In Search of Gender Justice: Sexual Assault and the Criminal Justice System

Within the feminist movement, there is profound scepticism about the value of research into the workings of state institutions, particularly the legal system. When feminists engage with the law, it is argued, they invariably concede too much; the rules of engagement are drawn in a way that contains the feminist challenge while reaffirming the power of law (Smart, 1989). It is not difficult to find examples in the history of feminist campaigns which support this position, documenting the disillusionment of feminist activists who have abandoned attempts to reform the legal system and instead promote their objectives by means of non-legal strategies. Yet in view of the complex and contradictory ways in which the legal system operates, there is room for a variety of approaches to reform, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive, nor in conflict. The use of legal and non-legal strategies in combination constitutes a safeguard against being 'co-opted' by the law. To abandon legal strategies altogether would be no solution at all; rather, it would be to concede defeat, leaving the law unchallenged, our silence taken to imply that we had no criticisms to make. In developing such a critique, it is important to go beyond an analysis of legal discourse in order to understand the law in action and its impact on women (Dahl, 1987). Only then can we avoid the trap of accepting changes to the legal system which deliver the appearances but not the reality of reform. In practice, feminist researchers and activists across the world have directed a barrage of criticisms at the failure of the law to deliver justice to women who have been sexually assaulted. They have challenged the dominant discourse that regards rape as an expression of sexual desire, arguing instead that it is an expression of sexual power