When we think of rape, the image that comes to mind is a sexual predator who comes across his victims at parties or in clubs and attacks them when they are alone in parking lots, alleys, their homes or other secluded places. Unfortunately, however, potential rapists are not limited to strangers, and when a man or woman is raped by someone he or she knows, it is called date rape.
Many people mistakenly believe that if sex occurs between two people who know each other, it must be consentual. The exact opposite is true, however, as rape is defined as sex with someone who does not consent or who lacks the ability to consent.
Date rape (also called aquaintance rape) usually involves the latter scenario; using drugs, alcohol or some other form of coercion, one person relieves the other of the ability to consent. As far as the law is concerned, an individual is only able to consent to sexual activity if he or she is alert, lucid and “of sound mind”. When one’s ability to reason and think logically is taken away through the ingestion or injection of controlled substances, that person is no longer capable of consenting to sex. That is usually how date rape occurs.
Date rape also happens if the victim is threatened, coerced or forced into having sex, whether vaginally, orally or anally. Both men and women can be raped, although 90-93% of all rape victims are women, and it is estimated that one in every four women will become the victim of date rape.
One of the major problems with date rape where the law is concerned is that law enforcement professionals are taught to be wary of false accusations. Both women and men have cried rape in the past in an effort to get back at someone else who has wronged them. Since date rape occurs between people who know each other, the police will be inclined to investigate thoroughly before making an arrest or an accusation.
The most popular method of date rape is through drugs and/or alcohol. The “date rape” drugs, such as (“roofies”) and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), are slipped into the drink of a date rape victim. Within an hour or two, the victim will begin to feel inebriated and may fall into a semi-conscious stupor. At that point, the victim is sufficiently pliant that the rapist can take advantage.
One of the reasons that date rapists use the date rape drugs is because the side effects include memory loss. Many date rape victims wake up several hours later with no memory of the crime or the events leading up to it. For this reason, it is estimated that nearly 50% of date rapes go unreported.
Date rape can also be a crime of opportunity. Women who are drinking heavily at a party can become targets of men who wish to have sex. Even if the date rapist’s intention is not to rape, an inebriated individual does not have the ability to consent to sex. That, in and of itself, makes it date rape.
The United States criminal justice system takes date rape extremely seriously. Not only is it a sex crime, but it is also a violent crime. Date rapes are investigated immediately, and the date rape victim is encouraged to visit a local hospital as soon as possible. A rape kit will catch any evidence of the rape, including semen, hairs and signs of trauma. The date rape examination can be uncomfortable and humiliating to endure, but it’s one of the only ways in which the date rapist will be convicted.
The date rape victim will also need to be available to testify before the grand jury, and then at trial. He or she will recount the circumstances surrounding the date rape, which is a powerful way to earn sympathetic jurors. Although some states allow the prosecution of a date rape case without a complaining witness to testify in court, that is only possible if evidence of a date rape has been collected beforehand. Further, most rape cases which are tried without a victim’s testimony result in acquittal.
