Rape Shield Laws Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rape Shield Laws - Research Paper Example Center of discussion in this paper are rape shield laws, court rules or statutes which limit the defendant’s counsel ability to introduce the sexual history, past conduct or reputation of the accuser or victim as evidence during a trial relating to rape. Therefore, rape shield laws can prevent the victim from being discredited by the irrelevant information to the defendant’s innocence or guilt. In the United States, each state and the District of Columbia has a rape shield law applying to criminal cases and a few to civil cases. Rape shield laws apply to both state and federal criminal and civil cases except the certain limited circumstances, such as when the accuser’s consent can be illustrated or when the accused and the accuser have a shared history. Also, the defense may be required to prove that such evidence’s exclusion would amount to violation of constitutional rights of the defendants. Most of these laws were adopted in a bid to combat the practic e where the victims are discredited through introduction of irrelevant information concerning their reputation, sexual history or chastity. Most of these laws were adopted in the 1970s; the first rape shield law was passed in the state of Michigan in 1974 and since then all states have enacted one. Even though these laws were popular in the US, they were criticized for violating the rights of the defendant to confront the accuser as enshrined in the Sixth Amendment. It has also been criticized for being overly arduous for the defense, as well as violating civil liberties like the freedom of speech. (Flowe et al, 2007). So, what do rape shield laws do? Commonly, rape shield laws bar the introduction of reputation and opinion regarding the sexual history of the accuser. Additionally, they prove that evidence about victim’s specific sexual conduct is supposedly irrelevant unless such evidence is direct source of disease, pregnancy, or injury that may be an issue in the case, or has relation to particular sexual conduct with the defendant (The National Centre for Victims of Crime, 2011). Rape shield laws in eleven states have an exception which is known a â€Å"catch-all† which allows the judge to permit the introduction of evidence of any nature, even those that are normally barred by rape shield laws, if it is necessary to introduce that evidence in order to protect the accused constitutional rights. Various rape shield laws allow the judge to decide if the evidence in question is relevant or not. If it is relevant, the judge determines whether the evidence’s potential prejudicial impact outweighs its relevance, or not. Rape shield laws are relevant in the criminal justice system as they guard against the introduction of irrelevant evidence of the innocence or guilt of the defendant, but which can potentially prejudice the jury against the accuser or the victim (The National Centre for Victims of Crime, 2011). Flowe et al (2007) explain that rape shield laws are important to the victims as they help in ensuring that the rape victims are treated with respect, dignity, and fairness during criminal trial by making sure that the victim is not subject to a public airing about his or her past conduct, sexual reputation, and any other information which might be irrelevant. More importantly, rape shield laws increase the possibility that victims will report rape cases as they will be more likely to come forward to report. If the sexual history of the victims would have been examined or revealed in court as part of rape trial, it is very likely that victims will not report the rape cases with increasing regularity. However, it should be noted that rape shield laws only guard against the introduction of evidence or irrelevant information during trial, but do not protect the victims from publicity prior to the trial. This may probably deter many victims from reporting rape cases. Rape shield laws have been credited for the decrea sing

The Importance of Nursing Theory Research Paper

The Importance of Nursing Theory - Research Paper Example The Roy Adaptation model, a grand theory model, is significant in nursing theory for its pragmatic and logical considerations about real-life health environments and the human condition. This paper describes the importance of generalized nursing theory to the nursing profession and, using the Roy Adaptation Model as the appropriate guidance, this paper will describe how this model impacts patient care, the purpose of this particular model, and how this theory would view nursing leadership and education. The Roy Adaptation Model is one of the most viable models in nursing theory. The Importance and Validity of Nursing Theory Study Nursing theory provides a great deal of quantifiable and justified assumptions that assist in building an effective model of nursing practice to improve productivity, interpersonal relationship development between nurse, patient or organizational groups, and can assist in deciding a best practice model taking into consideration environment, biopsychosocial c haracteristics of the nurse, and patient needs. Unlike mathematical models that are often used in organizational science that consider proper utilization of distinct tangible resources, nursing theory is sensible and practical, recognizing the complexity of human behavior and various coping strategies that are integrated into a model of practice to understand the dynamics of relationships and actual patient care. Nursing theory, unlike other models, do not limit the scope of human knowledge to equation modeling or consider the role of the nurse practitioner as being autonomous of their emotional states. In a health environment where inherent emotional responses are going to surface in practice, and where patient emotional and rationalization capacities create adaptable situations, it would be unrealistic to assume that a health care organization could be structured effectively (or training delivered properly) without recognition of these variables in the cycle of nursing care. For t he aforementioned reasons, nursing theory is critical to improving the nursing profession and facilitating more effective care to patients. It identifies the potential hindrances or barriers to communication or group functioning so as to create a template by which to combat these situations. Such theoretical modeling also illustrates how one care or leadership function is inter-dependent on another in a health system, identifying redundancies that might occur in practice or opportunities to improve practice responses. Nursing theory, by drawing on real-life case studies or other supporting qualitative research, creates a knowledge base about legitimate, contemporary nursing requirements or human needs to assist in identifying more effective organizational systems or interpersonal relationship development. Examining the complexities of patient needs, as another relevant example through various studies, creates testable hypotheses about how to handle various emotional constructs in pa tients to deliver better care. Nursing theory can identify certain socio-demographics or ethnographic knowledge about patient personalities in identified cultural groups so that different strategies