ABSTRACT

This chapter highlights the importance of understanding the depth of legal reasoning and analysis as it pertains to key legal opinions-usually from the US Supreme Court, that address the nexus of law and sexuality. It focuses on entrapment, ruling laws void for vagueness, the confrontation clause and court testimony, and proportionality of punishment. The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was enacted in 1868, in the aftermath of the Civil War. The chapter explains the concept of procedural due process and how it relates to law and sexuality, including legal principles and cases related to entrapment, void-for-vagueness, courtroom proceedings, and punishment. It compares the philosophies of law as expressed through the harm principle, legal moralism, legal positivism, and legal paternalism. Testifying at trial can be a traumatic experience for child victims who may have to face their accusers in the courtroom. In Maryland v. Craig, the US Supreme Court upheld the use of CCTV for victims of child sexual abuse.