Roundtree v.
581 A.2d 315.
Dressler, pp. 360-361
The discussion here is about
balancing the good of preventing and punishing rape versus the good of
protecting criminal defendants from having their rights taken away or being
wrongly convicted or both.
In the past, the law has been
really terrible to women, basically treating them as chattels.
Notes and Questions
1.
Here
is a conflicted female lawyer who wants to stop rape but is also a civil
libertarian and doesn’t want to compromise the rights of defendants. I think she should be given credit for not
playing pure identity politics: that is, she might as well say “I don’t care
about the defendants, because they’re men and I’m a woman. I am in favor of anything that is good for
women, especially if it is bad for men.”
2.
I
think these two suggestions, that (1) acquaintance rape might be best handled
through very private mediation and (2) there might be a better outcome for rape
victims if they sue for a tort instead of filing a criminal charge. Among other reasons, the standard of proof is
lower for a tort than for a crime.