Myths, Relationships and Coincidences

The New Problems of Sexual History

Bibliographic Data

ID12596103
AuthorsMike Redmayne (London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume7
Issue2
Pages75-101
Publication date2003-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe International Journal of Evidence & Proof (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1365-7127 • E-ISSN: 1740-5572
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/136571270300700201
OpenAlexW1931655397
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This article reviews recent developments in the law governing the admissibility of sexual history evidence in England and Wales. After the decision of the House of Lords in R v A (No. 2), the law reflects a consensus that the complainant's sexual history with third parties is generally irrelevant to the issue of consent in rape trials. In the first part of this article, the justifications for this conclusion are questioned; it is suggested that the relevance of sexual history is a more complex issue than it is usually acknowledged to be. The second part of the article uses points made in the first to question the way in which concepts drawn from the law on similar fact evidence have been used as the admissibility framework for sexual history. Aspects of the decision in R v A are examined in detail

Admissible evidence · Criminology · Mythology · Plaintiff · Poison control · Political science · Relevance (law · Sexual assault · Sexual history · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · History · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Medicine · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub