# Rape Charges for a Elderly Husband Having Sex with His Wife with Dementia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-charges-for-a-elderly-husband-having-sex-with-his-wife-with-dementia/717050 "2015-04-07T17:39:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-charges-for-a-elderly-husband-having-sex-with-his-wife-with-dementia/717050/181 "2015-04-24T02:44:43Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > I think there should be criminal charges against the husband b/c his wife is not able to consent to having sex. Just b/c the guy is the husband it does not mean he can have sex with his wife any time he want it. This is elder abuse , I was a health aide and I would had to report this if I knew a client with dementia was being forced to have sex when she could not consent to it. Kind of question-begging in he context of a discussion of whether and to what degree she was incapacitated. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-charges-for-a-elderly-husband-having-sex-with-his-wife-with-dementia/717050/182 "2015-04-24T19:12:06Z")
Exactly the point. Who says that the patient was unable to give consent? You? A doctor? Just because a doctor signs a paper that says a patient is legally unable to consent to sex, that doesn’t necessarily make it legally true. It is certainly true that if a patient really is legally unable to give consent, and someone has sex with them anyway, that becomes statutory rape, even if the patient actually consented. But before you can charge someone with statutory rape, you first have to prove that the sex actually happened, and you also have to prove that the victim really was legally unable to give consent. In the case of a 15 year old minor, this is easy to do, you just have to prove that the victim was 15 years old. In the case of a 75 year old patient in a nursing home it’s not that simple. It is something that would have to be actually proved beyond a reasonable doubt before you could convict someone of a crime. A doctor who saw the patient for a few minutes one time and decided she was unable to consent to sex doesn’t automatically meet that standard of proof. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-charges-for-a-elderly-husband-having-sex-with-his-wife-with-dementia/717050/183 "2015-04-24T22:52:00Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > …In the case of a 15 year old minor, this is easy to do, you just have to prove that the victim was 15 years old. In the case of a 75 year old patient in a nursing home it’s not that simple. It is something that would have to be actually proved beyond a reasonable doubt before you could convict someone of a crime. A doctor who saw the patient for a few minutes one time and decided she was unable to consent to sex doesn’t automatically meet that standard of proof. And that’s probably why these kinds of prosecutions rarely happen. What would be involved in a full, comprehensive evaluation on ability to consent? Would the person alleged to be incapable need a comprehensive psychological evaluation with IQ test, cognitive skills test, and a full assessment for potential mental disorders? Doesn’t that sort of thing normally take hours? And also, wouldn’t that sort of thing cost at least a few hundred dollars? ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-charges-for-a-elderly-husband-having-sex-with-his-wife-with-dementia/717050/184 "2015-04-25T01:21:20Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > Kind of question-begging in he context of a discussion of whether and to what degree she was incapacitated. That does not matter , I still would have to anything that could be abuse , I was a mandated reporter . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-charges-for-a-elderly-husband-having-sex-with-his-wife-with-dementia/717050.md?page=9)