Crimes Amendment (Rape) Act 2007
No. 57 of 2007
table of provisions
Section Page
1Purpose
2Commencement
3Section 37 substituted
37Jury directions
4New sections 37AAA and 37AA inserted
37AAAJury directions on consent
37AAJury directions on the accused's awareness
5Rape
6Compelling sexual penetration
7Indecent assault
8Incest
9New section 609 inserted
609Transitional provision—Crimes Amendment (Rape) Act 2007
10Repeal of Act
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Endnotes
Crimes Amendment (Rape) Act 2007
No. 57 of 2007
[Assented to 27 November 2007]
The Parliament of Victoria enacts:
1Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to amend the Crimes Act 1958 to further provide for—
(a)the offence of rape and certain other sexual offences that require the prosecution to prove that the accused was aware that the victim was not consenting or might not have been consenting to a sexual act; and
(b)the use of jury directions on consent and on the accused's awareness in trials relating to charges for such offences.
2Commencement
(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3), this Act comes into operation on a day to be proclaimed.
(2)Sections 8 and 9 come into operation on the day after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.
(3)If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 1 January 2008, it comes into operation on that day.
3Section 37 substituted
For section 37 of the Crimes Act 1958 substitute—
"37 Jury directions
(1)If relevant to the facts in issue in a proceeding the judge must direct the jury on the matters set out in sections 37AAA and 37AA.
(2)A judge must not give to a jury a direction of a kind referred to in section 37AAA or 37AA if the direction is not relevant to the facts in issue in the proceeding.
(3)A judge must relate any direction given to the jury of a kind referred to in section 37AAA or 37AA to—
(a)the facts in issue in the proceeding; and
(b)the elements of the offence being tried in respect of which the direction is given—
so as to aid the jury's comprehension of the direction.".
4New sections 37AAA and 37AA inserted
After section 37 of the Crimes Act 1958 insert—
"37AAA Jury directions on consent
For the purposes of section 37, the matters relating to consent on which the judge must direct the jury are—
(a)the meaning of consent set out in section 36;
(b)that the law deems a circumstance specified in section 36 to be a circumstance in which the complainant did not consent;
(c)that if the jury is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a circumstance specified in section 36 exists in relation to the complainant, the jury must find that the complainant was not consenting;
(d)that the fact that a person did not say or do anything to indicate free agreement to a sexual act at the time at which the act took place is enough to show that the act took place without that person's free agreement;
(e)that the jury is…