Sexual Assault Posts
January 2021 Council Meeting Updates
At its meeting on January 21 and 22, 2021, the ALI Council reviewed and discussed Council Drafts and approved drafts and portions of drafts as listed below.
Sex Offense Registries in Europe and Around the World
This article presents new research by Stephen Schulhofer about the treatment of sex offense registration in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU. The research, along with an introduction by Alessandro Corda, comes from material prepared for inclusion in an upcoming draft of the Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses.
Project Spotlight: Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses
This article summarizes certain portions of the 1962 Model Penal Code (1962 Code) that are integral to understanding Sections of MPC:SA, and provides a very brief overview of points raised in past project meetings that may provide readers the comprehensive scope of the status of the project.
#MeToo and Mass Incarceration
This Symposium Guest Editor’s Note is an adapted version of the Introduction to “The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration” (UC Press 2020).
Registration and Notification
The current ALI project Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses is a re-examination of Article 213 of the Model Penal Code. This post presents Section 213. 12 (A-J) of the most recent project draft (Council Draft No. 10, printed on December 13, 2019).
January 2020 Council Meeting Updates
At its meeting in Philadelphia on January 16 and 17, the ALI Council reviewed drafts for ten projects.
October 2019 Council Updates
During its meeting in New York City on October 17 and 18, the ALI Council reviewed drafts for seven Institute projects. Drafts or portions of drafts for six projects received Council approval, subject to the meeting discussion and to the usual prerogative to make nonsubstantive editorial improvements.
Will the ABA Endorse An Affirmative-Consent Standard In Sex-Assault Prosecutions?
Many colleges have adopted a principle known as “affirmative consent,” which makes it easier to infer misconduct (and thus impose expulsion or other discipline) when a record is lacking in verbal or physical evidence one way or the other as to whether a student’s sexual encounter with another student was consensual.
Why Is Defining Consent So Difficult?
Consent is a concept at the center of criminal law and sexual assault. So, why is it so difficult to accurately define? Sexual assault laws have evolved from requiring the victim to resist toward requiring consent. However, “consent” is defined in many ways.
Consent and Sexual Assault in Criminal v. Tort Law
In this episode of Reasonably Speaking, NYU Law’s Erin Murphy and UC Irvine Law’s Ken Simons explore the difference between criminal law and tort law in the United States and then focus on how “consent” is, and should be, defined in sexual assault allegations.