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The Royal Commission on Human Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2024

Richard Chisholm
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— A comment on the recommendations related to rape and sexual offences against young people.

Richard Chisholm

The Report of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships was not only about sex, and not only about law; but many of its more controversial recommendations concerned the role of the criminal law in connection with sexual behaviour. Though some of the ideas are new, much of the Report brought together in a lucid and available form arguments that serious scholars have been urging for years. The reaction of some members of the community — especially Prime Ministers and bishops — nevertheless shows how far some community leaders are from a thoughtful, or even nonhysterical, appreciation of the issues. Ironically, their reactions demonstrate how much we needed the report.

In this column, I will summarise the Commissioners’ recommendations about rape and sexual offences against young people! Later, probably next time, I will look at the areas of abortion, incest, and perhaps the legal context of family planning.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , July 1978 , pp. 7 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

References

Footnotes

1. Report of Royal Commission on Human Relationships, (AGPS 1977) Vol 5.Google Scholar
2. Against Our Will (Penguin 1976) p 15.Google Scholar
3. In D.P.P. v Morgan (1975) 2 W.L.R. 913, the House of Lords held that a mistaken belief that the woman consented is a defence even if there was no reasonable grounds for it. The Report, Vol 5 p 266ff, gives an excellent commentary on the case.Google Scholar
4. DrFrancis, Vincent J de, Protecting the Child Victim of Sex Crimes Committed by Adults (1969).Google Scholar
5. Gibbens, T.C.N. and Prince, J. Child Victims of Sex Offences (1STD London).Google Scholar