Date Rape - The Misunderstood Sex Crime

What is date rape? Put simply, it is the crime of  forcing someone to engage in sexual activity. The main difference - and what is making this crime difficult to prove - is that victim is a social acquaintance of the perpetrator.

Date rape is any non-consensual sexual activity where the offender and the victim are acquainted with each other socially either as a friend, acquaintance, dating partner, or even as a romantic partner. Date rape is also referred to as contact rape, sleep rape, and acquaintance rape.

Most jurisdictions do not give any legal distinction between stranger rape and rape committed by an acquaintance of the victim.

Most date rapes happen within social functions and many victims of date rapes already had previous sexual relations with the perpetrator. Due to the nature of the relationship between the victim and the offender, date rapes are often hard to prove and are highly misunderstood and often underestimated.

Moreover, many perpetrators of date rape often do not feel that they’ve committed any crime the same way that many date rape victims also feel that they are partly to blame and that no crime has been committed. At the same time, many people view date rape as a product of miscommunication and mixed signals between two people rather than a crime.

Fact remains however that date rape is still rape where one party was coerced into a non-consensual sexual activity either by force, by drugs, or by the victim’s inability to say no during the time of the assault.

Date Rape Prevalence

While the stereotypical image of rape scenarios involves a stranger coming out of the dark with a knife or a gun, statistics show that almost half of rape cases involve someone you know as the offender.

Date rape is an especially common problem in universities and colleges where parties and social gatherings are frequent, and where drugs and alcohol are often present during these functions.

Many date rape cases also happen during high school and college dating activities between couples. In many cases, the offender is the victim’s boyfriend who feels that the girl owes him sex just because they have a romantic relationship or already had prior sexual encounters.

Majority of date rape cases go unreported either due to fear or shame by the victims or because the victims are uncertain whether it was really rape to begin with.

Date Rape - Drawing the Line

Due to the subjective components that are often involved, date rapes are not only difficult but may become almost impossible to prove. The following situations however are common cases that can constitute as date rape.

• If an individual is intoxicated and is unable to clearly consent to the sexual act and the offender, regardless of whether he is also intoxicated or not, forces the individual to engage in sexual activity
• If the offender deliberately gets a girl drunk or high, then had sexual relations with her
• If the offender is unaware that a girl is drunk or high, then had sexual relations with her
• If the offender did not get a girl drunk or high but is aware of it, then had sexual relations with her
• If the offender continues to engage the girl in sexual activity even if she’s clearly indicates that she wants him to stop either by words or by action

  ===
We all want to think we are safe but are we? If you want to know more about the different types of crimes committed today, RecordsSiteReviews.com is offering FREE ACCESS to its Criminal Records Information section. If you have a nagging suspicion on someone, run a criminal check on him or her today !