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12 - Commentary on Whitner v. State

from Part II - Gender on Trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2022

By
Ruqaiijah Yearby
Edited by
Bennett Capers ,
Sarah Deer  and
Corey Rayburn Yung
Bennett Capers
Affiliation:
Fordham University, New York
Sarah Deer
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Corey Rayburn Yung
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
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Summary

The decision of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts concerned the difficult problem of defining the quantum of intoxication abrogates a person’s ability to consent to sex. The jury convicted a police officer, who was summoned to assist a highly intoxicated person, of rape of that person. However, the high court overturned the conviction, holding that the “wholly insensible” test was too vague to support a legal conviction. Notably, the court offered no alternative to the rejected test, essentially leaving the state without any rule about the degree of intoxication or other incapacitation abrogates consent.

Keywords

intercourseincapacityconsentingintoxicationrapealcohol
Type
Chapter
Information
Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Criminal Law Opinions , pp. 253 - 262
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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