You've decided to speak with the prosecutor, Mary, on behalf of Maureen, the college student who was the victim of date rape. You want to convince Mary to support change in prosecutor's policy of not prosecuting date rape cases when drugs or alcohol are involved. Maureen decided not to speak to the media yet, hoping that you can persuade Mary and the chief prosecutor to change their policy. Maureen knows other young women are being attacked and that very often date rape drugs are being used. Mary has agreed to meet with you and Maureen. Your goal will be twofold: First, to educate Mary about date rape using statistics and information about date rape and date rape drugs to show her that Maureen is one of the types of victim that perpetrators take advantage of in these situations; and second, not prosecuting the cases is the wrong public and social policy. Of course, you are also hopeful that the victim, Maureen, also receives help in her case.
To organize your efforts before your meeting, create an outline in bullet form that contains the following information for the four topics:
- UCR/NCVS reported crime statistics relating to rape and the strengths and weakness of each type of reporting.
- Define the term "date rape" (or acquaintance rape - the terms are interchangeable) and how date rape (acquaintance rape) is distinguished from stranger rape, statutory rape, and spousal rape.
- The types and uses of date rape drugs.
- The victim/offender relationship:
- How victims are viewed by perpetrators of date rape
- The special problems of date rape prosecutions
- How society and jurors may view date rape (blaming the victim based on the perceived precipitation, facilitation, or provocation of the victim).
- What is your position on this issue, and what action do you think would impact this social policy?