Rape law may be changed

Press, 2 August 1979, Page 8

Rape law may be changed

PA Wellington; < The law might have to be < changed to prevent the nub- t ing to the Minister’ of Jus-h tice (Mr McLay). [« Questioned in yesterday by the National’! member for Waipa ' (Miss Marilyn Waring) about a caseit in which a Supreme Court i judge had refused to sup-p press a complainant’s name.j Mr McLay said it was almost'i universal practice for thep courts to grant suppression. 11 to change and there was anvil indication of a change thenar one would have to give very h He and the Justice Depart- t Miss Waring in which a name! I However, the suppression!!

of names was at the discre-l tion of the courts: their de-i cisions were not usually monitored and no statistics, were available. The Justice Department was planning a survey to! examine how rape complaints i were being handled by the, judicial system. It was widely recognised that a number of incidents involving rape were not reported. The research would try to identify the reasons for this and would investigate the real incidence of rape in the community and those aspects of the judicial system that might inhibit a woman from reporting a rape to the authorities. The subject is likely to be discussed again soon; the National member for Rotorua (Mr P. C. East) proposes to introduce a private member’s bill to prohibit the publication of rape complainants’