Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
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PAGE 108<br />
Submissi<strong>on</strong>s received by the Law Reform Commissi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> its C<strong>on</strong>sultati<strong>on</strong><br />
Paper (LRC, 2005) highlighted the fact that Secti<strong>on</strong> 5 <strong>of</strong> the 1993 Act<br />
should be exp<strong>and</strong>ed to include all forms <strong>of</strong> unwanted sexual c<strong>on</strong>tact<br />
rather than <str<strong>on</strong>g>Literature</str<strong>on</strong>g> being c<strong>on</strong>fined <str<strong>on</strong>g>Review</str<strong>on</strong>g> to <strong>on</strong> attempted Provisi<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Appropriate</strong> actual sexual <strong>and</strong> <strong>Accessible</strong> intercourse,<br />
buggery <strong>and</strong> Support acts <strong>of</strong> to gross People indecency with an Intellectual between males. Disability who are<br />
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy<br />
3.11.4 Other jurisdicti<strong>on</strong>s using diagnostic criteria<br />
In Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Wales there was a diagnostic criteri<strong>on</strong> in place in the<br />
Sexual Offences Act, 1956 & 1967 in that people with severe intellectual<br />
disabilities were c<strong>on</strong>sidered not able to c<strong>on</strong>sent in law, i.e. it was not<br />
lawful to have sex with some<strong>on</strong>e who was a ‘mental defective’ or had<br />
‘severe mental h<strong>and</strong>icap’ (Gunn, 1996; Gunn, Bellhouse, Clare, Holl<strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> Wats<strong>on</strong>, 2001).<br />
Western Australia<br />
The Western Australian Criminal Code, S. 330 (1) c<strong>on</strong>tains a similar<br />
provisi<strong>on</strong> to that c<strong>on</strong>tained in Secti<strong>on</strong> 5 <strong>of</strong> the 1993 Act, with a reference<br />
to an incapable pers<strong>on</strong> being <strong>on</strong>e who is incapable <strong>of</strong> underst<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> the sexual act, or <strong>of</strong> protecting themselves against sexual<br />
exploitati<strong>on</strong>. Any sexual act with such a pers<strong>on</strong> may be the subject <strong>of</strong> a<br />
charge under the legislati<strong>on</strong> (Grayd<strong>on</strong>, Hall <strong>and</strong> O’Brien Mal<strong>on</strong>e, 2006:<br />
160).<br />
United States<br />
Wacker et al. (2008) note that forty-five states in America specify that<br />
individuals with so-called mental deficiencies [66] are incapable <strong>of</strong> legally<br />
c<strong>on</strong>senting to a sexual act (Sexual Assault Statutes, 2006). According<br />
to Benedet & Grant (2007) the threshold for incapacity seems to be<br />
much higher in the United States (compared to Canada), where there<br />
have been high c<strong>on</strong>victi<strong>on</strong> rates <strong>of</strong> men who have exploited people with<br />
intellectual disability <strong>and</strong> where complainants are routinely found to be<br />
incapable <strong>of</strong> c<strong>on</strong>sent. The authors note that most US state penal statutes<br />
have a provisi<strong>on</strong> that explicitly criminalises sexual activity with women<br />
labelled as mentally disabled. Wacker et al. (2008) reported that state<br />
66 States typically define mental deficiencies to include developmental disabilities<br />
<strong>and</strong> mental retardati<strong>on</strong>.