personal crimes, such as assault, robbery and sexual assault (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Of these victims, only half of the crimes were reported to the police (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Such low reporting rates have been contributed in part to this notion of imbalance offender VS victims’ rights (Braun, 2014). Due to the sensitive nature of sexual crimes, the limited available evidence and victim rights, these crimes tend to carry the lowest reporting rates (Braun, 2014). During the latest Australian