ABSTRACT
In this chapter we consider the operation of the implicit relation in regard to rape.2 We will give particular attention to the growing practice of admitting evidence on Rape Trauma Syndrome in cases of rape. A more recent addition than Battered Woman’s Syndrome to the array of syndrome diagnoses within the psychological and psychiatric fields, Rape Trauma Syndrome has begun to be admitted for the same general purpose: to assist judges and/or juries in making sense of a woman’s actions. Unlike cases of women who kill abusive partners, and who are thus the perpetrators of the crime, in cases of rape, the woman will be the victim3 of the crime. It is significant that the implicit relation governs the way that scientific evidence of a psychological syndrome is admitted under both sets of circumstances.
Incidence of rape
