Addressing Rape Reform in Law and Practice

PThe first comprehensive book on rape since Susan Brownmiller's IAgainst Our Will /Iand Susan Estrich's IReal Rape/I, this volume probes every aspect of rape law and the discrepancies between ideal law (on the books) and real law (in action). Susan Caringella canvasses the success and failure of reform in the United States, as well as Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, and assesses alternative perspectives on rape reform, making use of theoretical models, court cases and statistical data. She uniquely delineates a creative model for change while addressing the discretion that undermines efforts at change. This includes charging the accused and plea bargaining, confronting a lack of transparency and accountability in implementing law, and acquiring funding for such changes. /PPSusan Caringella is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice Program, and of Gender and Women's Studies at Western Michigan University. An internationally renowned expert on rape, feminism, and criminology, she is deputy editor of the IJournal of Women and Criminal Justice/Iand an editorial board member for the IJournal of Violence Against Women/Iand IFeminist Criminology/I./PPA very important contribution to an even more important debate: What happened to the rape reform movement? What went wrong, what went right, and why does it seem like we did so much and accomplished so much less? Anyone seeking to answer these questions-and many of us should try-will find Susan Caringella's careful and thoughtful analysis a must-read starting point in a reinvigorated effort to address the continuing challenges posed by the reality of rape and the difficulties encountered in the efforts of the criminal justice system to address it. -- Susan Estrich, Robert Kingsley Professor of Law and Political Science, University of Southern California, and author of IReal Rape and the Case for Hillary Clinton/I/PPNo other book offers such a new