Final Examination Question on the Law of Rape/Sexual Assault

Villanova University School oI Law

Criminal Law B
Fall 2011

Background and Rules: As reIlected in the syllabus, this question is part oI your Iinal examination.
It is worth a total oI 15 oI your Iinal examination, which (as you know Irom the syllabus) is in its
entirety worth 90 oI your Iinal grade Ior the course. It is suggested that you bring your completed
answer to this question with you the Iinal examination scheduled Ior December 21, 2010, and
immediately place it in your examination envelope. In any event, this question is due in your
examination envelope at the end oI the time allotted Ior your Iinal examination in the course. II your
answer to this question is not in your examination envelope at the end oI the time allotted Ior your
Iinal examination in the course, you will receive no credit Ior this question.

In answering this examination question, Iollow the rules Ior your Iinal examination as listed on the
syllabus. To repeat: 'The examination is open book, and you may bring into it anything other than
commercial outlines, outlines based in whole or in part on those prepared by anyone not in this class
this semester, and outlines which you have had no role in preparing. This question like the balance
oI the Iinal examination is not a group project. You are expected to work alone on this answer.
Violation oI these requirements will be treated as an Honor Code violation.

Do not put your name anywhere on your answer to this question. Instead, put your Iinal examination
number that you will receive Irom the Registrar`s OIIice.

There is an absolute upper word limit oI 500 words Ior this question. Anything more than 500 words
will not be read.

Precision, pertinence, and conciseness are more valuable than volume.

BeIore you start answering the question you should check that you have all 67 pages oI
the statutory supplement.

Set out in the 67 page statutory supplement, assigned Ior the study oI the law oI
rape/sexual assault earlier in the semester, are extracts Irom provisions oI the Pennsylvania
Statutes and the U.K. SexualOIIenses Act, criminalizing rape/sexual assault.
(1) Please discuss, compare, and contrast these statutory extracts (this part of the
question is worth 5 of your final grade for the course).
(2) Additionally, please discuss which oI these rape/sexual assault statutory provisions
youwould support enacting iI you were a legislator and explain why, including how your
choice addresses the social harm oI rape/sexual assault. As well as addressing the
adequacy oI the legislation you propose as a societal response to the social harm oI
rape/sexual assault, your answer should address Iundamental policy questions about what
society should criminalize and why criminal punishment should be imposed on criminal
oIIenders (this part of the question is worth 10 of your final grade for the course).

mportant notes:
1. You may choose to Iocus on one or more speciIic provisions oI the statutory extracts, or
consider the complete statutory extracts. You may also suggest modiIications to the
provisions or statutory extract you would choose to adopt.
2. The extracts in the statutory supplement are partial, and not complete.As such, you
should not assume that Pennsylvania does not criminalize sex traIIicking, Ior example,
because the statutory extract does not include the relevant provisions.