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Abstract: 

The majority of sexual assault victims know their assailants. Despite this fact, many people (including jurors) still associate the words “rape” or “sexual assault” with violent attacks by strangers. A current or former intimate relationship between a victim and defendant creates additional complexities that often make the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of an intimate partner rapist even more difficult. These complexities are only magnified where the intimate relationship is marital. This article describes the remaining legal exemptions to prosecuting marital rape and sets forth key considerations necessary to making accurate charging decisions in marital rape cases—which, in this article, includes cases that involve any form of sexual violence, including penetration and contact offenses, and provides additional resources for developing strategies to overcome biases, misconceptions, and legal hurdles in marital rape cases.

Keywords: Marital Rape; “Irrevocable Consent” Theory; Co-occurrence of Sexual and Physical Violence; Impact of Nonparticipating Victim on the Charging Decision

Affiliations:  1: AEquitas; 2: AEquitas; 3: AEquitas.