Law Commons^™

The Crime Bill Of 1994 And The Law Of Character Evidence: Congress Was Right About Consent Defense Cases, Roger C. Park

Fordham Urban Law Journal

There is considerable debate as to whether to admit evidence of past sexual assaults in cases where the accused presents a defense of consent to a current sexual assault charge. The consent defense presents a unique situation where, due to the probative value of evidence that suggests propensity to rape, a strong justification can be made to admit this information as evidence. However, critics of this opinion have argued that admitting propensity evidence about the accused in a rape case is inconsistent with the rape shield rule which excludes propensity evidence about the victim. This argument is flawed in the …