- Title
- Taking gendered harms seriously : the utility of rape trauma syndrome evidence in dispelling rape myths in criminal trials
- Creator
- Nkala, Amanda Nothabo
- Subject
- Rape trauma syndrome Women -- Crimes against Rape -- Psychological aspects
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- LLM
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13458
- Identifier
- vital:39668
- Description
- Rape is a violent crime marked by underreporting and low conviction rates. Notwithstanding the fact that most rape laws have been made to be gender-neutral, the statistics of rape are still devastatingly high even on a global scale. The majority of the victims are still predominantly females especially in the context of acquaintance rape. It is an uncontestable fact that rape usually occurs in secret making it possible for one to falsely accuse another and effectively rendering it difficult to refute. In light of this, victims who have managed to reach the courts have come face to face with a myriad of stereotypical beliefs and rape myths about rape victims. These have dealt a blow to their cases once their credibility is doubted because they may have exhibited behaviour that does not match with the classic or real rape victim as expected by the society. However rape is an egregiously unique crime that presents with serious psychological issues for the victim. As such it is possible for a rape victim to exhibit counterintuitive behaviour that can only be sensibly explained by an expert who has delved in human behavioural sciences. The alleged victim will be questioned on things like lengthy delay in reporting, returning to the scene of the crime, asking for taxi money the morning after the rape or even failing to scream and fight off the alleged assailant. Unfortunately, the psychological effects of rape have more often than not been overlooked in our criminal justice system giving way for blame shifting in that the female victim is called upon to account for why the rape may have happened to her. These psychological reactions, responses and counterintuitive behaviour have been characterized as Rape Trauma Syndrome by specialists in psychology and psychiatry. In the context of this study, Rape Trauma Syndrome is a form of expert opinion evidence which is relevant, helpful and necessary because it can dispel rape myths and stereotypical beliefs about rape victims by educating the courts about the psychological reactions of rape victims. Against this backdrop, this research project investigates the utility of Rape Trauma Syndrome evidence in dispelling rape myths in rape trials, focusing especially on the admissibility and use of that syndrome as evidence in other jurisdictions at the level of comparative analysis in order to establish whether it can be utilised in the South African context.
- Format
- 157 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Law
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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