Public disquiet has been intermittently but vehemently expressed about the crime of rape and the way it is handled by the criminal justice system. But in the 21st century the legal process still fails to provide an adequate response to sexual violation and abuse. This text examines some of the difficulties which this crime presents and analyses in detail how the legal system could and should be addressing them. Central issues considered include the experience of rape victims, their treatment by the police and the courts and the inadequacies of the present law and the rules of evidence surrounding it. Changes enacted in many different jurisdictions, such as schemes for legal representation for victims of sexual violence are evaluated.

This book is set against the background of the so-called 'justice gap' in sexual assault cases. It represents an interdisciplinary attempt to examine the attitudinal problems which bedevil this area of law and to offer possible strategies for addressing them. Written by a professor of law and a professor of psychology, Sexual Assault and the Justice Gap reviews evidence from both socio-legal and social cognition research examining the impact of rape-related attitudes on judgements about sexual offenses. It presents new qualitative data from interviews with judges and barristers, and includes new experimental studies that illustrate how stereotypic beliefs about rape affect perceptions of victim blame and perpetrator culpability. The final part of the book discusses strategies to suppress the impact of rape stereotypes and promote the data-driven appraisal of sexual assault complaints.