Male survivors of sexual abuse will be pleased to learn that prosecution of offenders is now much safer for victims.
“We know that victims of sexual violence often don’t come forward because they fear the process of seeking justice will end up doing them more harm. Over time, the changes in this Bill will help to address this issue,” Kris Faafoi said. Most of the Bill’s changes were recommended by the Law Commission in 2015 and 2019, and have been called for by experts and advocates. Key changes will:
Sexual Violence Legislation Bill passes its final hurdle | Beehive.govt.nz
entitle sexual violence complainants to use alternative ways of giving evidence, including by pre-recording their cross-examination evidence in appropriate cases;
make sure evidence about a complainant’s past sex life is off limits, unless it is clearly highly relevant;
and require judges to talk to the jury to dispel any misconceptions relating to sexual violence (often called ‘rape myths’) that might be brought into