Network backs Mirren on rape jurors

The head of the Rape Crisis Network has said she arees with actress Helen Mirren that female jurors could be less likely to sypathise with a rape victim - but for different reasons.

The Oscar-winner, who has previously come under fire for claiming date rape should not be a matter for the courts, says lawyers defending men accused of rape prefer having a female-dominated jury because “women go against women”.

“In a rape case, the courts — in defence of a man — would select as many women as they could for the jury, because women go against women,” she said, in an interview in yesterday’s Sunday Times Magazine.

Mirren, who has said she has been date-raped in the past, said women jurors feel other women “were asking for it”.

“Whether it is in a deep-seated animalistic way, going back billions of years, or from a sense of tribal jealousy or just antagonism, I don’t know, but other women on a rape case would say she was asking for it. The only reason I can think of is that they’re sexually jealous.”

By Jennifer Hough, Irish Examiner

More story at-http://www.irishexaminer.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=77613-qqqx=1.asp

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