RT Article
T1 Lawyers’ strategies for cross-examining rape complainants: have we moved beyond the 1950s?
JF The British journal of criminology
VO 57
IS 3
SP 551
OP 569
A1 Zydervelt, Sarah
LA English
YR 2017
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1565159829
AB Despite widespread reforms to legislation and policy, rape complainants still find cross-examination distressing, demeaning and humiliating. We conducted a systematic and holistic examination of cross-examination strategies to discern: (1) the range of tactics that defence lawyers use to challenge rape complainants’ accounts; and (2) whether—and if so, how—the approaches used currently differ from those used prior to the reforms. We compared the strategies and tactics used in cases that were prosecuted in the 1950s to those used in cases from the turn of the twenty-first century. Although contemporary complainants were subjected to lengthier cross-examinations involving a broader range of tactics than their historical counterparts, there was little difference in the breakdown of strategies and tactics across time periods
K1 Rape
K1 Prosecution
K1 Cross-examination
K1 Courtroom questioning
K1 Historical comparison
K1 Vergewaltigung
K1 Verfahrensverlauf
K1 Vernehmung
K1 Vernehmungstechniken
K1 Kreuzverhör
K1 Historischer Vergleich
DO 10.1093/bjc/azw023