Friday, February 28, 2014

Rape Prosecutions: Colonial Era to Present Day


Rape Prosecutions: Colonial Era to Present Day
By: Dina Pobudanovic

In today’s society, rape is considered an extremely heinous crime. Whether it’s statutory rape,
date rape, gang rape, and even spousal rape, each case will be taken seriously and handled accordingly. However, in the colonial era, the way they handled rape was very different. There were many instances of rape that went unnoticed because these standards were not met and many rape victims never received justice.
In the colonial era, “for a rape case to be noticed, there had to be a witness who could hear the victim crying out that they did not consent to this act of sex.”[1] Also, the victim had to be under a certain age for it to actually be considered rape. All the rape cases, in the colonial era, had to fulfill these standards or else they wouldn’t be tried in court. It’s sad that so many rape victims never received compensation for these horrific events they went through.
However, today in North Carolina, “it’s illegal for an adult to have sex with a minor even if it is consensual.”[2] Along with paying heavy fines and possible jail time, the law states that people convicted of sexual crimes must register as sexual offenders. Becoming a sexual offender means that the court can regulate where you can live, work, and who you may have contact with.[3] Getting a job would be nearly impossible because no one would want to hire a sexual offender to work for their company.
            Also, today, rape prosecutions are very diligent and all rape victims must partake in rape kits. DNA is collected from the victim and the perpetrator, and the case will stay on file for many years. Today, we don’t need witnesses or certain age requirements to convict a rapist. Now in the 21st century, we have the ability to collect DNA and we can prove these things and not have to worry about who said what.
            
Overall, rape cases were prosecuted completely differently from the colonial era to now. Back in the day, if you were convicted of rape then that pretty much meant that you were subject to the death penalty. A lot of rape cases went unnoticed because they didn’t meet certain requirements. Today, rape can be proved through DNA, which doesn’t allow rapists to get away with their crime. Even if they are convicted of rape they will face inevitable jail time and then when they’re released, they will be registered as sex offenders and their lives will pretty much be over. But the difference between the prosecutions, then and now, was extreme and I couldn’t imagine justice not being served.
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