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The Forcible Rape or Common Law

Common law or forcible rape is a sexual intercourse against the will of an individual.

Basically, the vital elements of forcible rape or common law include:

a) Sexual Contact or Sexual Intercourse

Acts resulting to sexual contact are considered differently in different cases by the

judiciary. A slight penetration into female sex organs is adequate evidence for one to be convicted

of sexual intercourse in a court of law (Block, pg. 37). A conviction for forcible rape can be granted

even if a complete penetration or entrance into woman’s sexual organ did not occur. In issues

concerning raping of young girls, tear of her vagina or rapture of her hymen is not an adequate

evidence to convict an individual for a crime of forcible rape.

Again, courts have affirmed that, sexual intercourse include sexual contact amid

individuals including sexual organs of one individual and the anus or the mouth of another (Block,

pg. 54). However, in some states, using figure to penetrate into other persons sexual organ is not

adequate to constitute an entry so as to convict on a crime of forcible rape.

a) Forced or Threat

Threat or force is a vital element of charge of forcible rape. The force can be physical or

constructive. In order to constitute threat or force, putting bodily restraints on the affected

individual is enough in certain jurisdictions. Non-resistance from the part of the affected individual

due to fear may be considered as a good evidence of force by some law courts (Williams, pg. 70).
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Threats of bodily injury can be considered as a force in action on rape. Severe physical injury is a

clear element for the charge of rape in a first degree forced sex. Absence or presence of forceful

compulsion requires that it must be determined from the point of a rape victim.

b) Lack of Consent of The Victim

Absence or lack of consent of an individual to sexual intercourse does not prevent a

conviction of rape. An individual can withdraw his or her awareness at the instance of the sexual

intercourse, and in case forced to complete the act against the willingness of the victim, then a

commitment of forcible rape is considered to have occurred (Williams, pg. 68). Some law courts

have held that consent to sexual intercourse can be withdrawn any time before entrance or

penetration into sexual organ.

Criminal Assault and Battery

Although assault and battery are in most cases charged together, the two terms are very

different in meaning. Moreover, a criminal charge of battery or assault bears with it a different

definition as well as the burden of proof compared to a civil complaint of either act (Currul‐

Dykeman, pg.33). Therefore, this indicates that if you are presented to court convicted of either of

the two, and you are not aware or other you don’t understand the two terms, there is probability

for the defendant to be convicted of the two crimes since they almost carry the same weight.

Criminal assault is described under the state law and it is commonly the lesser compared

to battery. Basically, criminal assault includes threatening another individual with violence with

the bodily power to follow through with the particular threat (Currul‐Dykeman, pg.44). The verdict

does not necessarily depend on whether the culprit in reality followed through with the threat or

did not. The offence itself is prefixed on the threat itself. Committing this offence can lead to

felony or misdemeanor charge, relying on the situation as well as the state law (Currul‐Dykeman,
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pg.90). Mostly, felony charges occur when the affected individual is threatened with a deadly

weapon or at the instances of aggravated assault.

On the other hand, Criminal battery occurs when a treat is carried through. The kind of

crime can occur if another individual is touched, injured or groped in an unwanted manner.

Criminal battery tends to be more severe compared to Assault since it encompasses the real;

infliction of danger into an individual (Currul‐Dykeman, pg.64). In Most of the states, battery does

not necessarily need to be serious enough that a mark must be seen on the victim. Sexual abuse

commonly is categorized as a criminal battery.

Statutory Rape

In my state, statutory rape is defined as the sexual relationship which involves somebody

below the “the consent age,” commonly below thirteen years. Individual below the age of consent

are not able to lawfully consent to having sexual intercourse (Bierie and Kristen, pg. 23).

Therefore, that implies that doing sex with them, is an automatic violation of the law. Again,

considering the age difference in my state for the rape case to be considered as a statutory law, the

age difference amid the suspect and the victim must be at least three years younger or older. The

matter of investigating mental fitness, commonly described as mens rea, is not Condon at all in

my states. Provided the suspect has broken the law, the law must take its route regardless of the

mental condition, especially cases revolving around Statutory rape.

Defenses Which Can Be Applied to Assault and Battery

There are variety of defenses which can be applied to Assault and Battery

as learned earlier in class. The defenses include:

a) The accused individual can prove before court that the alleged victim consented to the

bodily contact on which the alleged charge was grounded.

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b) An individual encountering the assault and battery charges can demonstrate that the contact

of the alleged victim was necessary as a way of self defense or the defense of a third party.
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Work cited

Bierie, David M., and Kristen M. Budd. "Romeo, Juliet, and statutory rape." Sexual Abuse 30.3

(2018): 296-321.

Block, Mary R. "‘For the Repressing of the Most Wicked and Felonious Rapes or Ravishments

of Women’: Rape Law in England, 1660–1800." Interpreting Sexual Violence, 1660–

1800. Routledge, 2015. 39-50.

Currul‐Dykeman, Kathleen. "Assault and Battery." The Encyclopedia of Criminology and

Criminal Justice (2014): 1-3.

Williams, Wendy W. "The equality crisis: Some reflections on culture, courts, and feminism

[1982]." Feminist legal theory. Routledge, 2018. 13-34.