Authors:
- Luke McNamara, School of Law, Society & Criminology, University of New South Wales - ResearchGate

- Julia Quilter, School of Law, University of Wollongong - Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate

Contents:

	Artist's Note (p. vi)
	Acknowledgements (p. vii)
	Table of Cases (p. xv)
	Table of Statutes (p. xvii)
	1. Introduction (p. 1)
		1. The Promise and the Reality (p. 1)
		2. Explaining the Problem (p. 4)
		3. Modes of Statutory Infuence (p. 9)
		4. Origins of this Book (p. 11)
		5. The Wider Relevance of Our Analysis (p. 14)
		6. Terminology (p. 15)
		7. Chapter Outline (p. 16)
	2. Theorizing the Problems with Rape Law and Trials (p. 18)
		1. Introduction (p. 18)
		2. New Knowledges (p. 19)
		3. The Patriarchal, Masculine Logic of the Law (p. 23)
		4. The Translation to Practice Problem(p. 26)
			The ‘intentions’ of progressive reforms don’t control the practices of the law (p. 27)
			Inconsistent implementation or uptake by practitioners (p. 28)
			The trial as a whole is ‘resistant’ to change (p. 29)
		5. Rape Myths (p. 32)
			What do we mean by ‘rape myths’? (p. 33)
			What does the literature from trials and mock juror studies tell us? (p. 34)
			Solutions? (p. 36)
	3. The Australian Rape Law Reform Project Since the 1970s (p. 38)
		1. Introduction (p. 38)
			The architecture of rape law reform (p. 38)
			Drivers of change (p. 39)
			Modes of statutory infuence (p. 42)
		2. Infuential Events (p. 44)
			The Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct Act 1974 (p. 44)
			The Sydney Rape Crisis Collective (1974) (p. 45)
			The Royal Commission on Human Relationships (1977) (p. 45)
			The Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) Draf Bill (1977) (p. 46)
			National Conference on Rape Law Reform (1980) (p. 47)
		3. Reforms to Substantive Criminal Law (p. 49)
			Gender neutrality and broadening sexual penetration (p. 49)
			A crime of violence (p. 50)
			Towards a ‘modern’ concept of consent and non-consent? (p. 51)
				Marital immunity (p. 52)
				‘Vitiated’ consent (or statutory indicators of non-consent) (p. 52)
				Legislating a positive conception of consent (p. 55)
			The fault element for rape (p. 57)
		4. Procedural Reforms (p. 59)
			General measures (p. 59)
				Closed courts during a complainant’s evidence (p. 60)
				Alternative arrangements for giving evidence (p. 60)
				Support person (p. 60)
				Protection of complainant anonymity (p. 60)
			Specifc measures (p. 61)
				Prohibition on personal cross-examination by the accused (p. 61)
				‘Re-use’ of complainant’s evidence at retrial (p. 61)
			Considering procedural reform (p. 61)
		5. Reforming Evidence Rules (p. 62)
			Restrictions on sexual experience evidence (p. 63)
			Counselling communications privilege (p. 65)
			Improper questions (p. 66)
			From warnings that evoked rape myths to jury directions that ‘correct’ them (p. 67)
				Corroboration (p. 68)
				‘Delay’ (p. 68)
				Diferences in accounts (p. 68)
				Recent expansion of jury directions (p. 69)
		6. Conclusion (p. 71)
	4. Windows to Rape Trial Practice
		1. Introduction (p. 75)
		2. Barriers to ‘Open Justice’ (p. 76)
		3. Finding the Way ‘in’ to Trials (p. 78)
			Observation and transcript studies (p. 79)
		4. Research Design (p. 83)
			The Victorian trials(p. 83)
			The NSW trials (p. 85)
			Limitations of transcripts and our samples (p. 86)
			Ethics approval and confdentiality measures (p. 88)
			Coding and qualitative analysis (p. 90)
			Use of transcript extracts in this book (p. 91)
			Other data sources (p. 92)
		5. Conclusion (p. 93)
	5. Special Measures for Rape Trials
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
	6. Framing the Crown Case: The Influence of 'Real Rape' Attributes
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
	7. Cross-Examination: 'Genuine' Victims, 'Lying' Complainants, and the Resilience of Rape Myths
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
	8. Intoxication Evidence
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
	9. Judicial Influences on Rape Trials
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
		(p. )
	10. Conclusion (p. 236)
		1. Responsibility for the Status Quo (p. 236)
		2. What Else Can Be Done? (p. 247)
	Index (p. 257)

Description: »Despite fifty years of "progressive" rape law reform in Australia and across the common law world, victim-survivors of sexual violence continue to express disappointment and distress when they seek justice through the criminal courts.
Reforming Rape Trials examines why. Drawing on rare access to tens of thousands of pages of transcripts from more than 100 rape trials in New South Wales and Victoria, the authors reveal a significant gap between the rhetoric of reform and the realities of courtroom practice. Complainants are still routinely accused of lying and are interrogated for not behaving as a supposedly "genuine" victim should. These questioning practices remain deeply shaped by rape myths and stereotypes that are both harmful and empirically unfounded.
Departing from earlier scholarship, which has largely attributed ongoing problems to failures of implementation by lawyers, judges, and juries, the book argues that the issues run deeper. The persistence of rape-myth reasoning and character attacks is not simply a failure of courtroom actors to adapt; it stems from the fact that policymakers and legislators have never genuinely attempted to eliminate these practices. Modern reform efforts often prioritize complex statutory definitions of consent and detailed jury directions. Yet these tools do little to transform the parts of the trial that most urgently require change-particularly cross-examination strategies steeped in outdated and misleading assumptions about sexual violence.
The authors conclude that meaningful justice for victim-survivors requires a broader rethinking of law reform. Central to this is confronting the expansive notion of "relevant" evidence, which currently allows rape myths to enter the courtroom under the guise of probative value. They argue that an accused person's criminal responsibility can — and must — be assessed without relying on evidence that perpetuates myths that have no legitimate role in twenty-first-century trials.« (Source: Oxford University Press)

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