Regarding the Kobe Bryant case:
In all of the newspaper and TV reports I’ve seen, the only words I’ve heard are " Sexual Assault, a Class III Felony". There has also been mention of “Forced Sex”.
I’ve never heard that he is accused of “Rape”. What is the difference? Is there a factual legal reason for this phrasing? Also, what’s the difference between a Class I, II, and III Felony?
IANAL and YMMV by jurisdiction. I haven’t been following the case so I don’t even know in what state Bryant is charged, but in all states crimes are classified based on the perception of the severity of the offense. Murder is generally considered a more serious offense than, say, robbery. The different classifications of felonies (and misdemeanors) are identified by numbers or letters.
The reports say “sexual assault” because in most/all jurisdictions that’s the language used in the statutory definition of the crime. From a journalistic standpoint it is inaccurate to say he is charged with “rape” if the name of the crime with which he is charged is “sexual assault.” The word “rape” IMHO also has certain connotations which may or may not fit the alleged fact pattern of the case.
Oh, and the classification of felonies also indicates the maximum penalty which may be imposed upon conviction. For example, in Wosconsin where I live we classify felonies as A, B, BC, C, D and E with penalties ranging from life imprisonment for a Class A felony to a fine of up to $10,000 or 2 years in prison, or both, for a Class E.
Sexual Assault is an offense that includes rape as an element in its set.
“Rape” is a common law crime; sexual intercourse performed on a woman by a man, who is not that woman’s husband, without her effective consent. You read right: at common law, one can’t rape one’s wife. Penetration is required in common law rape.
Many modern statutes redefine the common law crime of “rape” as “sexual assault”, and in some even more serious circumstances, “aggravated sexual assault.” Sexual assault as a statute is often defined in broader terms than common law rape. In Texas, for example, there is no statutory crime of “rape”; common law rape is subsumed by the crimes of sexal assault and aggravated sexual assault. Still, lawyers here often refer to the crimes colloquially as “rape” or “aggravated rape”.
As an added caveat, there may be some jurisdictions where rape and sexual assault are separate crimes, or where one is a lesser included crime of the other.
The only description I’ve been able to find of what Kobe is accused of doing is here:
www.nytimes.com/2003/07/19/sports/basketball/19BRYA.html?ex=1059192000&en=04249b4430a28d93&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
That sounds like Rape to me.
Maybe I should have started this thread at IMHO? The Media seems to be steering way clear of the “R” word. If I hear “Sexual Assault”, I wonder "What Happened?; If I hear “Rape” I know what happened. Is this Spin, Media Bias, or is there a legal/factual reason or WTF?
I’ve never seen the Media so shy before. IIRC, they didn’t show the same niceties with Mike Tyson, William Kennedy Smith or others.
pravnik wasn’t there a Supreme Court case upholding a husband’s conviction for raping his wife, thus doing away with the common law marital rape exception? I know I’ve read of the case but given the trouble I had finding Colorado’s sexual assault statutes online I didn’t have the heart to start searching for it.
nebco9 as near as I could discover through some horrifyingly arduous online searches, there is no crime of “rape” in Colorado. According to your link, Bryant is charged with sexual assault in the third degree, which is
I’ve omitted part of the statute relating to photographing “intimate parts” and when the alleged victim is under a certain age since they don’t pertain.
Otto: I think most states have done away with the requirement by statute, but a few have done it through a decision of their highest court, like New York in a case called People v. Liberta*.
To expand on what Otto said, the reason he’s not being reported as having committed a “rape” is because the crime that Bryant has been charged with under the Colorado Criminal Code is called “sexual assault”, and not “rape”.
“Rape” at ye olde common law is non-consensual sexual intercourse by a man on a woman who isn’t his wife. “Sexual assault”, under Colorado law, includes rape, but also includes forced anal or oral intercourse, penetration of the anus or vagina with a foreign object, or forcible touching of the intimate parts of another, regardless of the gender or marital status of either party.
The legal reason is that Mr. Bryant has apparently not been charged with rape. If the media were to report that he had been, he may have grounds for a defamation suit. Therefore, the media will not use that word, and will stick to the wording of the actual offence with which he is charged.
As for the reporting on Mr. Tyson and Mr. Smith, I believe that they were both charged in other states than the one Mr. Bryant is charged in, and those charges were some years ago. It may be that in those other states, at that time, there still was an offence of rape, with which they were charged. If so, using the word “rape” would be accurate.
More information, both about the actual charges they faced and the contemporary media coverage, would be necessary to make any firm conclusions about inconsistent media coverage, which I gather is the point you are making.