Rape is Rape

I try not to be political here on my blog, but sometimes I just can’t help myself and this is one of those times.

How can I hear the words forcible rape being bantered around by politicians on TV? Forcible is one of the main elements of rape.

Black’s Law Dictionary defines rape as the

Unlawful sexual intercourse with a female without her consent. The unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman by a man forcibly and against her will. The act of sexual intercourse committed by a man with a woman not his wife and without her consent committed when a woman's resistance is overcome by force or fear, or under other prohibitive conditions. 

(There are some states where a husband can be charged with raping his wife.)

The word rape should not be used unless there is force or the fear of force. The use of legitimate rape or forcible rape doesn’t exist. I think what these politicians are talking about is date rape. To technically be date rape there still must be the use of force or the fear of the use of force.  The victim is fearful of her lover, or her husband. People close to the victim can still be a threat to her. Not to mention just because a woman has had sex with a man several times in the past does not mean she always wants to have sexual intercourse with him; there is always the issue of consent.

Perception is also important in rape cases as in several other types of crimes. What did the victim perceive? Did she feel threatened? Did she think the man had the ability to hurt her? Just the usual size differences can cause fear. Many women also depend on men for their financial support. They fear themselves doing without, or worse yet, their children doing without.

The rape I will describe below stands out among the various rapes I 've worked throughout my law enforcement career.

In one of the jurisdictions where I worked I was sent to an address reference a possible rape. The victim lived alone in one of the apartments in a house that had been converted into multiple apartments. She was in her late seventies. The owner of the converted house also owned and rented out the house next to it.

The victim was noticeably embarrassed and uncomfortable talking about the attack, however I still needed to ask her to explain everything that happened.  According to the victim, the previous morning the young man that lived in the house next store came to her door and told her the landlord told him he could contact her to get a bed frame out of the storage room that was next to the victim’s apartment. The victim said she walked out into the hall and showed him the door to the storage room. She said he politely thanked her and went into the room and was there for several minutes. Soon after, there was a knock at her apartment door and it was the same young man. While she was holding the door open he forced his way through the door shoving her backwards into the apartment. He led her into the bedroom and told her to lie on the bed; he undressed her, then pulled down his pants and raped her. As soon as he left, she took the sheets off the bed put them in a laundry basket, put her clothes in the laundry basket then took a shower. She said she felt so dirty. The victim said she then called a friend who told her she should call the police, but she didn’t want to because she was scared of possible retaliation by her rapist/neighbor. The following morning she took the soiled laundry to the laundry mat and it was that afternoon she talked with her daughter on the telephone that told her she should report it or the neighbor might come back again.

Although the rape had been well over twenty four hours, I convinced her to let me take her to the hospital. She had some tears in her vaginal area because it had been years since she had sexual intercourse. The hospital was able to swab some residual seminal fluid from her vagina.

I got an arrest warrant and arrested the suspect later that evening. I never went to court on that case as it was plead out, but the suspect did do some jail time.

The suspect didn’t have a gun or knife or any kind of weapon. He was probably four times as big as the victim as well as four times younger.  Is that force? She could only fathom what he might do if she resisted.  How do we start categorizing rape?  I cannot see why. Apparently some current politicians think we should.  And this entire hubbub started in connection with abortion, let’s not even go there.  

Until next time,

Sally S