A bill signed into Alaska law last Thursday will make it possible for the state to prosecute sexual assault on the basis of a victim saying “no,” instead of requiring physical force or threats for such assaults to be considered crimes.
The bill — which will also reduce the maximum amount of time allowed for rape kit processing and reclassify revenge porn cases as domestic violence crimes to offer better protection for victims — was one of three pieces of public safety legislation that Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed into law.
The comprehensive sex-crimes bill brought forth by Anchorage Rep. Sara Rasmussen will expand the state’s definition of rape and allow for more prosecution, she said.
Consent was previously not included in Alaska’s sex crime statues, meaning that if a victim said “no” but physical force or threat was not used — which can happen when a victim responds to trauma by freezing or becoming physically unable to act — it was not a crime, said Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore.
“That’s a very frequent thing,” Skidmore said about a freezing response from victims. “That’s one of the things our prosecutors have found over the years as they’ve had to talk with victims and explain why we couldn’t prosecute a case, even when there’s that freezing or that fear aspect to it. We’ve seen it over and over, but we couldn’t do anything about it because the law wouldn’t allow us to do that.”
The new law updates Alaska sexual assault statutes “to ensure the conduct the vast majority of citizens think should be a crime is now a crime,” Attorney General Treg Taylor said. “ ‘No’ will mean no in Alaska. When a person communicates ‘no,’ that’s the end of it.”
The changes will go into effect in January.
The bill also will shorten the amount of time allowed by law for processing rape kits. In the past few years, the state has begun to address an enormous backlog in testing that resulted in thousands of rape kits sitting on the shelves for decades. The new law will require that tests are processed within six months to prevent future backlogs, Rasmussen said.
The bill also reclassifies cases commonly referred to as revenge porn — where intimate images are posted online without the subject’s consent. That was already considered a crime, but will now be classified as domestic violence to offer better protection for victims, Rasmussen said.
“A woman or victim couldn’t previously petition the court for a restraining order when that occurred,” she said. “So now that will qualify as a condition for a restraining order.”
A number of victims also spoke at the signing. Blaze Bell, who is a survivor of sexual assault and has advocated for victims through her involvement with various nonprofits, said the bills will “increase victim rights, fix long outdated consent laws and create a path toward justice.”
“I have worked so hard over the past 20 years to identify and fight for my rights and the rights of other victims in our state. It’s been an enlightening, exhausting and unfair journey,” she said. “But I’m here today filled with hope as I see that changes are being made.”
Reader Comments(0)