{"id":265382,"date":"2017-07-31T10:30:03","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T14:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/time-to-rethink-sexual-assault-trials\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T21:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:43:12","slug":"time-to-rethink-sexual-assault-trials","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2017\/07\/time-to-rethink-sexual-assault-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to rethink sexual assault trials"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, July 20, Appeal Court Judge Michael Dambrot ordered a new trial for Mustafa Ururyar<\/a>, who Judge (retired) Marvin Zuker had found guilty of sexual assault of Mandi Gray (she has waived the traditional ban on publication of her name). Ururyar\u2019s defence appealed the verdict on the grounds that the trial Judge was biased.<\/p>\n

In his reasons for judgment on July 21, 2016<\/a>, Zuker addressed many rape myths that had been used by the defence. Regarding myths about physical injury, Zuker wrote: \u201cThe absence of injuries might suggest that the victim failed to resist and, therefore, must have consented. The fact that a victim ceased resistance to the assault for fear of greater harm or chose not to resist at all does not mean that the victim gave consent.\u201d
\nDespite the experience being so common, sexual assault is widely misunderstood. Many people still hold firmly to ancient \u201crape myths\u201d; for example, rape happens when a dangerous-looking stranger suddenly and violently attacks a woman who fights him to the point of injury, but is overpowered. She immediately seeks help as soon as she can escape and never has further contact with him.
\nQuestions that are routinely asked in sexual assault trial cross-examinations of victim witnesses are based on rape myths. They are based on a presumption that if there was a relationship between the accused and the victim (versus they were strangers), there was a lack of physical injury (versus there was injury), the ordinariness or likability of the accused (versus the accused was dangerous), it is unlikely that there was a sexual assault. Instead, it is argued, a judge should find that there is no evidence for lack of consent.<\/p>\n

Why the reasoning is illogical<\/strong>
\nThe reasoning behind the questions is illogical, but because the myths are widely held, it is difficult to recognize the false reasoning. Maybe this graphic will help demonstrate the problem in the reasoning, using physical injury as an example.<\/p>\n

The blue circle represents women who are not physically injured. The red circle represents women who did not consent. If the myth was true that victims are always physically injured, the circle representing the state of being \u201cnot physically harmed\u201d would not overlap with the circle representing the state of \u201cdid not consent,\u201d because a sexual assault would, by definition, involve physical injury. But we know, factually, that most women who do not consent are not physically injured: they were sexually assaulted. The circle representing the state of being \u201cnot physically injured\u201d must overlap with the circle representing \u201cdid not consent.\u201d We can call the part where the circles overlap \u201cthe lens\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the concept in words:<\/p>\n

All women who are physically injured are also women who did not consent to sex.
\nAll women who consent to sex are also women who are not physically injured.
\nSome women who are not physically injured are also women who did not consent to sex.
\nSome women who did not consent are also women who are not physically injured.<\/p>\n

What the defence asked Judge Zuker to believe is that because \u201cthere were no confirmatory injuries,\u201d there is reason to believe that there was consent, as if all women who are not physically injured consent to sex. But that is not one of the four logical possibilities, because the circles are known to overlap. The two statements above, about \u201csome women,\u201d pertain to the lens-shaped area where the circles overlap. If a woman is not harmed, her situation may have been either in the \u201cconsent\u201d part of the \u201cnot harmed\u201d circle or in the lens-shaped part where it overlaps the \u201cdid not consent\u201d circle.<\/p>\n

A woman\u2019s lack of physical injury thus cannot inform any logical inference about whether or not she consented, and thus there is no reason for a defence lawyer to draw attention to it. To put it bluntly: if she was physically injured, it\u2019s a near certainty it was sexual assault. If she wasn\u2019t, we don\u2019t have any evidence, either way. The words \u201cphysically injured\u201d can be replaced with \u201ctried to escape,\u201d \u201cscreamed,\u201d \u201cimmediately reported,\u201d or multiple other rape-myth-based content.<\/p>\n

As Zuker\u2019s detailed reasons for judgment outlined, Ururyar\u2019s defence consisted of little other than rape myths. Zuker wrote: \u201cI must and do reject his evidence.\u201d In contrast, Zuker accepted the clear, consistent testimony from Mandi Gray about Ururyar\u2019s verbal and then sexual aggression against her on the night in question.<\/p>\n

It is high time that we move into the modern era with our thinking about what to believe in sexual assault trials. As Judge Dambrot said at the appeal hearing<\/a>, in March 2017: \u201cJudges judge. They should do it right.\u201d Perhaps \u201cdoing it right\u201d includes thinking logically. To call a rape myth what it is, is not evidence of bias. Dambrot\u2019s ruling should be challenged.<\/p>\n

Photo: Toronto, April 3, 2011 Slutwalk protesters gather to raise awareness about victim blaming and rape myths, by Anton Bielousov.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it.\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ?\u00a0<\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, July 20, Appeal Court Judge Michael Dambrot ordered a new trial for Mustafa Ururyar, who Judge (retired) Marvin Zuker had found guilty of sexual assault of Mandi Gray (she has waived the traditional ban on publication of her name). Ururyar\u2019s defence appealed the verdict on the grounds that the trial Judge was biased. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":238700,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T01:43:14Z","apple_news_api_id":"01a23f03-6c52-457f-8304-6551171914e2","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T01:43:14Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AAaI_A2xSRX-DBGVRFxkU4g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9359,9372],"tags":[8562,8496],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4348,4339],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7122],"class_list":["post-265382","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loi-droits","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-sexual-misconduct-fr","tag-sexualized-violence-fr","irpp-category-egalite-des-genres","irpp-category-loi-et-justice","irpp-tag-violence-liee-au-genre"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nTime to rethink sexual assault trials<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2017\/07\/time-to-rethink-sexual-assault-trials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time to rethink sexual assault trials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Thursday, July 20, Appeal Court Judge Michael Dambrot ordered a new trial for Mustafa Ururyar, who Judge (retired) Marvin Zuker had found guilty of sexual assault of Mandi Gray (she has waived the traditional ban on publication of her name). 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