The Supreme Court of Canada upheld a recently enacted rape shield law. Mills, a defendant in a rape case, challenged the law, arguing it violated sections 7 and 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court found that the law gave sufficient discrepancy to judges to ensure that the rights of a defendant in a rape case were not violated.
Prior to this case, a woman had to get the approval from the therapeutic abortion committee of an approved hospital before she could get an abortion in Canada. Abortions performed without this approval were illegal. Three doctors, including Dr. Morgentaler, set up a clinic to perform abortions for women who did not have the necessary approval and the doctors were criminally charged. They argued that the abortion laws violated a woman’s right to security of the person.
The appellant was convicted of two counts of making obscene material, one count of possessing obscene material for distribution, and two counts of distributing obscene material through internet websites. The materials in question, consisting of audiovisual material and written stories, depicted acts of violence perpetrated against women by men. Although no explicit sexual act was depicted in the audiovisual material, the images included depictions of nude women with their genitalia exposed and with weapons protruding from their bodies.
Appellant-father appealed the judgment of the District Court that terminated his parental rights. The Supreme Court of Wyoming affirmed, as the record contained clear and convincing evidence of abuse and neglect over the child’s lifetime, including evidence that the father caused the child to witness repeated episodes of domestic violence. Termination of parental rights pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann.
In Radtke v. Everett, 442 Mich. 368, 501 N.W.2d 155 (1993), the Michigan Supreme Court held that a hostile work environment claim under the Michigan Civil Rights Act, Mich. Comp.
Here, a female employee appealed the decision of the Commission Against Discrimination which dismissed her complaint against her employer for sexual discrimination. The Massachusetts Supreme Court affirmed the Commission’s decision. Under Gen .L. C.
In the case Raniola v. Bratton, 243 F.3d 610 (2001), the plaintiff, a female police officer, sued a police department alleging hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and retaliation claims under Title VII. The plaintiff alleged that she suffered years of abuse because she was a woman, including derogatory remarks, disproportionately burdensome assignments, sabotage of her work, threats, and false accusations of misconduct.
This isolated thesis is a relevant example of gender perspective case law, as the criteria issued by the collegiate tribunal is binding on all cases resolved by such tribunal. In addition, such criteria may be persuasive in similar cases arising in other federal courts. In cases of rape, facts of a psychological nature such as fear originated in relationships shall be taken into consideration. Every judgement shall be based on a gender perspective and the courts shall consider every element set forth by the victim, as those elements may increase the severity of the sentence.
The Court made several clarifications related to the crime of abduction. First, the court held that because the crime of abduction required the intent to segregate the victim from her customary mode of life and insert her in another, the crime of abduction does not take place when a man takes a woman temporarily for the purpose of sexual abuse. The Court reasoned that the temporary removal of the woman by the man did not constitute its own crime, but instead was an element of the separate crime of rape.
The Court affirmed that abduction and statutory rape were different crimes. The Court reasoned that statutory rape could take place without an abduction, and abduction could take place without resulting in statutory rape. The Court explained that when the victim is taken away by a male for the purpose of sexual abuse or marriage, statutory rape occurs at the moment of sexual activity, while abduction occurs at the moment she becomes segregated from her customary mode of life.
