Elisabeth McDonald (3)

Rape Myths As Barriers To Fair Trial Process

ISBN: 9781988503196

Author: Elisabeth McDonald    Publisher: Canterbury University Press

‘Rape Myths as Barriers to Fair Trial Process’ opens the courtroom door on rape trials to investigate how and why they re-traumatise complainants. Despite d...


‘Rape Myths as Barriers to Fair Trial Process’ opens the courtroom door on rape trials to investigate how and why they re-traumatise complainants. Despite decades of targeted law reform, adult complainants still report that the process of being a witness is a significant point of re-victimisation. This book contains the findings of four years of research that compares the trial process in 30 adult rape cases from 2010 to 2015 (in which the defence at trial was consent) with 10 cases from the Sexual Violence Court Pilot heard in 2018. The aim of the research was to find out at which points in the questioning process the complainant displayed heightened emotionality, including distress, and why cross-examination (in particular) is so resistant to reform measures. Researchers also considered the extent to which the current rules of evidence and procedure are applied appropriately and consistently, and identified examples of best practice in order to develop proposals for changes to law and process. Elisabeth McDonald is a Professor of Law at the University of Canterbury. She has taught and published in the areas of sexual and family violence, law and sexuality, criminal law and the law of evidence for 30 years, as an academic and as the Policy Manager for the evidence law reference at the New Zealand Law Commission. Elisabeth is the author of a number of evidence law textbooks and online legal resources, as well as co-editor of ‘From “Real Rape” to Real Justice’ (2011) and ‘Feminist Judgments Aotearoa: Te Rino, the Two-Stranded Rope’ (2017). In June 2018, she became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Law and Education.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 584


Dimensions: 210 x 296 mm


Publication Date: 03-06-2020


Tags: History   NZ (History)   Reference
$139.99
In the Absence of A Jury: Examining judge-alone rape trials

ISBN: 9781988503349

Author: Elisabeth McDonald    Publisher: Canterbury University Press

Calls for changes to the trial process in rape cases, including removing the jury as decision-maker, have been consistent over time and across jurisdictions. Vi...


Calls for changes to the trial process in rape cases, including removing the jury as decision-maker, have been consistent over time and across jurisdictions. Victims and survivors of sexual violence, their supporters, law reformers, researchers and academics from many disciplines have advocated for the removal of the jury from rape trials for many years. Some claim it is indeed the panacea for all that is unacceptably brutal in the current trial process, with the jury being described as ‘the cause of most of the damage done’. Anecdotal evidence, and some research, suggests that in judge-alone trials cross-examination is shorter, there is less reliance on the ‘real rape’ schema, and the issues at trial are more focussed. It is also likely that judge-alone trials involve fewer delays and pre-trial appeals, and that the hearings are not as disrupted (for example, by the need for legal argument in the absence of the jury). Research also indicates a difference in verdict choices between judges and juries in the specific context of cases involving allegations of sexual violence, with the behaviour of the complainant being seen as ‘contributory fault’. Further, the way counsel conducts their case may vary when the judge is the decision-maker, which may impact on trial outcome. Due to the continued widely-held view that replacing the jury with ‘some other entity’ will have the effect of decreasing the negative impact on the complainant as a witness in the trial process (along with other desired effects such as reducing the decision-maker’s reliance on rape myths and misconceptions), it is important that empirical research is available to inform future public debate. This book records the results of such research. Elisabeth McDonald MNZM is an independent legal researcher and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Canterbury. She has taught and published in the areas of sexual and family violence, law and sexuality, criminal law and the law of evidence for over 30 years, as an academic and as the Policy Manager for the evidence law reference at the New Zealand Law Commission. Elisabeth is the author of a number of evidence law textbooks and online legal resources, including ‘Rape Myths as Barriers to Fair Trial Process’ (2020), and is co-editor of From ‘”Real Rape” to Real Justice’ (2011) and ‘Feminist Judgments Aotearoa: Te Rino, the Two-Stranded Rope’ (2017).


Bind: paperback


Pages: 376


Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm


Publication Date: 13-04-2022


Tags: NZ (History)   Reference   Education
$129.99
Prosecuting Intimate Partner Rape: The impact of misconceptions on complainant experience and trial process

ISBN: 9781988503387

Author: Elisabeth McDonald    Publisher: Canterbury University Press

The high level of family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand presents a systemic and resistant challenge for the criminal justice system. While much legal and soci...


The high level of family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand presents a systemic and resistant challenge for the criminal justice system. While much legal and social-science research focuses on the prevention of, and response to, family violence, there is a noticeable dearth of work examining the prosecution of serious sexual and physical violence that occurs within an intimate relationship. ‘Prosecuting Intimate Partner Rape’ addresses that gap. Comparative analysis of 20 intimate partner rape trials (both with a jury and judge-alone) provides the basis for wide-ranging proposals to reform law and practice with the aim of improving complainant trial experience. The work also demonstrates how essential it is for sexual violence within a relationship to be recognised and responded to as a distinct and significant form of harm – in particular there is a pressing need for fact-finders to consider (and be assisted to understand) the nature of consent within a context of coercive control. ‘Prosecuting Intimate Partner Rape’ will be invaluable for those working in, or with interest in, the prosecution of sexual offending and family violence and reform options. It provides commentary of use to lawyers and judges in their practice but is written to be accessible to sector workers, victim support agency workers, policy makers, and students of law, criminology, criminal justice and sociology.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 526


Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm


Publication Date: 01-06-2023


Tags: Reference   Education
$160.00
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