Date Rape

Date rape is a common term that is well known by the public, lawyers, prosecutors, and judges. Although it is not an official charge located among Alabama’s statutes, date rape is defined as sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion between two people that may be acquainted and know one another. It is the more prevalent of the rape charges.

If you have been charged with date rape or are looking to better understand the elements associated with the crime, consult with an experienced Alabama date rape lawyer as soon as possible. An experienced sex crimes lawyer in Alabama can build a defense to help minimize or dismiss the consequences associated with the charge.

Typically, an individual is raped by someone they know as opposed to a stranger. Cases in which the individual knows the person who raped them is viewed differently than a stranger who rapes an individual. False reports can sometimes be produced in these cases.

Sometimes, those reports are filed due to reluctance, due to the fact that the individual may have consented at the time but now does not want to admit that they did, or because they were raped by a boyfriend or husband and the individual claims they were forced to engage in sexual intercourse.

It is important that any Alabama date rape lawyer carefully examines the underlying facts that exist in the case. Sometimes, one or both parties are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and they may not have a good recollection of what happened. Although this may be the case, the crime is still a Class A felony. To help dismiss such penalties, an individual should not wait before contacting a date rape attorney in Alabama.

An allegation of date rape in Alabama must be treated very seriously. Once a police agency gets a report, there are officers who are designated to take the complaint.

After an individual is accused, the officer may go through with a forensic examination of the person doing the accusing. This is often a very involved process, and one may believe that a person would not bring forward a false allegation because of that examination, but sometimes those reports are false.

Although police officers may pursue these allegations, they often leave it up to the courts to decide the validity of the accusation. The police will not decide, the rape response team will not decide, the doctor or nurse will not decide, but a prosecutor has a say in whether or not they move forward with a rape allegation. This process can be best explained by an Alabama date rape attorney.

The penalties associated with date rape are the same as far as the statutory law. The crime is deemed to be a Class A felony, which is intercourse without consent through force, express or implied. An individual can and may face jail time on a conviction for date rape. Due to the seriousness of such consequences, it is imperative that an individual consults with an experienced Alabama date rape lawyer as soon as possible.

There can be an instance in which date rape occurs when there was some agreement, even though it was reluctantly, and that person should not be prosecuted on a date rape charge if there was consent. It is usually up to the jury to decide whose credibility they trust. In this sense, it can be similar to rape allegations.