Civil Tort Actions Filed by Victims of Sexual Assault: Promise and Perils

摘要

In some ways, tort actions filed by victims of sexual assault as a means of redress are nothing new. These actions have been available to rape victims since at least the early 1900s. In other ways, these legal claims are quite recent. Contemporary sexual assault victims and survivors bring tort actions far more frequently than did victims in previous decades. In addition, contemporary victims can file a wider array of tort causes of action and can seek redress from a wider range of actors than their earlier peers were able to. This paper offers an overview of trends and outcomes for victims in civil tort cases, which are sometimes referred to as personal injury cases. The paper also discusses benefits and drawbacks of tort litigation for sexual assault survivors. While some of the concerns in the tort process mirror challenges victims confront in criminal prosecution, others are exclusive to tort suits.