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Jordan Grubiss
Eric Ratica
Microsoft Applications 4th Period
25th February 2016
Changes of Law Enforcement with the crime of Rape
Rape has become a fast pacing crime within the United States, people didnt report that
they have been assaulted sexually because Law Enforcement lacked the knowledge to know
about this crime. Things have changed drastically changed within the Law enforcement field as
to how to solve and proceed with these types of cases. In todays society, Law enforcement and
Prosecutors have laws to which charge the person who did the crime. They have made child laws
that put people away for having a sexual relationship with a minor. So there has been a big
increase amount of reporting both rape and statutory rape. Also there has been more convictions
within the last couple years with the crimes.
Back in 1992, Victims felt they didn't get the justice they deserved, due to that there were
not as much reported rape cases as to the comparison of today's society. For today there are laws
that are now in effect to put criminals away for Statutory Rape. Also there are laws for Females
that have been abused. Not so much for men right now but they are working on this. Although
under Title 42, section 5106a of the U.S. Code Police and Lawyers can't get involved with the
victim unless an incident has occurred. Also with that the case gets more complicated if the
victim still has a relationship after the incident. (Maddex, 63)
Rape and sexual assault has been more known within the last 20 years. By this people
have created more laws of how law enforcement and lawyers should handle these cases of both
minors and adults. Prior to 1992, rape was one of the faster pacing crimes within the United

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States. Because prior to 1992 rape was considered a joke within law enforcement and same with
the courts. Therefore, there wasnt as many reported rape cases as there are in todays society. In
the last 20 years Law enforcement has become more aware of this crime and have had more
personnel that know how to handle these particular cases. Feminists have claimed that allowing
prostitution (which in itself was a former crime) and having pornographic materials will increase
the chance of women getting raped, so Feminists have been opposing this to decrease these
chances of rape happening. False Rape has not yet been created as a law although there was a
survey it recorded that 77 percent of women and 89 percent of men think the accuser should be
charged and be put in jail for that activity. As we delve more into the crime of rape, this will
involve the sexual assault of both adults and minors and minors is where most Law enforcement
officials has more regulations with. (Gardner, 237) (Gardner, 239)
Statutory Rape is defined as when Adults are sexual intercourse with minors that are
under the particular age of the minor, the age depends on the state of where the crime is
committed at. This law was made because the courts have thought that minors under that
particular age are not mature both emotionally and physically to consent to the sexual activity
that adults do. Minors that report the crime of Statutory Rape have a certain time limit for that
case to be solved that is called Statute of Limitations, in the state of Ohio it is 20 years after the
minor turns 18 or 20 years after the minor reports to Law enforcement. In other states they have
different time amounts, some states may have no statute of limitation for minors or other states
have a relatively short amount of time. Statistics have shown that three percent of those accused
of this crime are actually charged and put into jail, the criminal are usually well known to the
victim when this happens. Now there are even more regulations for when adults are sexually
assaulted/ raped. (Gardner, 239) (Maddex, 239) (Statutes of Limitations for Sexual Assault)

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For Statutes of Limitations, it is a time limit for both the victim to report the crime and
also Law Enforcement to investigate the case. The Statute is dependent on how heinous the
crime is and that's why the crime of Murder has no Statute of Limitations. Adults have 20 years
to report the rape to Law Enforcement, the courts have more of a possibility to prosecute the
defendant for that crime. People actually want to repeal this law, because they claim that this law
is infringing the victims right to justice. But others say that repealing this law would be more
negative than positive. Because there are two types of errors that happens sometimes with these
types of cases. One type is that an innocent is sentenced for rape and they weren't involved.
Another result that happens more frequently that and the defendant that did the sexual crime is
found innocent by the courts. Male rape has been going on also, but the way society is we need
to be more aware that men get raped and we need more resources for them (Gardner, 239)
(Statute of Statute of Limitations for Sexual Assault) (Lauren Holter) (Should the statute of
limitations be for rape be eliminated)
In conclusion, a lot have changed for the victims of rape, there have been changes within
Law enforcement as to sensitivity of these types of cases, there are more laws to help with the
victim and help the courts charge the defendants with rape/ statutory rape. These changes has
decreased the number of rapes and increased the number of victims reporting the rape. Minors
have 20 years to report the crime after they turn 18, or after they report it to Law enforcement.
Adults also have 20 years to report the crime, although some people want to repeal the Statute
because of this invading the victims right to have justice. The case also gets complicated if the
victim has a relationship with the defendant after the incident. Law enforcement can't get
involved with a case unless an incident occurred under Title 42, section 5106 in the U.S. code.

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So we have made great changes within our society in the U.S., but we still have work to do with
both the courts and Law enforcement.

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Works Cited

Conklin, Barbara Gardner , Robert Gardner Conklin and Dennis Shortelle. Encyclopedia of
Forensic. Westport: Oryx, 2002. Print.
Ericksen , Brittany and Ilise Knecht. Statutes of Limitations for Sexual Assault. 21 August 2013.
Web. 15 February 2016. <https://victimsofcrime.org/docs/DNA%20Resource
%20Center/sol-for-sexual-assault-check-chart---final---copy.pdf?sfvrsn=2>.
Holter, Lauren. Why do Rape Cases have Statutes of Limitations, And What Does That Mean for
Victims. 14 August 2015. Web. 15 February 2016.
<http://www.bustle.com/articles/101623-why-do-rape-cases-have-statutes-of-limitationsand-what-does-that-mean-for-victims>.
Maddex, Robert. Encyclopedia of Sexual Behavior and the Law . Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2006.
Print.
Should the statute of limitations be eliminated so that rape victims can take all the time they
need to come forward? 14 March 2015. 15 February 2016.
<https://www.quora.com/Should-the-statute-of-limitations-for-rape-be-eliminated-sothat-rape-victims-can-take-all-of-the-time-they-need-to-come-forward>.

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