"In "Rape and the Culture of the Courtroom," Taslitz (a former
prosecutor) is concerned to show how and why police, prosecutors,
judges, and defense attorneys use their discretion to circumvent
legal reforms in rape law."
--"Hypatia"
Rape law reform has been a stunning failure. Defense lawyers
persist in emphasizing victims' characters over defendants'
behavior. Reform's goals of increasing rape report and conviction
rates have generally not been achieved. In Rape and the Culture of
the Courtroom, Andrew Taslitz locates the cause of rape reform
failure in the language lawyers use, and the cultural stories upon
which they draw to dominate rape victims in the courtroom.
Cultural stories about rape, Taslitz argues, such as the
provocatively dressed woman "asking for it," are at the root of
many unconscious prejudices that determine jury views. He connects
these stories with real-life examples, such as the Mike Tyson and
Glen Ridge rape trials, to show how rape stereotypes are used by
defense lawyers to gain acquittals for their clients.
Building on Deborah Tannen's pathbreaking research on the
differences between male and female speech, Taslitz also
demonstrates how word choice, tone, and other lawyers' linguistic
tactics work to undermine the confidence and the credibility of the
victim, weakening her voice during the trial. Taslitz provides
politically realistic reform proposals, consistent with feminist
theories of justice, which promise to improve both the adversary
system in general and the way that the system handles rape
cases.
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