Date Rape in New Jersey
Although rape laws may differ slightly from state to state depending on local governments and legislature, rape is defined as sexual intercourse without one party’s consent. Rape occurs when an attacker physically overcomes a victim, not only when an attacker forces sex. Other instances that can be deemed rape include sex when the victim is not mentally capable of giving consent or the victim is not physically able to give consent.
The crime of rape is not determined based on an attacker’s relationship to a victim. Someone can be raped by a person they don’t know, a long time friend, or even a relative. In some cases, state laws used to call for relatively light punishment or no punishment at all for a husband to rape his wife. Some select state laws even have separate statutes regarding sex between spouses that are non-consensual.
Date Rape in NJ
In a surprising amount of rape cases, the victim reported that they knew who their attacker was and had known them before the incident occurred. When a person is sexually assaulted by a person with whom they are romantically involved or have a potential romantic relationship with, it is considered “date rape”. There is a false notion that because the victim is romantically involved with the attacker that the crime is not “real.” This is a misconception because forced sex is not the sole determining factor in whether or not a rape truly did occur in a legal sense.
Not too long ago, date rape used to refer to a scenario in which it was acceptable for a man to be extremely sexually aggressive towards a woman, while she is supposed to be resistant to sexual advances while on a date or in a romantic setting. In today’s world, however, date rape is considered rape and the date itself cannot be used as an excuse for date rape.
Defenses to Date Rape
If an individual charged with sexual assault can prove that the alleged victim did give consent to sexual penetration and was physically and mentally able to do so, the individual charged with the crime may be acquitted of all charges. Although this may work for some cases, many times the victim may be under the legal age of consent or may even be mentally or physically unable to give proper consent. In this case, the consent defense will likely not hold up in a court of law or even be available to the party charged with rape.
Issues of Consent
Many times, issues based on consent can be raised in date rape cases due to the victims association and relationship with their attacker. Such relationships can sometimes muddy the waters between what is truly considered to be consent and whether or not the alleged victim did indeed give consent to the offender in question. It can bring up questions about misunderstandings regarding whether or not the victim was able to properly give consent as well as the way in which consent may have possibly been communicated to the partner.
Consult an Experienced Atlantic City, New Jersey Attorney
Any type of sexual assault or rape charge can be very serious and have a big effect on someone charged with any of these offenses for the rest of their lives. If you have been charged with any kind of rape or sexual assault, it may be in your best interest to contact an experienced attorney that will fight for your case aggressively and do everything possible to reduce or eliminate your charges. Contact John W. Tumelty immediately so that we may get started fighting for you and get you the help you need.
The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.
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