{"id":313,"date":"2003-08-04T16:42:51","date_gmt":"2003-08-05T00:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2003\/08\/04\/the-illinois-law-doesnt-mean-that-its-rape-if-he-doesnt-stop-instantly\/"},"modified":"2003-08-04T16:42:51","modified_gmt":"2003-08-05T00:42:51","slug":"the-illinois-law-doesnt-mean-that-its-rape-if-he-doesnt-stop-instantly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=313","title":{"rendered":"The Illinois law doesn't mean that it's rape if he doesn't stop "instantly""},"content":{"rendered":"

(Note: a lot of this post, I’ve cribbed from what I wrote in the comments to a previous post<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Having watched the controversy for a few days now, the most persistent argument against the Illinois rape law <\/a>(actually, just an amendment to an already existing law<\/a>) is that this legislation would result in men being thrown in prison for failing to stop “instantly.” For instance, Allison at Ain’t That A Kick in the Head <\/a>writes:<\/p>\n

This is a totally different story than failing to stop ‘immediately’ once consent is withdrawn. […] I’d hate to be a man standing accused of this particular crime, and try to find compelling evidence to defend myself. What would I need for that? A signed contract and a stop watch?<\/div>\n

And Don of Anger Management (who is able to admit when <\/a>he’s made a mistake – a rare and admirable trait in the blogoverse) writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I admit, this is a tough call but there has to be a more reasonable, and certainly a more clearly defined standard for the point at which consensual sex becomes rape. At minimum, failure to cease “immediately” after consent has been clearly revoked should be reduced to a misdemeanor…<\/div>\n

What struck me is that both of these writers put the word “immediately” in quotes, but what is it they’re quoting? Certainly not the Illinois law in question, which says nothing about “immediately.”<\/p>\n

In Illinois (ignoring cases where “did she consent?” isn’t an issue, such as statutory rape or an unconscious victim) it’s not legally “sexual assault” unless there’s force or a threat of force. This new law doesn’t change that; even under this revision, prosecutors still need to prove use of threats or overcoming force.<\/p>\n

(d)”Force or threat of force” means the use of force or violence, or the threat of force or violence, including but not limited to the following situations:<\/p>\n

(1) when the accused threatens to use force or violence on the victim or on any other person, and the victim under the circumstances reasonably believed that the accused had the ability to execute that threat; or<\/p>\n

(2) when the accused has overcome the victim by use of superior strength or size, physical restraint or physical confinement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Remember if the state can’t convince a judge or a jury that “threat of force or violence” was used, then the accused can’t be convicted of rape. The new amendment to the Illinois law doesn’t change that.<\/p>\n

What the amendment does is make it clear that “but she consented before she changed her mind and said no” isn’t a valid defense. Other defenses – like “she’s lying!” or “I never used threat of force or force” – remain valid. And the burden of proof remains with the prosecution, not the defense. This is why Allison’s concerns that men will need “a signed contract and a stop watch” to defend themselves are misplaced..<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Note: a lot of this post, I’ve cribbed from what I wrote in the comments to a previous post). Having watched the controversy for a few days now, the most persistent argument against the Illinois rape law (actually, just an … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rape-intimate-violence-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}