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Marital Rape Laws In The United States

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The legal history of marital rape laws in the United States is a long and complex one that evolves through several decades. Traditional rape laws in the US defined rape as forced sexual intercourse by a male with a "female not his wife", making it clear that the statutes did not apply to married couples.
The criminalization of marital rape in the United States started in the mid-1970’s and by 1993 marital rape was a crime in all 50 states, under at least one section of the sexual offense codes. In 1992, a survey by the National Victim Centre in Arlington, Virginia states that 10% of all sexual assault cases reported by women involved a husband or ex-husband. During the 1990’s, most states differentiated between the way marital rape and non-marital …show more content…
The severity of the legal punishment for rape depends on whether the victim was a virgin. Richard A. Posner writes that, "Traditionally, rape was the offense of depriving a father or husband of a valuable asset — his wife's chastity or his daughter's virginity". Rhonda Copleon writes that, "Where rape is treated as a crime against honour, the honour of women is called into question and virginity or chastity is often a precondition." Until recent decades, rape has been understood as a crime against honour and reputation - not only in domestic legislation, but also in international law. In example, according to the Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, "Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault". It was not until the 1990s that the ICC statute recognized crimes of sexual violence as violent crimes against the person; "Not until the last half century was rape understood to be an offense against the woman, against her dignity, instead of against her family's or her husband's …show more content…
Determining the criminal status of marital rape may be a challenge. This is because while some countries explicitly criminalize the act and other countries explicitly exempt spouses, in many countries the ordinary rape laws are still silent on the issue. Therefore, in such cases, in order to determine whether marital rape is covered by the ordinary rape laws such as our own, it must be analysed whether there are judicial decisions in this respect; and former definitions of the law are also

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