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Unpacking Constitutional Confusion in the Voicelessness of Third Parties in Criminal Cases  


Author:  Wendy J.  Murphy, J.D..


Source: Volume 05, Number 01, Summer 2012 , pp.73-96(24)




Family & Intimate Partner Violence Quarterly

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Abstract: 

Yet another outrage visited upon some victims of sexual assault is confronting discovery demands by the perpetrator’s attorney for their confidential therapy records. As attorney and law professor Wendy Murphy argues, why is it that no other victims of crime besides rape victims are subject to such violations of their privacy? With the dispassionate analysis of a law professor coupled with the author’s well-known fiery advocacy for rape victims, Ms. Murphy provides a compelling and coherent set of philosophical and legal arguments aimed to abolish such sexist violations of women’s civil rights. As she points out in the last line of the article, “The public will not long respect a legal system that allows accused criminals to cause gratuitous constitutional harm to traumatized individuals who have already endured the pain of criminal violence and have a right to heal in safety and peace.”

Keywords: disclosure, discovery, Davis v. Alaska , 415 U.S. 308, Pennsylvania v. Ritchie , 480 U.S., Commonwealth v. Stockhammer , 409 Mass. 867 39, Commonwealth v. Figueroa , 595 N.E. 2d 779, Commonwealth v. Dwyer II , 456 Mass. 1018

Affiliations:  1: New England Law/Boston.

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