Criminal Law and Sexual Crime

Sarah Vine KC is a barrister specialising in criminal law at Doughty Street Chambers. Her practice includes economic and business crime, homicide, serious organised crime, sexual offences, and cases involving vulnerable defendants and witnesses.In this episode we discuss what its like to be a criminal defence barrister; the nature of criminal law; its relationship with sexual crime; and the difficult balance that must be struck between the rights of victims of sexual crime and the presumption of innocence that is central to the criminal law. A part of this discussion involves the topic of rape and the legal tests that must be met in order for a conviction to be secured. One question that stems for this is whether there should be a requirement that the defendant in a rape case knew that there was no consent or did not reasonably believed that there was consent. Music: The Cobblestone by Hans JohnsonKnowing Ius is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit knowingius.org/subscribe