A law intended to protect rape complainants from being questioned about their sexual history during trial is \u201cnot doing the job it was designed to do\u201d and should be repealed and replaced, according to a report.<\/p>\n
The so-called \u201crape shield\u201d law was designed to restrict the defence\u2019s ability to cross-examine complainants in a sexual offences trial about their other sexual experiences beyond the events subject of the charge.<\/p>\n
However, a judge has discretion whether to grant applications to admit evidence regarding other sexual experiences and will take into account factors including the defendant\u2019s fair trial rights. <\/p>\n
The report, which was written by Maynooth University<\/a> associate law professor Sin\u00e9ad Ring and \u201csupported by\u201d Rape Crisis Ireland (RCI), found 39 per cent of sexual offence trials last year involved an application to admit such evidence.<\/p>\n In the report the figure is described as \u201csurprisingly high\u201d, although no data is available concerning how many applications are granted.<\/p>\n The report is based on 21 \u201cin-depth interviews\u201d with lawyers, policy specialists, court accompaniment workers and legal aid clerks with direct experience of how the law operates in practice. <\/p>\n Among the interviewees were 13 practising lawyers with an average 18.5 years\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n The report found \u201covert character attacks\u201d on complainants have declined, but it said arguments for admitting this evidence \u201ccontinue to rely on the same discredited inferences the rape shield was designed to exclude\u201d.<\/p>\n These include the notion that \u201cprior consent predicts later consent, and that a complainant\u2019s sexual history undermines their credibility\u201d.<\/p>\n It said two groups faced particular risk of intrusive cross-examination: adults who are in a relationship with an accused, and child or adolescent complainants.<\/p>\n The latter are often questioned about matters \u201cas far removed\u201d from the offence as social media use, including dating apps, or accessing pornography, the report said.<\/p>\n Applications, it also said, were frequently made with little notice, sometimes on the first day of trial, limiting complainants\u2019 ability to engage with the process.<\/p>\n \u201cComplainants are still being asked about their sexual history in ways that rely on outdated and discredited assumptions about what a \u2018real\u2019 rape victim looks like,\u201d Ring said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe law needs to change, but so does how relevance is understood and argued in these applications.\u201d<\/p>\n RCI executive director Cl\u00edona Saidl\u00e9ar said Ring\u2019s report \u201cgives us, for the first time, an evidence-based picture of how the rape shield actually operates in Irish courtrooms\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt confirms what survivors have long told us: that going through the criminal justice system can mean having their private lives put on trial alongside the accused,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is also perversely acting to reinstate sexist rape myths long discredited.\u201d<\/p>\n She said RCI would be using the findings \u201cto press for the legislative and procedural reforms survivors deserve\u201d.<\/p>\n The report is to be launched on Thursday by Judge \u00dana N\u00ed Raifeartaigh of the European Court of Human Rights during an event at the Criminal Courts of Justice, Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n The event, to be opened by Catherine Ardagh<\/a>, Minister of State at the Department of Justice<\/a>, will explore the application of the relevance test in applications concerning disclosure of sexual experience. <\/p>\n Speaking in advance of the event, Ardagh said that combating all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence remained a priority for the Government \u201cas well as ensuring victims and survivors are fully supported\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A law intended to protect rape complainants from being questioned about their sexual history during trial is 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