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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Role Of Pornography In The “Rough Sex” Defence In Canada, Lisa Gotell, Isabel Grant, Elizabeth Sheehy
The Role Of Pornography In The “Rough Sex” Defence In Canada, Lisa Gotell, Isabel Grant, Elizabeth Sheehy
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Drawing upon the authors’ earlier research studying the consent defence when it is used to suggest that the complainant agreed to “rough sex” involving violence, this paper develops an extended analysis of the complex role of pornography in these decisions. This paper focuses on a subset of “rough sex” cases, where pornography played a role in “scripting” the accused’s behaviour. Thematically, these cases included: those where the accused had a substantial history of consumption of violent pornography; cases in which the accused forced the complainant to view pornography as part of the assault; cases where the accused recorded the attack, …
Resurrecting 'She Asked For It': The Rough Sex Defence In Canadian Courts, Elizabeth Sheehy, Isabel Grant, Lise Gotell
Resurrecting 'She Asked For It': The Rough Sex Defence In Canadian Courts, Elizabeth Sheehy, Isabel Grant, Lise Gotell
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According to rape crisis centres and women’s shelters in Canada, the US and the UK, women are reporting extreme levels of violence by men who rape them, including strangulation—a particularly dangerous form of violence that is highly predictive of femicide. At the same time, accused men are deploying the “rough sex” defence when the victim—nearly always a woman—has suffered bodily harm or even death as a result of the accused’s actions. This defence is used to suggest that the woman enjoyed strangulation, bondage or other violence as part of “sex play”, inviting judges and jurors to find that she either …
The Meaning Of Capacity And Consent In Sexual Assault: R. V. G.F., Isabel Grant, Janine Benedet
The Meaning Of Capacity And Consent In Sexual Assault: R. V. G.F., Isabel Grant, Janine Benedet
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The Criminal Code provisions dealing with sexual assault have been amended in a piecemeal fashion several times since the major reforms of 1982, which replaced the offences of rape and indecent assault with a three-tiered sexual assault offence. Many of these reforms were brought forward in response to particular judicial decisions that provoked controversy and concern. In most cases, new provisions were added without removing or amending related provisions already in place. What remains is a set of provisions that do not work together as a coherent whole.
The Slow Death Of The Reasonable Steps Requirement For The Mistake Of Age Defence, Isabel Grant
The Slow Death Of The Reasonable Steps Requirement For The Mistake Of Age Defence, Isabel Grant
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This article examines the demise of the “all reasonable steps” requirement in s. 150.1(4) of the Criminal Code which limits an accused’s ability to assert a mistaken belief in age as a defence to sexual offences against children where he has failed to take such steps. The article demonstrates that the Court of Appeal for Ontario in R v Carbone has rendered this requirement meaningless in Ontario. Even where the Crown has met its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused did not take “all reasonable steps” to ascertain age, the Crown must still go on and …
Non-Consensual Condom Removal In Canadian Law Before And After R. V. Hutchinson, Isabel Grant, Lise Gotell
Non-Consensual Condom Removal In Canadian Law Before And After R. V. Hutchinson, Isabel Grant, Lise Gotell
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This paper examines the phenomenon of nonconsensual condom removal (NCCR) and its relationship to sexual assault in Canada. Using empirical studies and the insights of feminist theory, we explore the nature of the harms caused by NCCR and contend that this pervasive practice constitutes sexual assault. We then critique the decision of R v Hutchinson, which held that condom sabotage does not negate subjective consent, ignoring the dignitary harms of NCCR. While lower court decisions before Hutchinson recognized that consent to sex with a condom does not include consent to sex without, courts after Hutchinson have struggled to distinguish the …
The Complex Legacy Of R. V. Cuerrier: Hiv Nondisclosure Prosecutions And Their Impact On Sexual Assault Law, Isabel Grant
The Complex Legacy Of R. V. Cuerrier: Hiv Nondisclosure Prosecutions And Their Impact On Sexual Assault Law, Isabel Grant
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This article examines the impact of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Cuerrier from two vantage points. First, the article examines the impact of the decision on HIV nondisclosure prosecutions. Second, it examines the damage done by Cuerrier to sexual assault law outside of the HIV context. The article argues that Cuerrier has both overcriminalized people living with HIV and distorted the law of sexual assault. Through Cuerrier, and subsequent cases, the Supreme Court of Canada has unduly limited the concept of consent and its voluntariness requirement, and distorted the concept of fraud such that deceptions around …
Breaking The Silence On Father-Daughter Sexual Abuse Of Adolescent Girls: A Case Law Study, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
Breaking The Silence On Father-Daughter Sexual Abuse Of Adolescent Girls: A Case Law Study, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
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Adolescent girls are targeted for sexual violence at a rate higher than females at any other life stage. Girls most often face sexual violence at the hands of men that they know and trust within their own families, yet this type of abuse has largely evaded scrutiny from the #MeToo movement. In this article, the authors seek to revitalize the discussion of sexual abuse against adolescent girls by their fathers. The article is part of a larger study that examined all Canadian judicial decisions involving sexual offences against girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen inclusive over a three-year …
Does 'No, Not Without A Condom' Mean 'Yes, Even Without A Condom'?: The Fallout From R V Hutchinson, Lise Gotell, Isabel Grant
Does 'No, Not Without A Condom' Mean 'Yes, Even Without A Condom'?: The Fallout From R V Hutchinson, Lise Gotell, Isabel Grant
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In R v Kirkpatrick, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia held that consent to sexual activity cannot be established where a man proceeds with unprotected vaginal intercourse when his sexual partner has insisted on a condom. While this finding should be uncontroversial, it is in fact contrary to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in R v Hutchinson. In this comment we argue that the approach taken in Kirkpatrick is correct and consistent with the landmark decision in R v Ewanchuk. We urge the Supreme Court of Canada to reconsider its majority judgment in Hutchinson in order to fully …
The Sexual Assault Of Older Women: Criminal Justice Responses In Canada, Isabel Grant, Janine Benedet
The Sexual Assault Of Older Women: Criminal Justice Responses In Canada, Isabel Grant, Janine Benedet
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This article examines sexual violence against older women, a problem that has been largely hidden from view in the societal and legal discussion of sexual assault. The article identifies a significant disconnect between the social science description of sexual assault against older women, on the one hand, and the available case law, on the other. The social science literature suggests that older women are most likely to be sexually assaulted by somebody they know and that a disproportionate number of the sexual assaults against older women take place within care facilities. The case law, however, paints a very different picture …
Sexual Assault And The Meaning Of Power And Authority For Women With Mental Disabilities, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
Sexual Assault And The Meaning Of Power And Authority For Women With Mental Disabilities, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
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The sexual assault of persons with mental disabilities (also described as cognitive, intellectual and developmental disabilities) occurs at alarmingly high rates worldwide. These assaults are a form of gender-based violence intersecting with discrimination based on disability. Our research on the treatment of such cases in the Canadian criminal justice system demonstrates the systemic barriers these victims face at the level of both substantive legal doctrine and trial procedure. Relying on feminist legal theory and disability theory, we argue in this paper that abuses of trust and power underlie most sexual assaults of women with mental disabilities. We argue that existing …