OPINION
Newshub can reveal Labour will campaign on a promise to overhaul sexual consent laws so it would be up to alleged offenders to prove their victim said “yes”.
[…] Layba Zubir, 17, is challenging adults to do better for sexual violence survivors. But it shouldn’t be her fight.
And this is why you don’t have victims making laws…
[…] Layba was in a sexually violent relationship. It took her more than a year to report what happened to her – then she gave up the fight for her own personal justice because the odds were stacked against her.
[…] Currently, the victim has to prove in court they did not consent. Labour’s now promising, if elected, they’ll change the law so the accused [has] to prove they did have consent.
Which goes against one of the basic principles of the criminal justice system.
Labour’s police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said it’s an important step.
[…] National has also previously committed to considering a change.
Of course they have.
Now Layba is just hoping politicians – no matter their colouring – finally act.
It’s one of the pillars of criminal law that the Crown has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. This means the Crown has to prove everything. It also means that if the defence can raise a reasonable doubt then the defence wins. And it also means that, yes, guilty people go free. But the reasoning is that it is far better for 100 criminals to go free than for one innocent person to go to jail. That’s the way it is.
What Labour is proposing goes to the very heart of this basic principle.
Rape accusations are easy to make. You don’t need any evidence. Unlike other crimes, you don’t need to show that you were robbed, that you had property stolen, or were physically harmed, etc.
False rape accusations hurt everyone, including real rape victims. And false accusations of rape aren’t as rare as you might think. All it takes is a grudge or someone who doesn’t want her boyfriend knowing she cheated, such as a teenage girl with no understanding of the consequences of her accusations (older women reading this will know what I’m talking about).
Another reason not to vote Labour. Or National.