DOI:	Author's Address: Electronic Resource Number: University of Melbourne Date revised - 2013-06-12Last updated - 2013-07-18SubjectsTermNotLitGenreText - 6839 10218; 10135; 11087 11067 2542 11408; 6780; 6995 6541 6546 6543 9492 6780; 8399; 4394 5730; 2555 2557 6780 6559 9232; 6844 Rape conviction rates have fallen to all-time lows in recent years, prompting governments to explore a range of strategies to improve them. This paper argues that, while the current legal impunity for rape cannot be condoned, increasing conviction rates is not in itself a valid objective of law reform. The paper problematises the measure of rape law that conviction rates provide by developing an account of (some) feminist aims for rape law reform. Three feminist aims and associated measures are explained - all of which look beyond conviction rates to qualitative and victim-centred outcomes of criminal justice processes. Applying these measures, I argue that strategies designed solely to increase conviction rates are more likely to work against, rather than in support of, feminist aims. The paper thus underscores the need for continued feminist engagement with rape law reform, broadly conceived, notwithstanding its acute limitations for feminist anti-violence politics. Reprinted by permission of Springer [Appended From Merge Migration] An examination of case law on forced marriage reveals that in addition to physical force, the role of emotional pressure is now taken into consideration. However, in both legal and policy discourse, the difference between arranged and forced marriage continues to be framed in binary terms and hinges on the concept of consent: the context in which consent is constructed largely remains unexplored. By examining the socio-cultural construction of personhood, especially womanhood, and the intersecting structural inequalities that constrain particular groups of South Asian women in the UK, we argue that consent and coercion in relation to marriage can be better understood as two ends of a continuum, between which lie degrees of socio-cultural expectation, control, persuasion, pressure, threat and force. Women who face these constraints exercise their agency in complex and contradictory ways that are not always recognised by the existing exit-centred state initiatives designed to tackle this problem. SpringerLink.]">[? Springer, Part of Springer Science+Business Media. For further information, visit <a href="http://www.springer.com/law/journal/10691" target="_blank">SpringerLink</a>.] http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10691-011-9169-2
Electronic Resources:	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10691-011-9169-2?error=cookies_not_supported&error=cookies_not_supported&code=5de11b4c-a4c0-4e73-82c0-afa1aacbb41d http://sirius.library.unsw.edu.au:9003/sfx_local?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&sid=ProQ:ProQ%3Aibssshell&atitle=Falling+rape+conviction+rates%3A+%28some%29+feminist+aims+and+measures+for+rape+law&title=Feminist+legal+studies&issn=09663622&date=2011-04-01&volume=19&issue=1&spage=27&au=Larcombe%2C+Wendy&isbn=&jtitle=Feminist+legal+studies&btit[cut]
Web resource:	https://search.proquest.com/docview/865524770?accountid=12763
Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Coercion, consent and the forced marriage debate in the UK
Other Titles:	Feminist legal studies
Authors:	Anitha, Sundari Gill, Aisha
Keywords:	Legal issues;CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse)
Year:	2009
Publisher:	Springer Publishing
Citation:	17 (2), August 2009
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/13895
ISSN:	0966-3622
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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