What about rape in marriage?

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Violence against women

In every country in the world, women are victim/survivors of violence in the home. Research indicates that in Australia, more homicides occur in marriages than in any other relationship (Wallace, 1986, p.83).

One estimate is that violence occurs in somewhere between one in three and one in ten families (Mugford, 1989:3).

Many of these women have lost confidence in the criminal justice system. They are also adversely affected by prevailing negative community attitudes towards women who are subjected to violence at the hands of a man with whom they have been intimate. For many in our society, the myth has survived that a man has the right to rape his wife through the existence of a marriage contract.

However, all States and Territories have now abolished the old Common Law presumption that a man cannot be convicted for raping his wife, by enacting legislation which makes rape in marriage unlawful.

Mugford, J. (1989). Violence Today No. 2: Domestic violence. Retrieved June 15, 2010, from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/previous%20series/vt/1-9/vt02.aspx

Wallace. A. (1986). Homicide: The Social Reality. Sydney: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

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