Smith urges radical attitude change towards rape victims

6/3/08

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament during a debate about rape and sexual offences, Margaret Smith MSP welcomed the Scottish Law Commission’s Report, but called for a radical change in attitude towards rape victims.

Commenting, the Edinburgh West MSP said:

“I welcome the Scottish Law Commission’s Report as the proposed legislation and ongoing review of evidence gives us an opportunity to define new offences of rape and sexual assaults and balance the rights of victims and accused.

“Rape is alone in the way in which we, as a society, denigrate and blame the victim. If a young man is stabbed in the street we don’t hear people say that he was asking for it if he’d had too much to drink and drifted into a part of town he didn’t know.

“Recently we have heard, yet again, that 1 in 4 people think that women are asking to be raped or assaulted if they have drunk too much or wear revealing clothing .Those attitudes need to be challenged. Justice will never be served properly if we have a situation in which 25 per cent of a jury think a victim was to blame.”