Wykes, M. and Artz, L. (2020) What’s law got to do with it? Comparing the failure to deter or convict rapists in the United Kingdom and South Africa. International Review of Victimology, 26 (2). pp. 212-233. ISSN 0269-7580
Abstract
The journey from reporting rape to convicting rapists is complex leading to high attrition and non-conviction rates. After wide consultation, the law in England and Wales was revised in 2003 to try to secure more convictions. In South Africa, a similar process occurred to produce a new law in 2007. Nonetheless reported rapes have risen and conviction rates have fallen in both jurisdictions and it has been suggested that the failure of the criminal justice system to deal with ‘rape….. encapsulates the sheer inadequacy of the law’ (Wykes and Welsh, 2009:111) and offers little hope of justice to victims and little deterrence to perpetrators. In South Africa little has changed except more is known about ‘the lived experiences of sexual violence’ (Artz and Smythe, 2007:17) and more support is offered to victims after the event. This article explores the part played by law in dealing with rape, through a comparison of the United Kingdom and South Africa. Critical gendered analysis of their respective rape laws leads to the conclusion that that law cannot work effectively to deter or convict rapists: only men’s willingness to change can stop rape.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in International Review of Victimology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Rape; law; gender; culture; power |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Law (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2019 14:06 |
Last Modified: | 13 May 2021 18:05 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0269758019886510 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148471 |
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Filename: Wykes revised IRV accepted June 2019.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0