Jurors have a set of expectations about how rape victims should react, but these expectations aren’t realistic.
A new rape trial study by The University of Nottingham’s Professor Vanessa Munro and University of Leeds researcher Dr. Louise Ellison shows that jurors expect rape victims to fight back against their attackers and sustain physical injuries doing so.
Researchers also found that jurors expect rape victims to report the crime immediately and appear distressed and tearful in court.

In reality, the researchers say that most rape victims don’t offer physical resistance or suffer injury. Also, many victims delay reporting the offense for long periods. Juror …read more