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OPTIONAL Material: Sex Crimes
Among the most controversial (and important) subjects in Criminal Law is the treatment of sexual assaults and other sex crimes. While the run-of-the-mill prosecutions for sexual assault and related crimes are relatively noncontroversial (and straightforward as a legal matter) prosecution of sexual assaults between acquaintances and intimate partners are both controversial and complicated from a legal perspective, raising important questions of mistake and mens rea.
While I believe these are important issues, for the last 15 years, I have made this material optional for students. For too many of our colleagues, these are not theoretical questions, but traumatic memories.
As a result, I cover this material in an optional setting and it will not be tested on the final exam. Some of the readings for this section involve the difficult questions regarding whether these topics should be required in first year criminal law, including a New Yorker article disagreeing with my decision not to require these topics.
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