Wisconsin has made having sex with someone under the influence of alcohol a form of sexual assault.
The nation’s top party school could get a sobering jolt from a change in state law that puts alcohol on a par with date-rape drugs as an aggravating factor in certain sexual assaults. The change, long sought by rape- victim advocates in Wisconsin, means that victims who are very drunk during a sexual encounter can be judged incapable of giving consent, triggering a possible second-degree sexual assault charge. Prior to the change, which took effect in June, a victim who had been drinking typically had to be unconscious to be deemed incapable of consenting to sex.
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[W]hile prosecutors say it is likely to be used only rarely – in cases in which victims don’t pass out but are so impaired by alcohol they are “unable to appraise their own conduct,” as one advocate put it – the change was heralded by experts who work with assault survivors. “Alcohol is the No. 1 date-rape drug, and we’ve felt strongly that our statutes should reflect that reality,” said Jill Groblewski, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
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Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said the change was “long overdue” and is a good thing primarily for the message about alcohol that it sends – namely, that it can be just as dangerous as other drugs.
Blanchard also stressed that the somewhat lower bar on consent standards for victims does not extend to perpetrators, who can be charged for crimes whether they have been drinking or not. “Alcohol is not an excuse,” he said. “It’s our job to help jurors understand that people who want to commit sexual assault many times are going to take unfair advantage to get what they want.”
While having sex with someone too drunk to, er, say no is, to say the least, incredibly boorish, it’s quite bizarre to say that it’s criminal. This gives a whole new meaning to the old Dead Kennedys t-shirts, thumbnailed at right. Language alert.
And the “message” it sends is mixed, indeed. On the one hand, being incredibly drunk “is not an excuse” for criminal behavior, including driving one’s car with a mild buzz on. So, we presume that people under the influence of alcohol are able to form guilty intent. Yet, these same people aren’t competent to decide whether to have sex?
Wouldn’t the better message to send be “If you don’t want to regret it in the morning, don’t get so damned drunk?”
By the way, Wisconsin isn’t going off the deep end here. Buried in the middle of the report: “Wisconsin had been the only state to exclude alcohol as a potential legal intoxicant in rape cases before the law change.” So, all 50 states now have this idiotic double standard.
via Radley Balko
