California Supreme Court says rape begins when woman says stop

Associated Press / SFGate

[RCW2001]

Monday, January 6, 2003
©2003 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/01/06/national2027EST0776.DTL

(01-06) 17:27 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

The California Supreme Court defined rape Monday as continued sexual intercourse by a man after his female partner demands that it stop.

The 7-0 decision reverses a 1985 ruling by a lower court.

"This opinion is significant. It appears the California Supreme Court has clearly rejected an opportunity to revisit past barriers to rape convictions," said Douglas Beloof, an attorney with the National Crime Victim Law Institute.

The 2000 case involved two 17-year-olds who had sex in a bedroom during a party. The boy testified that the sex was consensual and that he stopped when the girl demanded. She testified the boy kept having sex with her for about a "minute and a half" after she called it off.

The boy was convicted of rape and served about six months in a juvenile facility. The high court affirmed that conviction Monday.

Justice Janice Rogers Brown, while agreeing with the majority on what constitutes rape, dissented on whether the boy was guilty. She wrote that the girl never clearly said stop, instead saying "I should be going now" and "I need to go home."

Brown also wondered how much time a man has to stop once a woman says stop.

"Ten seconds? Thirty?" she wrote.

©2003 Associated Press

[JZoback]

Serves him right

Reverse the situation.

The boy told the girl to stop, and she didn't.

Is it still rape and does she deserves the six months?

[First Amendment]

The sexually charged atmosphere we got going nowadays - no need to go into all the ways, but fr'instance sexually explicit movies, music, clothes that only professional ladies used to wear now on 13 yr olds, etc - encourage this kind of "rape". Teenage girls are sex-educated into thinking that they should "put out" for any guy, and the guys expect it. There's a lot to be said for modesty in behavior and outlook. It used to protect girls - and boys.

[Mark]

So, was HE not a victim of statutory rape?

[Born in a Rage]

Maybe the girl was in pain. Maybe she realized they weren't using birth control. Maybe she 'consented' at first due to a fear of the boy. Under any of these scenarios, a minute and a half is a very long time and it's a very long time for him to be 'doing his thing' knowing the girl told him to stop.....that is rape.

[ontos-on]

The justice understands what happens during sexual congress. It is not a debating society or a telegraph station receiving dispassioned messages. The justice understands that language requires context to be taken into account in order to grasp what's going on .

[Texas Eagle]

Reverse the situation.
The boy told the girl to stop, and she didn't.
Is it still rape and does she deserves the six months?

You must be kidding me.

[friendly]

90 seconds elapse before he stops. Well, if he's 17 and having his first experience, it should have only taken 5 seconds.

LOL.

[ontos-on]

The radical feminists insist on pretending that this situation occurs in a vacuum. That is they denude it of human reality. It is how they insist on being willfully blind an ddeaf to the complex involvement of the woman ( playing a supposedly passive, innocent role while also playing the role of temptress, and inviting conquest ON ACCOUNT OF HER PROTESTS.) This is the human reality. IT IS WHY THIS, NOW SHE SAYS NOOOOOOO STUFF SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO ENTER INTO A CRIMINAL SPHERE.

[Born in a Rage]

The justice understands what happens during sexual congress. It is not a debating society or a telegraph station receiving dispassioned messages. The justice understands that language requires context to be taken into account in order to grasp what's going on .

I have no doubt that the girl was also trying to push the boy off of her while she told him she needed to go home. There's your context...

[Young Werther]

60 mph is 88 feet per second. Assuming a 6" pee pee it should take him 176 seconds to stop. The fact that he stopped in 90 seconds should have been a mitigating factor or....maybe he was pee pee challenged!

[Arkinsaw]

You must be kidding me.

I don't think he is. And I'm interested in the answer also. But I would add the complication that the boy never actually said stop, he only said "I need to go to football practice". Well......?

[San Jacinto]

...knowing the girl told him to stop.....that is rape.

She apparently said no such thing. Perhaps if she wanted him to stop, she could have told him explicitly to STOP! By her own admission, she used ambiguous language....I should go home.....or I should leave.

The law has convicted a 17 year old boy of a serious felony and branded him as a sex offender for life for having sex with a girl who gave her permission and then during the act said "I should go home."

We now live an Alice in Wonderland existence where common sense and logic have little application. All events are viewed through the looking glass of Political Correctness which must be acheived at all costs, as it is all that matters.

[Dallas]

In a moment of passion, any hesitation between the verbs, "Don't...Stop!" could really be confusing.

Does one:
(a)proceed with caution ?
(b)dismount immediately ?
(c)ask for clarification ?

[Arkinsaw]

'doing his thing' knowing the girl told him to stop.....that is rape.

The key point being that she "told him to stop" which it appears she did not. She said something about maybe I should possibly be going home maybe or something like that.

[nothingnew]

LOL.

You been there too, eh? Twas a long time ago fer me.

BWAHAHAHA!

FMCDH

[Arkinsaw]

They might as well rule that if you gave a kid permission to practice the 50 yard dash on your property, then yell out just when s/he's gotten up to maximum speed that you withdraw your permission, and s/he continues for several more yards, that the kid is guilty of trespassing.

Actually not even withdrawing your permission, just suggesting that maybe you don't possibly perhaps want someone running on your property....maybe.....hypothetically.

[Mark]

Now let's hear the testimony of the boy telling the court that he is hard of hearing-- the political correct mantra is that the disability backers need to focus on their input... he might be a victim here. Statutory rape is a serious charge against her.

[Mariner]

"completely innocent"

Yes, completely innocent in my opinion.